It seems that shrews are like London buses - you wait ages for one and then three come along all at once. WeaselCam is mainly seeing wood mice at the moment but a few nights ago there were three shrews. First a pygmy shrew, which has been appearing from time to time, then a common shrew, which hasn't been common recently, and last a water shrew, the first I have seen since September.
This has happened twice before. In 2020 I set a camera hoping to find a water vole up near Wark Forest and found three shrew species in one night. And a few weeks ago I saw three within an hour near Riding Mill. I don't know if these episodes have just been coincidence or whether the shrews could be following each other around or interacting in some way. Either way it seems odd. I posted the video on the Mammal Society Facebook page asking the same question but didn't get a reply, just lots of "likes". If you have any thoughts please leave a comment.
The camera in the weasel box is there all the time, mostly recording wood mice. Last month there were five weasel visits, two each from two different animals and the fifth I can't tell. A male weasel I call weasel 4 was here on the 3rd and the 5th. The first time he was having a very good look round, probably able to smell the wood mice.
The next time he was dashing about more but I can still manage to identify him on freeze frames. There is a space behind the camera with a few spare bits of wood that he seemed to find very interesting.
The second weasel was a female, the same one who was first here in November. She also spent a lot of time behind the camera (I have edited most of it out) and it was interesting to see her scent-marking.
She was back a week later for another look round. I am really hoping she'll stick around and perhaps even move into the weasel wall.
A male weasel dashed in and out so fast on 31st that I can't be sure which it was - my best guess is weasel 4 again. Otherwise the camera mainly records wood mice, bank voles,the odd American grey squirrel, wrens andgreat tits.
The voles are interesting. Almost always I have been seeing bank voles but then this one turned up one night. It is large with a fairly short tail so it must be a field vole.
One very pleasing visitor was a pygmy shrew who has been in a few times, once in daylight.
I am hoping for many more weasel visits in 2025 and perhaps even a few stoats as well.
I could have put on otter videos for every one of my end of year favourites as there have been so many quality recordings. The previous cubs were last seen with their mother in May, at which time she was looking very frisky, and my guess is that the next cubs were born in July. When they first appeared on camera in October they were probably only three months old but they have grown quickly.
Spoilt for choice, I have chosen two recent videos of the new cubs. The first is from early November - the mother came out of the water to leave a scent mark and went back in but stayed close by. The cubs were a few seconds behind and very keen to explore rather than catch her up. They seem happy to trail farther behind than I have seen before, perhaps showing an independent streak already.
A shorter video from early December showed the family on the move. I think this set of cubs has been showing more in daylight than previously so I hope that continues.
WeaselCam has been on tour a few times this year but has failed to record a weasel away from here. It has, however, been good at recording other small mammals. While in Williwood, the home of Denise & Phil, the box was visited by three species of shrew within an hour, providing an opportunity to compare their shape, body size and tail length. From the top they are common shrew, pygmy shrew and water shrew.
Here's the video.
And here are the three individual species - common shrew,
The trail cameras get a lot of "non-target" captures, mostly birds. At this time of year it is mainly robins, blackbirds and moorhens but earlier in the year there were plenty of ducks, geese and swans. They rarely do anything interesting so I don't save the videos but every now and then something interesting turns up. Herons do appear on the camera occasionally, but usually much too close and out of focus. This time two cameras were watching to see a heron catch a water shrew.
Notice a second shrew running along the bank and then making a quick exit when it sees the heron.
There was a second video a few days later which I am surprised to find I haven't posted before. Somehow the heron knew there was a water shrew behind the tree and caught it. It still had to bring the shrew down to the water to dunk it and make it easier to swallow.
2024 has been the year of the weasel. I have had at least one camera set more or less every day, mostly in the camera box. At one stage the camera there was recording two visits a day, but fewer in the early part of the year and more recently.
In March I set a trap, baited with carrot, hoping to catch one of the rabbits. When I looked through the kitchen window the next morning I could see the trap was empty but as I watched a weasel appeared. It went through the camera box and as it emerged I was willing it not to go into the rabbit trap but, being curious by nature, of course it did. I went out to release it within a minute or two and it didn't seem distressed, just trying to work out how to escape. Once I had opened the door it ran, but only as far as the camera box where it turned round to have a good look at me. Even when it had gone through to the other side it turned round to check on me. Here's the video.
The next video is from June and features the two main weasels of the year, two males I call weasel 1 (white paws) and weasel 2 (brown paws) - there have been seven different weasels altogether. I had been leaving a dead wood mouse under a slate to give the camera time to react. On this occasion weasel 1 came and took the mouse.
Fifteen minutes later weasel 2 appeared and could smell the mouse but couldn't find it and eventually had to give up.
There were lots of weasel visits up to late summer but fewer in autumn. I am hoping for many more in 2025.
This was probably the biggest surprise of the year. I had been putting dead field mice in the camera box for the weasels to collect and hiding them under a slate to give the camera time to react. In late August a water shrew appeared and stole the mouse. The mouse is as big as the shrew and the slate is much heavier.
As far as I can make out this was the first time a water shrew taking carrion had been recorded on video (ever, anywhere!). The shrew was a daily visitor for almost a month and then disappeared.
