Rat/vole ?

[Tobyh]

My immediate impression was mink also.

[valleyforge]

It is an american mink - Neovison vison. As dogghound pointed out, the white chin spot can be discerned in pictures 2 & 3 going clockwise around the montage, if you enlarge the photos in your browser.

However, this particular individual doesn't appear to me to be in the best condition ... there seems to be an angularity around the rear haunches that might suggest some degree of muscle wastage, and the tail isn't being borne at the typical healthy angle either, with an apparent kink near the base. These signs might perhaps be more indicative of injury than of disease, but in older mustelids in particular, rear-end wastage tends to be commonly related to the onset of adrenal or kidney problems, amongst other things.

What were your impressions based on how the animal was moving mrs1266200?

[~T~]

Kestrel

[mrs12662008]

Thanks for all your contributions, serious and otherwise.
I've looked elsewhere at images of american mink, and am now inclined to think that that was what I saw.
Although it was only visible between the rocks for a few seconds, it didn't seem to be in any particular hurry.
The photos are rubbish because I had set the camera in manual exposure, taking shots of different subject matter in the shadows.
For gluttons of bad photography, here are some 100% crops of the beast:



All the best.