Stoats & Similar
We watched this stoat made a single
handed kill of this rabbit on
this patch of fallow vegetable bed. From the start of
the shrieks of
the rabbit to this picture, when the rabbit was dead,
took about
three minutes. The stoat ran away, but 5 minutes later
the rabbit's
body had vanished, presumably dragged into the nearby
hedge to be
eaten.
Like most carnivores there are plusses and minuses. A resident stoat should help keep the rabbits under control, but sadly will raid the nests of Moorhens, Ducks etc.
A much less welcome visitor is this Mink. This
is not a native of the UK, but has been farmed
here for fur. There have been escapes from fur farms
over many years. More recently they
have been mass released by animal activists. While
ourselves detesting the whole animal
abuse scene, we feel these people have not really
thought through the full consequences of
their actions on British wildlife.
This one bolted into a gap between a water butt (of which there are many - we try to collect all of our rainwater for use in the ponds) and a planter. After appearing for this picture, it backed off and promptly vanished.
On 23 Feb 2005 this
Polecat took its own photo 3 times at about 4 a.m.
This is the only view of the face
showing the facial mask. The mask is rather light and
identification has been questioned, but we have a confirmation
that it is a genuine Polecat in Winter coat.