Saw this on my way home along the river bank last week.

Isn’t he cute.

Mum wasn’t far away, but didn’t want to come too close while I was there, so I backed off and sat down quietly to wait.

She circled round me, then led him off in to the hedge.

Mink?

Weasels are weasily recognised. Stoats are stotally different.

No idea what they are, but lovely pics. Hope T-J is wrong, as mink are a Bad Thing for other wildlife.

Googled mink images, and I think T-J is right… But they are cute.

I sense a Friday pun-down is on its way 🙂

Nice pics though MTQG!

Yes, I did wonder if they were Mink, or Pine Martins, or…

That’s the best picture I could get of the adult. She was pretty fast and obviously torn between avoiding me and rescuing her young.

Love it.

Those Mink are pretty merciless!

Little ferrety thing! 🙂

Check pon:

Isn’t it SWEEEET??? Bit bitey and smelly though. But very cute nonetheless.

Stoats and weasels are tiny tiny things, much smaller than that baby.

Bit bitey and smelly though

Well, if you want to belittle yourself……. 😉

Weasels are tiny, stoats not so.

Defo a mink. Stoats are about that size but have a white underbelly and are normally lighter brown. Weasels are about 9 inches long including the tail (tiny really).
Pine Marten also have a pale chin/underbelly, and aren’t normally around the midlands (look further north).

Mink have been around for a couple of decades in this country, and there seems to be plenty of rabbits for them to eat – but they are decimating animals like water voles (share the same sort of habitat). Not good news for the locals…….

Pine Marten also have a pale chin/underbelly, and aren’t normally around the midlands (look further north).

Self-sustaining pine marten colony in Wiltshire too now though but you’re right, they’ve generally got more light fur on them.

I still think mink 🙂

Yes, that’s a mink. Possibly courtesy of some genius who liberated its relatives, thus consigning untold numbers of rare native mammals and birds to their deaths. I believe even wild polecats give them a wide berth. They can be trapped relatively easily so perhaps give pest control a call.

I saw a wicked weasel on my post-work stroll last night…

8)

Well, I think it was. I only saw half of it.

My first thought was a mink.

Mink, vermin, kill kill kill.

I’ve just been checking a Weasel web site and didn’t see anything like that. 😈

Sorry graham,that’s a mink,and vermin of the highest order.The anim l lib people who set them free in the 60s-80s condemned a lot of native fauna to death.Cute little killers aren’t they?

Definitely Mink. Mustelidae, same family as Stoat, Weasel, Badger, Wolverine, Polecat. Viscious killer and predator, responsible for the decimation of huge numbers of water based wildlife, like Vole, duck, Moorhen, etc. They’re a North American alien species that, like the Grey Squirrel, has been irresponsibly introduced into our ecosystem which has no counter to it, apart from humans and Otter, where they overlap. Only Animal Rights activists would consider their actions to be perfectly reasonable in letting Mink into the wild.

Mink:

Polecat/ferret:
[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2185/5704314199_274f82899b_z.jpg[/img]

Pine Marten:
[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2563/5704383397_6422886083_z.jpg[/img]

AnalogueAndy so i wasn’t imagining it then.i was convinced that i saw a pine marten near to cherhill monument near devizes.but i just thought that they were all oop north 😉 i did check pics of them and it was a pine marten.i was well chuffed i can tell you 😀

Only Animal Rights activists would consider their actions to be perfectly reasonable in letting Mink into the wild.

Yup. The mistake some people make is to automatically assume that all animal rights activists are animal lovers. Whilst this may be true of some, in my experience a great deal, if not the majority, are motivated primarily by a hatred of other human beings and human society, and animals rights is merely a vehicle to express that.

They know full well the misery, pain, suffering, and eventual death, they often cause the animals they release, plus the devastating harm it causes native species. But they quite frankly couldn’t give a toss – it’s all the fault of mink farmers, animal laboratories, etc, and not their responsibility according to them. It’s a shame because animal rights and the need to minimise suffering to animals is a serious issue imo.

no relation of mine

I spy, with my beady eyes.

Pine Marten, along the road from Lochaline to Bunavullin.

esselgruntfuttock – cool as. I’d love to see one

… a great deal, if not the majority, are motivated primarily by a hatred of other human beings…

You forgot to mention that 29ers are no good on singletrack and all vegans are skinny.

That’s cause I said : “in my experience a great deal, if not the majority……”

I don’t have any experience with skinny vegans (I know a fat one though) and the only 29er that rides in my group of riders is myself – I don’t think that my poor riding skills can be honestly be put down to my bike.

But thanks for the tip on those two issues, I’ll certainly take it on board in the future 🙂