could it have been a mouse that needed a bath after meeting charcoal fines
it is possible it was a vole rather than a shrew, the two main woodland/ grassland spp of voles are quite dark
tail length is a good guide to what the small "mousey"critter might be
as are face and ear shapes, colour is a good guide if you have a typical example in good light
the sammisons of the mousecastle come in a variety of colours which would need several dulux pro colour swatches to call the shade a name or number
Unfortunately I didn't get a really good look at it Dpack. It was dark, but not charcoal coloured, so don't think it was covered in fines. It gave me the impression of being rather wide; in fact if it hadn't been moving so fast on the surface I would have thought it was a mole. We also don't have moles in that part of the wood as the soil is too thin. They prefer the valley where the soil is deeper and there are more worms.
We have seen voles, wood mice and dead shrews, so all present.
We definitely have wood mice and dormice, sometimes rats, squirrels (could do without grey squirrels), voles and shrews. There are moles in some places, but think they would blunt their claws on the rest of it as it is chalk and flint.
Today was definitely a butterfly and general insect day. Saw silver washed fritillaries, which admiral, probably speckled wood butterflies, so many hoverflies you could hear them buzz, and a hornet that got stuck in the window of the toilet in the woods. We had to let it out.
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