Hi everyone,
Thank you very much everyone for making me feel welcome to your world. Was wondering if anyone can tell me if mink kill birds. Saw a mink last summer in the canal at the bottom of our garden, very distressing as it was carrying a moorhen off. Thought it must have gone but saw another one over Christmas. Managed to get a picture of it. There is a pipe that runs under our garden and into the canal, it was hiding in there, you can see it peeping out of the pipe. We have our bird feeder near there and I am worried incase it is after the birds Has anyone got any idea who to call to try and get rid of it ? (think it's a mink , hope we are right)
What a wonderful world :))
That looks like a mink to me, not too much to go on but judging by scale and behaviour.
Mink will take birds especially when food is short, they are mainly a threat to young birds, and the eggs of any bird nesting near water.
Mink sightings can be reported, I think your local Wildlife Trust would probably be the best place to start.
It is unlikely that mink will ever be eradicated from the U.K. and as an alien species relaesed by well meaning but badly informed individuals they are a danger to our natural ecosystems. The one piece of good news is that otter populations have started to increase as a result of improved water quality in our rivers over the last 10 years or so, I read recently that otters have now been observed in every county for the first time in many years. Mink and otter do not get on well together and although I have heard of people concerned that mink attack otters, it is likely to be the last thing that a particular mink ever does, a mink is no match fot a fully grown otter.
I think the only real solution to the mink problem is to keep the numbers down as low as possible, this can be by direct human involvement or in the long term by continuing to provide a habitat that allows otters to flourish and help maintain a natural balance.
I have been lucky enough to see an otter on my local patch, less than half a mile from my home, I have also heard of mink being reported nearby, I recently had a brief sighting of what I believe to be mink (too brief to be certain but judging by size), although I would love these to have been young otters.
"Feed the birds, tuppence a bag" Mary Poppins
In contrast to birds, monitoring of mammal populations in the UK is generally less well developed, and trends much more poorly known.
North Amercian Mink are very close relatives of polecats, more distantly otters and weasels (part of a family group of mammals called "mustelids").
Numbers of the introduced American mink rose dramatically following its first breeding in the UK in 1956 (when they escaped from fur farms), surveys have shown that the population stabilised since the early 1980s, with a hint of a recent decline. They feed on fish and water life including voles but also pose a risk to waterfowl and their young. Control is often necessary because of the damage that they can cause to wildlife, fisheries and game and domestic birds. Natural England the governing bodie on wildlife legislation issue advisory notes on control of Mink here:
http://naturalengland.etraderstores.com/NaturalEnglandShop/product.aspx?ProductID=7431d0ee-ef6b-4041-a3d6-3711167195bb
Among the UKs predatory mammals, foxes, badgers, polecats, pine martens, and non-native American mink and grey squirrels have increased, while weasel numbers may have declined. The trend in stoat numbers is less clear.
Yes this is a mink and in terms of eradication, there is not much that can be done, except hope some otters move into you area. I noted that Lloyd Scott said that mink were increasing, though actually the reverse is true. The population recovery of otter is causing mink to decline.