Shrewed

This poor little chap or chappesse appeared at my feet this afternoon. Flossie licked it gently trying to bring it back to life but the wee thing was cold, dead, deceased, fallen off it's perch, gone.

Wiki has the following ;
The shrew's carnivorous and insectivorous diet consists mostly of insects, slugs, spiders, small mice and worms. Shrews need to consume 200-300% of their body weight each day in order to survive. A shrew must eat every two to three hours to achieve this goal. This means that a shrew may starve if it finds no food for as little as 5 hours. They do not hibernate in the winter months because their bodies are too small to hold sufficient fat reserves.

Unable to hibernate it must work to live. I have palpated the stomach area and it is empty, hardly any organs can be felt so it must have starved to death, which is quite surprising as there is quite a diverse amount of food available alongside the river bank.

Have a look.