This week at The Lodge we’ve been on the hunt for killer. With its jet black fur, long tail, red-tipped teeth and poisonous saliva, I’d forgive you for thinking someone has being playing a practical joke on us and we’re searching for a mystical beast from an early horror movie.
You would, however, be wrong! What we’re actually looking for is a shrew, yep you heard me right! A shrew. Tipping the scales at 12-18g and measuring around 150mm in length, the water shrew is hardly likely to give you nightmares, but it does make it Britain’s biggest shrew.
Whilst if it bit a human, it’d leave you with red rash and sore skin, to a newt, freshwater shrimp or other pond dweller the shrew calls prey, it’s deadly. It’s unusual in the mammal world to have venomous saliva, but the toxin contained within the saliva will stun its prey, it’s quite a beast, in the pond world!
The water shrew is not common, hence our hunt for it. And no, we haven’t seen it yet! It’s one of those things in nature that you’ll have to wait for a glimpse of it, and unfortunately, our lunchbreak is not quite long enough. I’d love to spend all day looking for it, but think my boss might complain!
It’s not all doom and gloom though. We’ve had some good views of smooth newts, the commoner version of their great crested cousins. With plenty of newts in the pond, it's easy to understand why the shrew lives here! Pond skaters live up to their name, whilst a couple of large red damselflies (the earliest to come out in spring) flit between the reeds, I can think of worse places to spend my lunch. Whilst walking around the edge of the pond, we stumbled across a grass snake, sunbathing in the leaf litter. No doubt, like us, enjoying its lunchbreak in the sun!
It just goes to show, RSPB reserves aren't just good for birds!