Project Administrator Gail Talton and our education team ran a session in December for a group of home-schooled children. The activity again involved the dissection of pellets sourced from the local barn owls and was well received. After the session, the dissected pellets were passed on to Chris du Feu for closer inspection and to his surprise, he found the remains of Water Shrew.
This is the first record we have of water shrew from the reserve and is great news. This information follows ‘hot on the heels’ of news from students at The University of Lincoln (again, via Chris) that Water Vole remains have also been found in the pellets of Beckingham’s barn owls.
Water shrews are the largest of Britain’s shrews and are the only ones associated with aquatic environments. They have a diet of aquatic invertebrates and occasionally newts, so it’s rewarding to know that the Marshes are providing them with what they need to survive.