The recent changes in the camera box ("weasel box" as was) are intriguing. The water shrew first turned up on 30th August and it has been here almost every day since. The last weasel sighting was 10th September and since the weasels stopped coming the common shrews and wood mice have returned. Until now I have never seen more than one species at a time but this happened twice on one night, a few hours apart. It is pitch dark of course, and the shrew doesn't have such good eyesight. The second time they must have passed each other in the entrance pipe before the mouse turned round and came back in.
Most days I feed the shrew with casters (blowfly pupae) and she usually takes them away one at a time. Occasionally she eats in, rather than having a takeaway. On this night she ate them all in the box, taking each one to the entrance and eating 28 casters in less than 20 minutes (I haven't shown them all), squeaking excitedly all the time. She certainly looks well fed.
There was a bank vole in the mouse trap in the attic so I put it in under the slate and the shrew took it, like she took the mouse the first time. She puts a lot of effort into retrieving her prize.
Shrews don't live through a second winter so this one doesn't have long to go. I am still hoping she might appear on camera with some of her offspring.
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