This morning I went to my local nature reserve with the intention of trying to get an image of a Kingfisher. On my last brief visit here I caught a quick flash of blue, so I went to set up a few branches over the river and find somewhere to sit up. Only a few yards from the car and I disturbed a deer which stood around long enough for me to get an image; a good start to the day. Half an hour later and I had found a perfect location under a fallen tree by the river bank, which was on a bit of a bend and allowed me some good views in both directions.

Right next to me in the mud were some fresh tracks, but tracks that I didn’t recognise and I grabbed a quick photo with my phone so I could try and identify the prints when I get home. No sooner had I put my phone away I saw exactly what had made these prints, an American Mink on the river bank opposite me. It was totally oblivious to my presence and was in and out of gaps in the rocks hunting for what ever it could find. I managed to get a few images of it before it disappeared from sight.

Although a stunning animal, Mink are ruthless killers and are partly responsible for the drop in the numbers of our native Water Voles. Once the Mink had disappeared then a few other animals made an appearance including a Grey Squirrel and a Yellow Wagtail at the waters edge.

Happy that I had found a decent place to hide up on future visits I made my way home to report my sighting to the relevant authorities. The Environment Agency weren’t interested and I was directed to the Non Native Species Secretariat, where the procedure for reporting a Non Native Species is simply using the i-record app. I attached some of my photos of the mink to my sighting and a couple of days later my sighting was confirmed by an expert. I am now in the process of persuading the land owner to capture or eliminate the Mink.

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