| Common shrew - Sorex araneus - Family: Soricidae
 Common shrew - Sorex araneus© Andy Sands (Avico Ltd)The common shrew is a tiny, if ferocious, predator, about five to seven centimetres in length. It has short round ears, tiny eyes and a long flexible snout which it uses to turn over dead leaves and rake over the soil surface in its search for food. Fur on the back is a velvety dark brown but more greyish on the belly, with a distinctive lighter brown band between the two in adults. The tail is half as long as the head and body combined. This small animal is found in hedgerows, woods and on grasslands. It feeds on insects and other invertebrates including snails and should be welcomed by any gardener. It is very active in bursts during which time it eats voraciously, mostly feeding on invertebrates. Cats often kill common shrews, but, like other mammalian predators, they generally don't actually eat them, due to their nasty taste! Owls, on the other hand, eat them in large numbers. Shrews can only last a few hours without any food and so sleep only fitfully and do not hibernate. FoodInsects, spiders, woodlice and snails etc. PlantsCowberry PreyBeetles, Butterflies, Common green grasshopper, Currant clearwing moth, Fast woodlouse, Moths, Porcellio scaber, Slugs and snails, Speckled bush cricket, Spiders and harvestmen, Woodlice/Millipedes/Centipedes, Worms PredatorsBuzzard, Carrion crow, Fox, Grass snake, Jackdaw, Little owl, Magpie, Sparrowhawk, Stoat, Tawny owl, Weasel |
