Today and yesterday, I watched what I think are polecats at the bottom of the garden. They were playing in a large mound of cut grass, I counted four. At about 1900 hrs last night one of them skirmished around the edge of open ground and returned with a rat. It or another left following the same path some 15 minutes later and came back with a rabbit almost as big as itself.
I pulled myself away from the football as much as I could to continue watching and they stayed active until about 2145 when I made a cup of tea and went to watch again only to see nothing. I found a site online to report my sighting and did. Today I received a short email from a lady asking had I photographed or filmed what I saw, I replied that I hadn't as I was watching through binoculars from 75 yards away. I then received a reply saying "Thank you, I just thought I would ask".
When I told my landlord what I had seen (he is a retired farmer) he told me that they would not have been polecat but stoats. Now I have spent a lot of time on the internet today looking at pictures and watching films and also reading about polecats and where they are expected to be seen in the UK. Devon is not a place where you would expect to see them and I think that is why the lady who replied to my report of the sighting was so very brief in her answer.
Even though I may be wrong and they could be stoats I am still 99% certain they are polecats, they look like polecats, act like polecats so I believe they are. They don't have the same colouring as stoats and stoats don't have a mask.
I have been watching them again tonight but as it wasn't so warm and sunny they were not so active. One thing I did notice though, although they look almost adult size they are still immature. One of them was watching two large woodpigeon walking close to where he was but in open ground 15 yards away. He was in a crack between some large boulders with just his masked face showing. Right in front of him was a rabbit standing with his back to him. A perfect easy meal but what did he do, he broke cover and chased the pigeon's so caught nothing.
I wish I had a camera with a long lens so I could photograph them but at least I have had the pleasure of seeing them and probably will tomorrow too.
Ramble over. Goodnight
