Not just for Mink…..

As usual, Monday started with a look around the reserve.  Going out onto the Wetland to check how Lark and Taurus were doing, the persistent calling of a juvenile Buzzard was enough to keep both adults busy.  Further round,stopping off at the Easy Access Hide gave a good opportunity to also see the progress of some other youngsters and the four Little Grebe chicks were being given full attention from both parents.

Unfortunately, the chicks positioned themselves very nicely to be obscured by the vegetation but the adults did pose for a couple of shots before disappearing.

As part of the Monday routine, checking the Mink rafts is on the list of things to do.  With new rafts and new clay cartridges, it would be interesting to see if this had made any difference.  Clearly they had or it had been a very busy weekend.

With six rafts to look at, the first two showed no signs of any activity but after that there was evidence of several different users.  The raft checked at the head of the lake showed where Moorhen had been walking across the clay.  More surprising was the four-toed prints with no sign of claws.  The only mammal likely to be found at Foxglove with four toes and retractable claws is a Cat.

The next raft showed obvious use before even checking the clay cartridge.  Small cigar-shaped droppings were on one end of the raft, and one was also on the clay.  The prints are much smaller and several showed the three central toes and one splayed out either side to confirm that the droppings came from a Water Vole.

The final raft had larger prints inside, most likely from where the animal had crawled inside the tunnel on the raft.  Again this one was four-toed, so not one of the American Mink, Stoat, or Weasel (which all show five toes in a print as clear as this one) and too big for any of those but this time with clear signs of claws. 

The toes are splayed out suggesting that there was a lot of pressure put on them as the animal was investigating the raft, and so they are wider than if found when the creature is walking.  The size, number of toes and space between the toes and pad suggest that a Fox had been around.  Clearly the Mink rafts are not the exclusive preserve of Mink.  In fact, thankfully, not one print found on any raft was of American Mink.