Look what I found, but what is it?

Can't see its tail but it may be a Pygmy Shrew | The Wildlife Trusts

Yes I thought a shrew too...oh poetic that!

Yep, looks like a pygmy shrew to me too

Yeah it looks like a shrew by the looks of the pics you guys have shown me. Are these good for the garden? I found 2 more in the nest.

I also found a nest of baby rats under a hay bale, they look newly born, like a few days. What should I do to "dispose" of them? I feel so guilty but I dont want to be over run with them again.

Oh and what should I do with the shrews? Ive took the raised bed to bits, do you think if I pad a massive pot out with soild and hay and put them back in the place I found them they will be ok?

Aah they're pretty cute!

Only one way to deal with rats Jen!

I know, I know but I feel so guilty. I hate killing anything

Does this help you decide?
A female rat can mate as many as 500 times with various males during a six-hour period of receptivity—a state she experiences about 15 times per year. Thus a pair of brown rats can produce as many as 2,000 descendants in a year if left to breed unchecked. (A rat matures sexually at age three to four months.) An average rat's life span is two to three years.

Found a big rat dead on the patio this morning, the poison is working .........

Yep, definitely get rid of those rats.
I often find shrews here..I think they are so cute they will feed straight out of your hand.

That's definitely a Shrew you've found but not sure what species ~ Common or Pygmy? Good news is that they are insectivores so eat bugs, slugs and worms and NOT your plants!

The garden next to our flat is a jungle (been empty for 8 years and brambles & roses are over the 7ft wall now!!!) and my two cats love it in there and are forever bringing me wee presents....including quite a few live Shrews! A few weeks ago at 3am I was trying to catch one particularly lively individual in a plastic tub as he whizzed between shoes at the bottom of the stairs. Just when I thought I'd cornered him he did a massive jump and started climbing the stairs!!! He was on the fourth one up before I caught him hahaha. Both cats, Lily & Chilli, were sitting watching at the top......I'm sure they do it deliberately to get some sort of amusement from The Daft Humans I quickly got dressed and took the shrew along to the field next to the church to release him and as I walked along (it's barely 200yds from our flat) a police car passed by and stopped and one officer wound the window down to ask what I was doing out at 3.10am in the morning. Holding up the plastic tub I said ''Cats!'' and he just laughed. They parked up and waited until I'd released the shrew and walked back home before driving off. Alnwick's a pretty quiet rural town so it probably livened up a boring night's patrol.

As to the baby rats.....I'm like you and hate to kill anything but unfortunately in this case I think you'll have to otherwise you'll be run over with them Is there any other plot holder who could do it for you?

Shrews are voracious insectivores and will keep your slugs and other crawlies down.

Gilly - that's the cats way of saying that you're not pulling your weight and need practice catching things, like they do with kittens. By the sounds of it they're right.

P.s. as for the rattlings something quick and painless. If you have something like Shrikes or other predators in your area you could leave the (now dead) rattlings out for them so at least they are in the food cycle.

Monday night's offering from Chilli (at 1am!!!) was the biggest Wood Mouse I have ever seen!!! Very handsome male specimen.....and very dead unfortunately I told Chilli she was a clever girl but to stop bringing stuff back, gave her some food to distract her and chucked the mouse over the wall back into The Jungle.....then went back to bed.

Two hours later at 3.30am I heard a squeak and this time it was Lily and she had a gift for me which she deposited on the floor beside the bed Putting the light on I saw that it was the same Wood Mouse I had chucked out earlier!!!! I told Lily that I KNEW it was Chilli's mouse and distracted her with some Dreamies and, this time, put it in our bin!