Mink

[Rod Taylor]

Mink(3)

On our trip to the wood today Heather heard a noise and splash from our seasonal pond, and out popped a Mink which stopped just long enough to have its photo taken.
This is the first time we have seen them, and hope they are not snacking on our hibernating Dormice.

[Alex]

Where abouts in the country are you?

[Rod Taylor]

Alex
We are in East Sussex.
After severe bark damage to all our Oak trees a few years ago, if Mink like the taste of squirrel then perhaps they are not all bad. Have read that Mink are good climbers so perhaps can corner squirrels in their drays, or is that wishful thinking ??

Dormouse numbers were down last year, but it was a bad year nationally. Time will tell how many Dormice we find this year.

[Stephen1]

Hi Rod

Although mink are good climbers they are not in the class of Pine Martens, which are pretty much the only thing that can chase and catch a squirrel in the tree canopy - however there is some anecdotal evidence that they will raid the dreys of squirrels and take their young. On balance, from an ecological viewpoint, I'd trap and shoot mink if they were on my land.

One of the major predators on dormice is of course the grey squirrel - but unfortunately talk of grey squirrel control doesn't go down well with many on this forum - and for something so imperative this is disappointing.

Some good news is that recently pine martens have been finally confirmed to still exist in Wales - for some reason scientists don't trust farmer's reported sightings (I've seen one myself) and have waited until a corpse was found following a road collision.

[Alex]

I was always under the impression Mink were drawn to water channels rather than woods.

Not seen a pine marten around here, but plenty of stoats.

[Rod Taylor]

Thanks Stephen1

Was only hoping the Mink might climb the Larch and get to the dreys which are close to the main trunk. Happy to see grey squirrels in the wood, but trap to keep the numbers low enough to prevent more than minimal damage.
The southern boundary of the wood is a permanent gill stream, which is no doubt what brings the Mink to our wood. Have seen weasels in the wood but so far no stoats, but who knows what twitches in the undergrowth as we walk by. Heather was amused to watch the Mink run off then stop and stand upright to watch me walk by on a track some 30 feet further ahead before scampering on after I had passed.
Presumably Dormice will continue to evade being discovered while hibernating and we look forward to seeing how our population has survived when monitoring starts later in the year.

[Stephen1]

I don't recall anyone defending grey squirrels, and would have thought the case for a degree of control is overwhelming.

Well you're still a newbie here OCPaws - only having been here for a few months! - somehow it seems longer sigh....

A lot's changed in that time of course, surely only coincident with your arrival? The site used to have a far greater number of people actively posting. Since last summer when the register and feel of the place began to change lots of people at the more sensitive end of the spectrum have faded into the undergrowth. In the past though grey squirrel control has been quite an emotive topic here.

My perspective is that it's an unfortunate but necessary evil in almost all woodland situations.

[tracy]

we spotted a mink in our wood too, about a year ago now. Thankfully he has moved on, I know we wanted rid, but he was also so very cute to watch!