Polecat in my garden !

[leifus]

awesome - what a great suprise

[Chilti]

Thanks everone for your replies, I have seen it again this weekend, but this time running across a road about 1/2 mile from our house, I could'nt tell you if it's a polecat or an escaped ferret. It's a lot fatter than the stoat and probably 2 or 3 inches longer. I'm hoping he is just passing through as I would'nt want anything to threaten the stoat, also I think the small rodent population has enough to worry about with the cat, stoat, owls and a pair of young kestrels which seem to be using a tree in my garden as a spotting perch. I now take my camera with me every time I go in the garden but most things are too quick for my ageing reflexes.

[Nightranger]

I believe there is some debate about whether polecats in the area are genuine wild individuals. I lived in the area for a time and although my suspicion is that at best, the animals have been deliberately introduced (even if they are wild-type) because the nearest wild populations are on the Welsh borders. However, before I am accused of cynicism there are quite a few people in the area that think these could be genuinely wild polecats. I am not sure if this is true for polecat/ferrets but most creatures revert to wild-type if they are allowed to breed without further input of captive genes through further introductions/releases/escapes. Whatever the situation, they are cracking creatures and there is certainly enough prey out there.

[Rob_D]

Nightranger, I think the situation has changed dramatically in the Midlands and South in the last 30 years. The Distribution and Status of the Polecat Mustela Putorius in Britain in the 1990s.

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

Yes a large male stoat and a small female polecat will have not a great deal of size between them. It depends on who lives there and who is passing through, or if they both have territorys there. I would have thought that there would be a certain degree of tolerance within an area if food is in good supply.

Can't comment on wild polecats, but I do know that stoats will flee from a domestic polecat/ferret whenever they encounter them. If a rabbit is bolted from a warren and manages to make it to another warren, it's highly inadvisable to try to bolt it again as invariably the rabbit simply will not bolt, the ferret kills the rabbit and one often has to dig both ferret and dead rabbit out - a pain if the warren is 6ft deep! A stoat on the other hand, in similar circumstances, will bolt time and time again, preferring to flee rather than fight. Rabbits can injure ferrets by giving them a hefty kick with their back legs, and I've seen brown rats fight jill ferrets out of a warren on occasions, but I've never heard of a stoat prepared to do battle with a ferret - odd, as one would imagine a lightening-fast dog stoat would be more than a match for any jill polecat.

Jonathan

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Can't comment on wild polecats, but I do know that stoats will flee from a domestic polecat/ferret whenever they encounter them. If a rabbit is bolted from a warren and manages to make it to another warren, it's highly inadvisable to try to bolt it again as invariably the rabbit simply will not bolt, the ferret kills the rabbit and one often has to dig both ferret and dead rabbit out - a pain if the warren is 6ft deep! A stoat on the other hand, in similar circumstances, will bolt time and time again, preferring to flee rather than fight. Rabbits can injure ferrets by giving them a hefty kick with their back legs, and I've seen brown rats fight jill ferrets out of a warren on occasions, but I've never heard of a stoat prepared to do battle with a ferret - odd, as one would imagine a lightening-fast dog stoat would be more than a match for any jill polecat.

Jonathan

Interesting, its as i would have expected due to the polecat being larger. It is an occurance with many predators with similar habitats and habits for one to avoid the other, usually the smaller one backing down.

[Nightranger]

Originally Posted by Rob_D

Nightranger, I think the situation has changed dramatically in the Midlands and South in the last 30 years. The Distribution and Status of the Polecat Mustela Putorius in Britain in the 1990s.

Thanks Rob,

Part of me likes to be optimistic but on the other hand, I have seen too many alternative explanations when good news stories have come out in the past. I am a confirmed Mustelid fanatic so I hope they come back anyway. In this case, the captive genes may not be adverse to a wild setting other than the purists not liking the captive colour morphs so it may not be so critical how polecats make it back into our countryside. The one thing that concerns me is that captive morphs in the countryside will give an easy opportunity for people to dump unwanted pets (a potential welfare nightmare) so reintroduction of wild morphs would still be the better option. Jersey has quite a number of feral ferrets and whilst not necessarily as conservation issue, they are clearly captive escapees and there could be similar local parallels on the mainland. Great topic to talk about though.