Water Shrew
Neomys fodiens
Llyg y ddŵr
A native mammal, widespread in Great Britain but perhaps a more localised distribution in Snowdonia. Protected under Schedule 6 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981, therefore requiring a license to trap.
 |
 |
Status:
There are not many records of water shrew in Snowdonia, but this is mainly due to the licensing and effort required for live trapping and the difficulty of finding other definitive field signs. Some of the records have been found some distance from any obvious water habitat. For example, whilst Longworth trapping for The Mammal Society small mammal pilot project in 2008, Kate Williamson and Rob Strachan caught a water shrew in the middle of Morfa Harlech sand dunes. With some concerted effort, water shrew should probably be recorded in many areas of Snowdonia. Condry, in his 1981 book, ‘The Natural History of Wales’, had a water shrew record 420m above sea level in Wales!