Polecats

Description:

The polecat's recovery in Britain is one of the least celebrated wildlife success stories of recent times, probably because it has done it discreetly and all by itself with no active human involvement. This much-persecuted member of the weasel family has been spreading from its Welsh stronghold to recolonise its former range. After explaining how we so nearly lost the polecat, the author tells the story of its recovery and describes efforts to understand polecat behaviour, including his own radio-tracking study. He unpicks the confusing relationship between polecats and ferrets, explores the challenges of studying a secretive, nocturnal mammal that leaves few distinctive signs, examines the role of wild rabbits as the perfect polecat prey and providers of polecat resting sites, and celebrates the contributions of amateur naturalists in collecting road casualties to monitor the polecat's changing distribution.