By "natural" garden, I mean no unnatural predators ... like cats, dogs and humans!

I try not to do "too much" in the back garden, the boundary fences are heavily covered with natural ivy, briar roses, honeysuckle and some "tame" climbing roses. The borders are cultivated only at the front, the backs are left untouched - this is where the hedgehogs, shrews, voles etc. reside.

The dogs have supervised access to the back garden (it is only very small), mainly to chase out any cat - and no, they do NOT chase the cat inside the house. Any pet (including my daughters pet rabbits and hamsters) were always perfectly safe in the house, because the dogs consider them part of the pack and therefore to be protected, not chased. However, to give an example, Winkle was not safe from the dogs in the garden ... they would chase her.

And yes, if thrushes eat butterflies ... I have no idea whether they do or not, but seeing as they are carnivorous I see no reason why they should not ... then that is nature, just as it is nature for cats to chase thrushes. However, the difference is that the cat does not need to eat thrushes to survive, because she is well fed by her owner, my daughter.

I will continue to chase cats out of my garden, and I will continue to squirt them with my hose in the summer if and when they make the mistake of going up one of my trees to chase the birds!

I must apologise ... the COMMON shrew is just that apparently ... relatively common, although extremely rare out in fields. Their habitat is long grass, dense vegetation, hedgerows, woodland ... hence the reason they like my garden!!