I was driving to work early this morning, and there, at the side of the road, was what looked very much like a dead polecat. It is true that most people don’t get excited by dead polecats, but I’m not like most people and this one was just a few hundred yards from my home. It was on the main road, just across from the field behind my house where I go for my little tracking walks and where I’ve seen possible polecat signs over the last year.
I get excited because polecats have gone from being extinct east of the Welsh Marches to re-colonising large parts of England. They still aren’t common though, so to have one (admittedly dead) on my doorstep is good news. The only good thing about roadkill animals is that where there is one, there’ll be other live ones nearby (with the possible exception of the dead wallaby a friend of mine came across in Buckinghamshire once – they’re probably quite rare).
There has to be a question mark over this polecat because although the size, shape and colour looked right, I didn’t actually get out of the car and examine it. I was on my way to work. I had a train to catch and I was in my best suit. I was booked in to carry out psychological assessments on senior executives from two well-known companies today, and it would not have been good to have turned up at the day job with a lingering aroma of dead polecat about me.
If it’s still there when I get home from work tomorrow I’ll go and have a proper look.
Tales from the Wood - The Diary of a Badger Watching Man 
Interesting that you post on this. I have seen two dead polecats/ferrets in recent months one of which is just outside Watton-at-Stone currently. Hope your suggestion is true and not escaped ferrets.
Hi Mark
Yes, we’ve had a few polecats around here over the past year. I found a previous road casualty a mile or so up the road, and being unsure I asked the Mammal Recorder to check out the photos, and he was confident it was pure polecat. I’ve had a fleeting glimpse of a live one, plus encouraging signs of scat in the local area. My fellow local wildlife blogger Steve showed great dedication in looking for the local polecats, and was eventually rewarded with a sighting (see http://bedfordshirewild.blogspot.com/2010/09/steppingley-woburn-road.html).
I think all the evidence points to polecats being on the increase. We’re getting confirmed reports over most of Bedfordshire, so I see no reason why yours couldn’t be polecats rather than ferrets. Of course the trick is to try to get a good view of a live one, which has proved more difficult so far…
All the best
BWM
spotted a polecat just disappearing into the long vergeside grass on A4012 just outside woburn on Sat 25/6/11. Amazed!!
Hi Enid and welcome
Good to hear that the polecats are alive and well in our part of Bedfordshire! It’s a good sign that they’re flourishing.
Thanks for sharing
BWM