Bog Myrtle & Peat

Although I had read it in books and online, I was never entirely sure what weasels actually ate. It wasn’t until a weasel carried his dinner directly into one of my spring traps that I knew for certain. Checking my pitifully small arrangement of traps this afternoon, I peered into the recesses of the tunnel which had ensnared the ermine a few weeks ago and saw that the trap had sprung. As I lifted the wooden tunnel and removed the pegs, I had the chance to look down on a fine female weasel. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that something was wrong with its head, and as I lifted the trap, I found that the little blighter had been carrying a field vole in its mouth as the trap had sprung.

Unlike the other weasels and stoats I have caught in that trap, this weasel had come in from the other side, across the open gateway, and it must have done it like a labrador carrying a cock pheasant. Although I inspected it closely, the vole had no injuries at all, and it seemed like the weasel had just grabbed it and made off with all due haste. I wanted to keep the vole, but made the mistake of showing it to my ferrets, who immediately grabbed it and finished the job the weasel had started by eating it whole.

It makes sense that weasels make most of their living catching voles, and given that the farm is filled with vole friendly grasses, it is no wonder that I have caught far more weasels than stoats. In theory, I should have no quarrel with weasels, but it is well known that they are opportunistic hunters and would never turn down the chance to take birds’ eggs or nestlings. Although black grouse are probably fairly safe from weasels, the same can’t be said for some of the smaller songbirds, and part of the remit for my project is to support every bird species wherever I can.