Sussex Scrapbook
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Nature walks throughout the year
Friday
8th June 2007
Pulborough Brooks - Three stoats in a pipe
A quiet trip to Pulborough Brooks by myself turned out to be very exciting. I
stumbled across three young stoats (Mustela erminea)
playing amongst some pipes next to a horse
trough. They didn't seem to mind me being there at all. One of them who also
seemed to be the most
adventurous one, had a large wound on his front leg. It looked really bad but it didn't seem to be
slowing him down much. While I was watching, a lady came along the path.
I motioned for her to be slow and quiet and together we watched them for about
10 minutes.
Who wouldn't be mesmerised by these incredibly cute and fascinating creatures?
How cute is that?!
How to tell a stoat from a weasel - Stoats are bigger and
have a black tip to their tail. Weasels are also extremely fast moving
creatures. You will usually only have a tiny glimpse of one before it disappears
again.
I consider myself very blessed to have seen these wild,
elusive creatures, playing together as if they had not a care in the world.