A Little Visitor in my Office Today

[RegMolehusband]

I work from home in the country. The door opens onto the back garden and is left open most of the time in the summer.

Our dog was having a kip in his usual position under a desk to my left on top of a pile of cushions when he suddenly jumped up and started going daft trying to get into the corners of the office and behind cabinets. I noticed a little brown furry face look out at my from behind a couple of guitars and quickly duck back in again. It looked very slim and un-rat-like.

So I got the crazy dog out and sat stock still for a few minutes. Then this head popped out again and looked at me and around the room. Because I was sitting still I clearly didn't register on its radar. So it cautiously edged out onto the floor head up high sniffing the air, it was a stoat or weasel about 8 inches long, reddy brown with a white chest. It was just 5 feet away from me.

It then shot for the door at a high rate of knots and covered 30 feet to beneath a bush faster than I could have covered the ground!

Very cute and nice to see - though no doubt it was off to murder and consume some fledglings or something.

[Jasandjules]

Very nice.

It's one of the reasons I like living in the country, sometimes see them by the roads etc.. and have taken the odd emergency brake to not run them over when they decide to cross...

[Y282]

in case you need to know the difference, a weasel's weasely spotted, but a stoat's stoataly different.

yes, i know, the door's that way.

[Toyowner]

Cant remember it, but theres a rhyme about how to tell,one is bigger and one has a black tipped tail.


Im not much use really am I?

Always nice to see wildlife about though.

[prand]

One of my favourite wild animal experiences was when I came across a mother stoat crossing a road with half a dozen or so youngsters. She had hopped up the kerb the other side no problem, but forgot her youngsters wouldn't be able to get up the 6 inch kerb and they were running back and forth in a terrible panic. I stepped in and used my hat (sounds a bit victorian but I was wearing a baseball cap), and scooped most of them on their way apart from a couple who were little fighters and were trying to bite my fingers. I got them all over the kerb and off they went.

They are cool little things like small snakey cats.

[Lippitt]

Stoats are bigger and have the black tip. My bf once rescued one that the cat brought in, and before I could yell he picked it up with his bare hands! Blood and screams and his disbelief because 'it looked so cute' later, he was in A&E getting a tetanus.
I like to remind him of this quite often.

[Y282]

"fk off"