Small wonder

This misty morning, after surveying the copious evidence of someone’s haze-inducing, lager session at the viewing shelter, I was walking back to along on Buddleia Trail to fetch a rubbish bag when I spotted a movement way ahead on the path. The brown critter scurrying across into the border at first made me think “rat” for a millisecond, until I realised it was much more slender and nippy. Armed with neither my spectacles nor binoculars I froze and waited. To my surprise it re-emerged and continued its frantic exploration of the margins and hedges, zapping from one side of the path to the other, all the while getting closer. A weasel!

There's no better reason, I thought, to put off the trash management for a while, sit still and watch one of these determined little hunters at work. As the wrens voiced their protest to this unwelcome visitor it got to within about 20ft of me before diving into the scrub. My optimism that it might re-emerge even closer wasn’t to be rewarded, but as I resumed my way down the path a check behind me yielded one last glimpse a few yards up the path. It’s not a commonplace sighting for me – perhaps, I wondered, the weasel’s bigger cousin will be similarly obliging and reveal itself on this week’s otter walk...