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am still gutted about it now 7 hours later as shrews are one of my favourite mammals.
was riding my bike down a country lane and didn't see the shrew crossing in front of us on the road until it was too late. it missed my front wheel but not my back unfortunately.
i went back and put it in the side of the road (grass area). it was deceased (i hope it was quick for the shrew).
i really didn't mean to kill it as they are awesome mammals. am sorry mr or mrs shrew 🙁
Ah, that’s not very mice
Hey, if you'd been driving you wouldn't have noticed, and it wouldn't have been your first. Your body count is probably much lower than others... don't take on the guilt!
yep, thats a takeaway for another critter
Did exactly the same riding at Haldon once
Couldn't tame it?
I once decapitated a shrew when snowboarding at Glenshee, and I feel your pain.
I was going up a drag tow, and it was running about on the snow. I headed hard left, full bite on the left edge of the board, whist it was running right, then at the last second, it bolted back, and to my horror poked it's wee head right where the front curve of the board came down to the snow.
In an instant it was decapitated,.and it's wee heart beat it's blood out on to the snow. I felt AWFUL, and got full on abuse from randoms behind me on the lift.
I did my best to avoid it, but in the end there was nothing I could do.
Bizarrely,.I have encountered 2 further shrews whilst out ski touring. They always run towards you and sniffle around your feet. One tried to get up my wife's trouser leg.
Today,.I made wheel contact with a Marmot at Les Orres. I was moving a bit faster than a trundle, crested a wee roller, expecting rocks etc on the other side, but quelle horreur, a great big shaggy marmot!
He went right, I twitched left, then he about turned left, then shot right again as my DHF brushed his tail. I thought I was going to stack but didn't. The marmot scampered off the trail, then adopted a position with a superior air, and looked at me mockingly. Bastid!
A shame, but it’ll likely be a snack for another predator, like a stoat or a weasel
Mammals dont eat shrews as apparently they taste disgusting. Its why you will occasionally see dead ones when they have been instinctively killed by something which then has to go and wash its mouth out.
Birds of prey dont have the same taste receptors so will snack on them though.
I ran over a snail once and the crunch of it's shell still haunts my nightmares 😭😭😭
Yesterday I saw a squirrel, 2 small birds and a mouse all deceased on the trail. Would the lack of rain affect wildlife?
Absolutely. We've had mass deaths of bats here in Oz in recent hot spells, i'd imagine it's the same for most species. Maruspial populations notoriously go up and down depending on the weather and therefore availability of food.
I did the same during a road race. Some sort of shrew / vole / mouse thing ran out of the hedgerow just as we were passing, I clocked it in my peripheral vision going past my front wheel but my teammate behind me said after the race that the rear wheel had gone straight over i and it looked like a cartoon death - like when Wile E Coyote gets hit by a truck and has a tyre mark left down him. That.
The worst was a bird (sparrow sized) flying out a hedgerow just as I passed and the poor thing flew into the side of my front wheel. I was devastated. Went back to where it was lying in the road but it died as I got there. 😥
I hit a deer once. I came off the worst for that one.
However, the annual horror of the Swanswater track trumps all for me. Just for a night or two this track becomes a moving nightmare of frogs. Thousands of the buggers. I've been caught in it so many times over the years. You come around the bend and your lights suddenly reflect off thousands of little eyes staring at you in curious amphibian surprise. That's when you realise you're already hopelessly deep into the swarm, and the crunching starts.....
I've tried backtracking, but usually it's as bad behind as going forward. I've tried shouldering the bike and tiptoeing though, but nowadays if I get caught in it, I just close my mouth, screw up my eyes and hope for the best as I try to weave my way through.
Sorry froggies, I know it's hard enough being green without a great lump like me running over your nephew Robin.
didn't see the shrew crossing
I'm checking the Highway Code, and I know it's a long time since I passed my test but Zebra Crossing....Pelican Crossing... Puffin Crossing...Toucan Crossing... Pegasus Crossing. Wow, every day's a school day! No shrew crossing though - you're not a monster.
I did the same during a road race.
At a mass start race somewhere, we went around a bend to find a rabbit right in the middle of the lane. Everyone parted and went around it, safely I think, but I'll swear to this day that it just stood there with it's paws over it's eyes!
How do you know if it's a weasel or a stoat?
Little and Large just entered the room.
😀
I punched an owl on a night ride once. We both survived, but I had own snot all over my glove.
ones a weasel, and the other is stoatally different
You've butchered that...
One is WEASELLY WECOGNISED the other is STOATELY different....
Lots of small rodents on the move at the moment I have seen several running across the trail when out with the dog in the last couple of weeks and found 2 dead Shrews in the last week, presumably due to the heat/lack of water.
My partner got attacked by a badger, she said she ran it over on her Trek Rail, so it's a good job badgers are strong.
I've never seen a live badger ever, so I was gutted that I was riding ahead and missed all the commotion. She was quite shaken up by it (my partner, not the badger, didn't see what sex that was).
Saw a bit of a sad story on the road today. Rural lane; lying on its back just to the edge of the lane in very cartoon death fashion was a mole, all four of it's little pink paws in the air.
A few feet further on was the flattened remains of some sort of raptor / owl.
I think what must have happened is the bird of prey had extracted the mole and been just about to take off with it's dinner when it was hit and killed by a car.
😥
I've never seen a live badger ever, so I was gutted that I was riding ahead and missed all the commotion.
Come to North Leicestershire, loads of them!
I last saw 2 running down the road when i was on my way to pick up Oddie Jr from a night out a month or so ago. Slowed right down, hazards on, car coming the opposite way did the same until they headed into a hole in the hedge.
