Thursday 29 April 2010

Something is lurking out there and nothng is safe....


Nothing is safe neither furred, feathered nor finned. There lurks a danger in the moat and not even the frogs are safe. What can it be?
At first we thought it was a bird doing the killing perhaps the Sparrowhawk or one of the Owls. All we would find would be piles of fluff, or feathers and then we found the scales, the remains of a Crucian Carp. But nothing else.
Then we started to find the bodies - a half eaten carcass here and a half devoured moorhen chick there. Nests were suddenly empty or abandoned. Where were the water voles? Where were the ducklings? There was even a strange lack of rabbits around.
In the space of two weeks this little haven has become like the Marie Celeste – nothing is safe and it won’t be long before my chickens are the next course and it’s NOT going to happen.
A fox or two I can deal with; they kill but not like this.
We have mink.
Unlike most wild animals, mink will kill even when they are not hungry. Rabbits, ducks, water voles, shrews, fish, frogs, crayfish, eels, moorhens, rats, birds and eggs are all taken by the mink.
And now whenever I hear a flurry of wing beats and a harsh call from the ducks in the middle of the night I will know it’s out there getting closer to my chickens and how do I protect them? Something that can run down a water vole will look at my pathetic attempts to secure the chooks and laugh - it will be an open invitation. There might as well be a red neon light flashing above the coop saying “Finger Lickin’ Chicken Here!” “Free!” and “For Limited Time Only!” and I though all I had to be frightened of was Bird Flu!!!!
So what do I do now? Call in the Cavalry I suppose – get Ferry to do the dirty. It’ll be right up his street why are young men so blood thirsty? He was such an angelic looking boy when we first met him…but that’s another story.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mink are cruel beasts and definitely do not belong in the English countryside.

But I think you may 'need' a new fur coat.....

Tattieweasle said...

Mud - Absolutely! (oohhhh I do feel wicked for sayng that....)

Liz (LivingwithKids) said...

Oh my goodnesss Mink. Very exotic. What are you going to do? Maybe see if an animal sanctuary somewhre will take them?

Gappy said...

I'd only ever heard of mink in relation to fur coats before. I had no idea they were so deadly.

Tattieweasle said...

Liz(livingwithKids) - I don't think the animal sanctuary would take them as they really are really vicious. I'm sorry to say we'll have to trap and kill it now that it knows where we are. A fox you can scare away a mink well...even I would be afraid fo one of those!
Gappy - Utterly evil. It's such a shame as I am usually a live and let live sort of creature but not with these guys!

Lou Archer said...

Wow, a premeditated 'mur-dah' (Taggart voice please)...love it. Slinky-Minkies are very horrid things, must be dealt with v quick. We've got a fox lurking at the moment and 3 chooks went from farm down the lane....Good luck Tattie.

Anonymous said...

Bloody hell...I'm the biggest animal lover ever but that thing has gotta go!

Expat mum said...

At the risk of sounding very ignorant (I'm a city girl), I didn't even think mink were indigenous to the UK. Well, perhaps Scotland. What?

Ladybird World Mother said...

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!! Hate mink... horrid things. I think you and Mud are absolutely right... time for a new coat. xx

Molly said...

Beginning to think that mink coats aren't such a bad idea after all!

Tattieweasle said...

Lou - crossing fingers that the mink will not want to come up tonight as all on my own with boys. Don't fancy a confrontation. Hope the old foxy stays away. ONly thing I can recommend is to pee all round the hen house, foxes hate that!
muummmmeeeeee - yup it 's either me or it and I am supposedly the one at the top of the food chain. Problem is will it know that!!!!
Expat Mum - I think they were once. These ones come courstey o fthe animal rights group that set them free from a fur farm to wreak havoc on the other animals about a decade ago. We've only just got otters back here so the conservationists are also trying to hunt it down.
Ladybird World Mother - yep fur coat, ok it's not that big fur muff? Don't think I am being desperately PC her am I...but when I'm cornered or should I say when my chickens are cornered.....
molly golver - mink are fine I suppose in their right place but not here!

diney said...

cruel little things aren't they, but what are you going to do? Difficult. I have my Mum's mink coat and hat tucked away under the bed for pc reasons - perhaps I will wear it after all next winter!!!

Lanny said...

Weasels, not good, definitely around poultry. Our rat terriers have gotten a few and that seems to have set the rest to packing. We lost eggs like crazy to the buggers when they had nothing to fear.

Anonymous said...

I know exactly what you mean in this post - we had a lot of fish (Koi) and first a Mink got some and then an Otter finished them off.

I've just found your blog via the Dorset Cereals site, and am glad I did. I'll add it to my feed reader.

Val

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