I saw a baby mink yesterday!!!

[Debbie]

Last night I was feeding Blossom and Dundee in their barn. I'd given Blossom her hay, and one flake to Dundee and then I walked back to open a new bale of hay when I saw 'it'. It was zooming in and around some equipment we have stored in the second barn and it was lightning fast!

At first I thought vole, then I thought perhaps it was a baby ground squirrel. We had a couple late last year that denned in our first barn, and I'm still waiting for them to re emerge.

Zip! Dash! Zoom! What are you?? Then it finally slowed down enough for me to see ~ a baby mink! As cute as could possibly be, all of maybe 4 inches long from nose to tail tip, deep chocolate with a creamy coloured bib. It bounced out from the equipment, pounced towards my boots, then bounded away again.

I'm sure it's mother would have pitched a hissy fit if she could see, but in the manner of all babies, this one was completely fearless. It dashed around and was difficult to see for most of the time, but it slowed enough as it bounded and pounced circles around my boots, cute as a button!

We don't have chooks, nor ducks, only our Guinea Hen who roosts very high up at night and can take care of herself. My outside barn cat, Mister, has retired from his guarding duties and now resides indoors, so I'm delighted to see the mink return this year. They're wicked fast and do a wonderful job of killing the mice, voles and rats that try to come into the barns.

It's a lot like having a loose ferret around. They're fairly clean, nosey as all get out, but the do keep the rodents out. Besides, it's incredibly rare for anyone to see a mink here, and it's the first time I've ever seen a baby. Sooo tiny and a perfect miniature of it's mum

At one point, it zipped over towards Blossom and she moved, so I feared she'd squashed it thankfully she's really good about babies (she got all gooey when Oogway was introduced to her as a baby) and she stood rock solid.  She knows the baby is there and she and Dundee are very careful with their feet. So was I, I was afraid I'd walk and have it zip under my boot.

Here's a link to a data page on our mink:

www.nhptv.org/natureworks/mink.htm

Last year when we moved in, I first bumped into the mink that live here. The previous owners thought I was nuts or imagining things when I told them I'd seen one in the barn, until the afternoon I was chatting with the wife and daughter and out popped the mink, bright as buttons and off it zoomed into the house after all my years of making real fur teddy bears, yes, I know a mink when I see one.

At least unlike the elk, these little guys are neat and clean and don't damage anything. They're welcome here anytime

[tomasnrichy]

Aww cute, cute, cute x
Oops it's Valerie on Richys profile

[Fi]

lol Valerie, am sure Richy would say it's cute too....

what a lovely little interaction you had with it Debbie.

[harveydales]

Aww what a lovely encounter. Nice to se them in their natural environment.

We have a problem with mink in this area as many years ago there was a mink farm a few miles away and a lot escaped, causing problems for us chicken keepers. They are still around so not an animal I want to meet in our garden but perhaps I should look on them as good for keeping the rat and mice population down.

[colmworthdales]

Yes - Debbie - lovely for you to see one. However, as you probably know over this side of the Pond they are a real menace after escaping from various fur farms. They have been responsible for decimating our Water Vole (Ratty from Wind in the Willows) and river stocks of fish. We do have feral Ferrets about but the Mink are trapped constantly on our waterways and numbers are certainly not increasing.

The only one I have seen was dead on the road in Lincs (south of Sleaford) near a waterfilled ditch but a long way from a proper stream. I stopped the car and went back to investigate and it certainly was not a ferret. I also found the decimated skeleton of an animal in our hay barn last spring which might have been a mink - and again we are a long way from running water!

[dalesnfellfan]

Yes we have a problem with them round here and they've been responsible for killing chickens and pet rabbits and Guinea pigs, but I think the worst part as Kate says is that they kill some of our endangered species like the water vole, that's the problem when species are released into a country where they have no or few predators. What's fine and cute in their native country can be a problem where they're not supposed to be.

It is lovely to see them playing though, some years ago we spent a very entertaining hour watching 2 baby weasels playing on and around a wood pile in our garden, never seen any since though.

[Debbie]

Yes I know they're a real menace for anyone keeping fowl, but our area is so ridiculously over run with all sorts of predators that we threw out the idea of having chooks immediately. Hubby wanted to keep a free roaming flock, but I doubt they'd even get passed the chick phase. We have hawks and eagles, cougars and if those don't get the chooks, the mink, coyotes and wolves surely would.