First proper session in the woods on my new bike and I got a young hare. It was coming at a fair pace the opposite way down the trail so in the time I had I eased up and moved to one side. Two way traffic and all that. Every time I've seen them before they have ducked into the cover before we meet.
This one ducked into cover then made a mad dive for cover on the other side of the trail as I passed - and hit the spokes of my front wheel.
Poor bugger got thrown up, hit the frame and then just lay there breathing fast. Had a a nosebleed but I was pretty sure it was shock and fear more than anything. He would be fair game for any dogs etc so I ended up moving him to some thicker cover a good 20-30 metres off the trail then marked the spot so I could check in later.
Checked later, the little critter was gone. A part of me hopes a full recovery was made.
However, the annual horror of the Swanswater track trumps all for me. Just for a night or two this track becomes a moving nightmare of frogs. Thousands of the buggers. I've been caught in it so many times over the years. You come around the bend and your lights suddenly reflect off thousands of little eyes staring at you in curious amphibian surprise. That's when you realise you're already hopelessly deep into the swarm, and the crunching starts...
An annual event on the Nutbrook trail round Ilkeston.
Felt a bit bad yesterday when riding along and spotted a fledgling crow in the middle of the lane. Didn't move when I went past it. Thought, should I move it? Nah, it's a very quiet lane and the parents will look out for it. Came back an hour later and it was flat and already covered in flies. 🫤
Ran over an American Mink once. Invasive species, so didn't feel too bad for mink kind, but did feel bad for that individual chap.
It's fine as long as you eat it. No pudding unless you eat your whole shrew though
I once ran over a squirrel on the motorbike and somehow managed to get it caught in the exhaust, so I arrived at work with the back end of the bike and my right foot all spattered with squirrel guts, and half a dismembered squirrel still cooking away on the uppipe. So that rated slightly above average, as far as "how good northwind feels when he arrives at work".
a mole, all four of it's little pink paws in the air.
Another animal I've never seen alive! Me and a mate did come across a bizarre sight on a ride once - about 10 dead moles in a row, all hung on a fence, presumably by a farmer. Like a warning to any other moles. Freakish.
That's a mole catching tradition. It shows the farmer how many have been caught (and how many they have to pay for!)
That's a mole catching tradition. It shows the farmer how many have been caught (and how many they have to pay for!)
every day's a schoolday! 😀
Totally unrelated to tiny mammal killing, but maybe someone can explain this "tradition" .. I've held the haunting memory in all these years. So me and the wife were on our 2nd ever holiday, in the Lakes. So it must've been about 1988. We went walking up this big hill and I got to the top first. Looked down on a bizarre scene. There was some kind of farm building/barn down in the next valley and some big tarpaulins covering something next to it. A couple (my memory says a young, male/female couple) went over to the tarpaulins and lifted them up, underneath were dead horses (my memory says skinned, but maybe not). The fella was lifting the covers up and doing weird poses while the woman was taking photos of him and the corpses.... Is that normal up there? Been afraid to ask all these years.
Yeah, just back from skinned carcass posing club. I'm on the committee of the High Furness chapter.
Are you sure it wasn't a dream? You didn't eat any mushrooms on the way up the hill?
The fella was lifting the covers up and doing weird poses while the woman was taking photos of him and the corpses.
They were probably trying to get some decent pictures so they could sell it on ebay, but I doubt they'd get much interest despite all that work - they were flogging a dead horse after all
Ebay? in 1988!?! There weren't even mobile phones! Not ones with cameras anyway 😀
It was definitely real. I think. I'll check with the ex tomorrow 🧐
I've been on here so long I remember that squirrel pic the first time around
ones a weasel, and the other is stoatally different
Thats otter bollocks.
My latest run in was almost hitting a vole and five minutes later a similar near miss with a stoat.
I learned in the aftermath that voles are the most common mammal in the uk. They're ace.
Not sure why there would be several dead horses under a tarp or even why there would be several dead horses at all. The only time I've seen more than one dead was due to a lightning strike . It really doesn't explain the people taking pictures though. Were they dressed all in black with corpsepaint on ? The only reason I ask is some friends of mine were in an extreme metal band and would have definitely wanted a picture like that for an album cover.Totally unrelated to tiny mammal killing, but maybe someone can explain this "tradition" .. I've held the haunting memory in all these years. So me and the wife were on our 2nd ever holiday, in the Lakes. So it must've been about 1988. We went walking up this big hill and I got to the top first. Looked down on a bizarre scene. There was some kind of farm building/barn down in the next valley and some big tarpaulins covering something next to it. A couple (my memory says a young, male/female couple) went over to the tarpaulins and lifted them up, underneath were dead horses (my memory says skinned, but maybe not). The fella was lifting the covers up and doing weird poses while the woman was taking photos of him and the corpses.... Is that normal up there? Been afraid to ask all these years.
Well, the ex confirms that the horse photo op thing was real. Can't remember if multiple horses or just the one. I see 2 or 3 in my dim memory banks.
I was there when a rabbit got run over, it wasn't me honest, and in fact it was a car.
We'd just come down a long bridleway on a nightride, it crosses a fairly main road, and then continues the other side, and my mate and I had stopped for a car that was coming when a rabbit hopped out and got under the wheel.
But it only got the back half, enough to totally disable it but not kill it, and the wee thing was mewling and trying to drag itself away with its working front half. I looked at my mate and said - we can't leave it like that.
I'll always remember what he said.
"You're right. I'll hold your bike"
I'd never dispatched a rabbit and while conceptually I knew the gist, at that moment I developed an incalculable fear of overdoing it and pulling a rabbit's head off in front of passing traffic in the middle of the night, and being arrested for satanic ritualling or something.
So I went back up the bridleway and smashed its head hard against a fencepost.
Poor bunny.
