Topic: think we got mink!

[marestail murderer]

yesterday...while pottering about on the plot........i came across several half eaten carcasses of fish in varying sizes..........
as i stood there wondering where the heck they had come from.....i realised i was being watched by a ferret like creature..........but a little bigger than a "normal" ferret
it soon moved as i made towards it...but having kept ferrets in my younger years i realised that this was no ferret/polecat..............
then a fellow plot holder told me of the release of mink from a nearby mink farm by the animal rights people......and that he had lost all his chickens to mink ......
he/she was certainly a stunning creature though..............shining in the sunlight.........just wish he/she would stop leaving half eaten fish in my potato beds.......lol

mind you....thinking about it...............im a third of the way to a good fertilizer arnt i?

[Robert_Brenchley]

Mink are attractive animals, but monstrously destructive; they're responsible for the  near-disappearance of the water vole. Fortunately, as otters become commoner again, they're squeezing them out.

[greenscrump]

could it be a stoat ?? we have one/some on our site but never seen it - doesn't seem to be helping to reduce the rabbit population either......  ::)

[Robert_Brenchley]

What colour was it? Killing fish is typical mink, but rather unlike a stoat.

[Carol]

A Stoat is not very big and very slim.  So doubt it will be the Stoat.  The weasel is even thinner than a stoat. 

[marestail murderer]

the animal wasnt a stoat or weasel..........ive seen both these before and this was a biggie compared to those!.colour was dark brown/blackish.........with a flash of white on the chin and upper chest..
why do these things always happen when you havent access to a camera!

apparently......according to some of the older guys on the site...mink have been around the plots for quite some time......we back onto a river.......and they seem to be using this as a thourougfare to get to wild swampland further round a bend in the river
ive googled the mink...and must admit pics on there look very similar to the guy i saw..........

keeping the camera handy now...........just in case..........because this guy wasnt that shy.............i must have watched him/her for a good 90 seconds before he fled.........