I'm curious, though, these mink farms in the UK, are they using the American mink? I know there's a different one that's supposed to be native to Europe at least, but not certain if they are native to the UK?

I agree about escaped animals being a real menace to the native wildlife. People in the state of Florida thought having boas were wonderful for years, but so many have escaped into the wild and they've made such short work of the native animals

...editing to say, at least these mink are native to our area and in their natural habitat with our creeks, and rivers running round us. Plus my fields are riddled with voles so I'm cheering our hawks and mink anytime they catch one.

[cadeby]

May 9, 2014 12:52:26 GMT -1 Debbie said:

I'm curious, though, these mink farms in the UK, are they using the American mink? I know there's a different one that's supposed to be native to Europe at least, but not certain if they are native to the UK? ....

The fur farms in the UK used American mink, as they are bigger than the European species (so a bigger pelt) but mink farming was banned in the UK in the early 2000s and all the fur farms were closed. It is estimated there are now more than 100,000 feral American mink in the UK. They are classed as vermin and can be legally shot or trapped but hunting them with hounds was banned in 2005.

The European mink is now rare, due to a combination of factors including loss of habitat to land drainage, over hunting for its fur in eastern Europe, loss of food due to the reduction in the population of European Crayfish, competition with the American mink, and inter-breeding with the European Polecat. We have seen polecats on our farm, usually stalking our chickens and ducks and they have been in a wide range of colours, so I think they may be mink hybrids?

We get Pine Martens as well. Much cuter and native so I'm happy to see them

[Debbie]

Oh no! I can't believe they allowed the fur trade to begin with, but they should have used whatever native species of mink or polecat was there.

It's one thing for us to have the farms here in America with our native mink, but for an island nation like the UK ...yikes! I would want the country to be hyper vigilant to not allow non native species in. There are so many cases of tropical islands being decimated by rats, or rabbits, stray dogs and cats and the like where the wildlife and flora suffer so badly.

We have pine martens here too, and Fishers, though those are much larger. Eldon saw one of those on a trail to Crater Lake I love seeing them, but don't fancy bumping into one in the barns.

[heathera]

I'm so glad you have Pine Martens there too as the feral mink here have killed off most of the martens round us Thanks to a good trapping and culling campaign the mink are under better control so I hope to see native species coming back. One of the main problems was people liberating mink from fur farms. Many starved to death and others laid waste to the native animals in the surrounding countryside, I was so pleased when the fur farms were banned.

We do have a problem with I ported fur from countries were animals are treated in ways you and I can't even imagine. There's lots of cat fur coming in from some areas It's why I won't ever buy real fur stuff and refused to get in a lift with a student wearing a dead animal around her neck a couple of weeks ago.

It does seem that you have a large amount of predators Debbie! It's obviously a very verdant ecosystem where you live.

[Debbie]

There's always going to be escaped animals from any farm, no matter how careful you are. Add to the mix people who think they are doing good by 'liberating' a non native predator and what a nightmare I'm glad to hear you have culling and trapping to stem the tide, but what a mess. It's more difficult to clean up afterwards than to prevent them from entering in the first place.

As for the unscrupulous fur trade I've heard about cats being used for the industry. I've debunked a few coats that have been touted as cat (they were really rabbit), but others, I think were cat and since they were out of Asia, I wouldn't doubt it. It's sick what some people will do for money.

I haven't seen the mink since that day I spotted the baby in the barn, but I'm sure they're around. I rarely see them, which was why it was a delight for me to see the baby. Probably a once in a lifetime experience for me

I was curious about the pine martens because I didn't think I'd seen one of those in the wild and I haven't. I found a YouTube video of an American Pine marten up in Banff, Canada, so way oop north of us. it reminds me a LOT of Oogway! The rounded ears, markings, expressions and way it moves is very much like Oogway.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8COifd5_G8

I also did a lot of reading about your European pine martens and hoorrahhh!! I loved to hear they pushed back those grey squirrels. I like grey squirrels, they can be real characters, but they've shoved the red squirrels out of a lot of territory because they're much larger. It's nice to know Nature provided a predator for them to keep the greys in check and give the red squirrels a fighting chance

I'm surprised the mink can overpower a pine marten, European or American. They seem much larger than the mink, but perhaps the farmed ones that got loose are larger than my little dinky native ones?