As some of you may know I have been hearing tales of wild Polecats on my local patch and over the past year I have gathered sightings from different areas around my local patch from across the road from where I live to the countryside on the edge of town.
Most of these sighting were from 2007 onwards and the habitat seems to be the same where rivers run near gardens and there is at least one pond near each sighting although these sightings are not recent I am hoping they will lead me to where they are now and by the looks of it they are going upriver to various housing areas near to scrub land.
Sightings are not exact and from 2007 to 2011 and map is to show distance between each sighting.
RED-Polecat sightings
BLUE-Home
Until this week I had no photo, video or footprint evidence of Polecats here and the photograph below was taken in 2007 in a garden near to my house and was taken in the daytime and lived under a neighbors shed but I am unsure whether it's a Polecat or a cross bred(Ferret/polecat) which is normally used by Hunters to get Rabbits so until I receive confirmation from the Mammal society it remains unknown but I think it's a cross breed.
How to identify
Polecats have a two-tone coat: dark
brown guard hairs cover a buff-coloured underfur. They have a distinct
bandit-like appearance with white stripes across their face. Polecats do
cross with escaped Ferrets; crosses tend to have lighter, creamier fur
on their back and more white on their faces, extending past their ears.
Polecats have short, dark tails and rounded ears.
I will post more photos and information in my next post and just a quick thank you to the Lady who kindly gave us copies of the photos.
Thanks for reading
Mike
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