Tales from the Wood – The Diary of a Badger Watching Man

My wife called me up when I was at work the other day, and told me that she’d just seen a polecat crossing the road in front of her car as she drove through a nearby village.

Now, as I’ve mentioned before, my wife doesn’t quite share my obsession with the local wildlife, but she’s a sharp observer of things and she’s very familiar with the normal animals around here.  Make no mistake, she saw a polecat.  She described the ‘bandit mask’ on the face perfectly.

Polecats are not unknown in Bedfordshire, but they aren’t very common either.  They seem to be slowly re-establishing themselves.  I’d love to see a polecat.  The recent series of Springwatch that featured attempts to film polecats has really put them in the public eye.  It’s good to discover that they’re in the area.

Given my utterly unsuccessful attempts to locate the stoats that live down my road, I may well struggle to spot a polecat in another (unfamiliar) village, but if I can find the time then I’ll give it a go.

So, yet another new wildlife ambition for me then…