Tim writes: I was walking in an area of felled forestry plantation near my home and I heard a funny noise that sounded like a cross between a squeak and a growl. I stood still and watched and this female Stoat appeared from an old brash pile just a few metres away. I stood and watched for more than an hour and she made about six hunting forays but I could hear the kits making that curious noise while she was away. Sometimes she disappeared for about 10 minutes, and sometimes she stood vigilant for danger at the den entrance. The second photograph shows her taking a short nap while guarding the den entrance.
She must have been exhausted provisioning for her family as she hunts by day and night, and the male doesn’t (usually) take any part in hunting for the family. I never actually saw the kits but I could hear them growling under the brash pile. Stoats have a litter of 4-8 kits and they are dependent on their mother for 3-4 months.
Incidentally this was taken with a 420mm lens at f5.6 and is barely cropped. You can see how close she was as the line of focus takes in only her face.
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Stoats – skilled and determined hunters one minute, springing about randomly like lunatics the next. If I go a week or two without seeing one I really miss it. Like Weasels they are long overdue general legal protection. Before anyone grumbles, upland keepers can still keep their numbers low, simply by taking responsibility for the rabbit plagues they create by wiping out the Foxes.
Stoats are infrequently sighted here these days, as are rabbits.
On the only occasion i have seen a Stoat transporting an egg, rolling it along with its head at the time, was early one October. It was a Pheasants egg, and therefore non too fresh.
Yet to witness one tackling an egg. Just the other day I was leaning on a farm gate, a Rabbit shot through right at my feet at full pelt followed by a Stoat that continued it’s pursuit about 50yds into the open field – crazy! It is Weasels that I see fewer and fewer of these days.
We have a number of red squirrels at our home in Scotland and We regularly see a stout which comes onto our decking. We hope that the stoat will not kill any of the red squirrels, but we have seen the Stoat chasing one of the squirrels.