New species

When I saw this animal relaxing in the bushes I was excited though confused - it was clearly a species I hadn't seen before - it wasn't clear which end was the front and which was the rear - presumably one end was designed to fool predators, but which end - they both looked as though they could be the front, though I think I would favour the right end!

click picture to enlarge

I wonder if anyone out there could help to identify this?

If it's any help it was spotted on the Somerset Levels in the UK early in January 2010, when there was a fair amount of snow about, though at the time of the photograph the snow had melted at this spot.

I wonder if the snow had vanished whilst the animal had been relaxing, so it suddenly became visible.