Bad news if you are a water shrew that is, but maybe good news if you are a heron. The trail camera saw two shrews being eaten by a heron last year and another a few weeks ago in a blog I wrote for the Natural History Society of Northumbria. Then last week the heron(s) caught and ate nine water shrews in six days at only one camera position. I thought water shrews were uncommon but there must be a healthy population to sustain that level of predation. Or at least there was.
And a bonus heron video. Last month I posted a video of a heron that caught a frog that put up a good struggle and eventually got away, probably not unscathed. This time the heron caught a toad. The toad's defence is to swell up and produce a foul-tasting and perhaps toxic secretion from its back. The heron seemed to realise pretty quickly and dropped the toad before trying to wash the taste away.
After that I think the heron will stick to water shrews, while there are any left.
😳
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