24.A disabled shrew

I wrote in an earlier post about a dead water shrew (Neomys fodiens) I had found close to a large fishing pond in the Lincolnshire Wolds. It was the first one I had ever seen so I was not expecting to see another one, certainly not a live one just outside the back door! Yet there it was, apparently foraging in a flower bed and making short exploratory excursions on to the lawn. We live close to a slow-flowing river, Waithe Beck, and there are a couple of small ponds in the garden, but this creature was far from the nearest water and seemed completely lost.

It then started on the most amazing journey as it circumnavigated the house, taking about twenty minutes and never venturing more than a few feet from the wall - behaviour known as 'edge seeking' and common to many small mammals. It would scurry along for a few seconds, stop for a breather, then resume its tour. I followed it, determined to discover its destination and in the meantime to take some photographs. It eventually arrived back where it started and I decided to examine the pictures I had taken. It was only then that I discovered a possible reason for its bizarre behaviour - it had a severe disability.

It had moved with such speed that I had failed to notice that it had been dragging its hind legs behind it.
As this rather blurred picture shows, they were completely useless. As if the poor creature didn't have enough to contend with, I discovered that the water shrew has such poor eyesight that it was once known by the inhabitants of the Lincolnshire Fens as the 'blind mouse'. I was unable to find it again and am not optimistic about its chances of survival.