Derbyshire Polecats
Dave Mallon
The first confirmed occurrence of the polecat (Mustela putorius) in Derbyshire since 1900 was of an animal killed on the road near Church Broughton on 27th June 1993. Details, and a synopsis of records of its status in the county during the 19th century are contained in an article by Nick Moyes in DNHS Observations, 1994, and subsequently reproduced on the DBRC website. Other polecats have been found since.
The first Peak District record appears to be a freshly-killed specimen found on the A6 north of Buxton on 13th September 1998 by Helen Perkins and Dave Mallon. Another was caught in a rat trap at Tideswell on 4th October 1998. Another road casualty turned up just north of Hayfield in April 1999. Photographs were sent to Dr Johnny Birks of the Vincent Wildlife Trust who confirmed that all appeared to be polecat, not polecat-ferret. A fourth specimen from Stoney Middleton Dale in 2001 showed some intermediate characters.
Typical polecat characters to look for are: very dark tail and rump, with no silvery guard hairs; dark face from forehead to rhinarium (naked area surrounding the nostrils); a small white chin; no white on the feet; no grizzling on the head.
Pick up a Polecat!
by Johnny Birks of The Vincent Wildlife Trust
A new three-year distribution survey run jointly by The Mammal Society and The Vincent Wildlife Trust (VWT) aims to track the polecat's ( Mustela putorius) continuing range expansion in Britain. As with the last one (carried out by the VWT in the mid-1990s) the 2004-2006 survey will mainly involve the collection of bodies recovered as road casualties; as ever it will depend heavily upon the efforts of local naturalists prepared to pick up and pass on specimens. Because of the presence of feral ferrets and polecat-ferret hybrids, the bodies of specimens (or good photos of them) are needed to confirm the identity of any animals collected. Indeed the survey is keen to learn about the presence of any feral ferret populations on the mainland of Britain as well as mapping the distribution of true polecats.
After centuries of mistreatment and persecution by humans,
culminating in a close brush with extinction in the early 1900s,
things are finally looking up for the polecat in Britain. The last
survey report (152 glossy, fact-packed pages - published in 1999 and
still available from the VWT for £8.00 including p&p!)
confirms a continuing steady eastward expansion of the polecat?s range
into the English midlands. Importantly it notes the polecat?s return
to Derbyshire after an absence of nearly a hundred years, heralded by
a specimen recovered as a road casualty near Church Broughton in 1993
(now preserved in Derby City Museum). Since then several more
Derbyshire specimens have been recovered, suggesting that the county
is being actively recolonised by a native mammal believed to have been
trapped out in about 1900.
The reasons for the polecat's encouraging recovery are probably two-fold: firstly, trapping pressure has been greatly reduced since the heyday of the British sporting estate when huge numbers of gamekeepers were employed to keep all predators in check; secondly, the polecat's main prey species, the rabbit, has increased as the initially devastating effect of myxomatosis on rabbit populations has waned. Consequently (and there are clear parallels with the buzzard's recovery), reduced persecution and healthy prey populations have enabled the polecat to repopulate even the most intensively farmed lowlands. However, this recovery is not entirely problem-free. The polecat's age-old tendency to prey on farmyard rats in winter has exposed it to the dangers of modern rodent control. Analyses of the livers of polecats from the 1990s revealed that 40% of animals run over in the spring carried a detectable burden of anticoagulant rodenticides (of course this 'sub-lethal' sample excludes the unknown proportion of animals that had already died as a result of lethal levels of rodenticide contamination). Conscious that polecats are spreading eastward towards the main grain-growing areas where rodenticide use is heaviest, we are keen to use specimens from the new survey to reassess the extent of exposure.
With Derbyshire apparently situated strategically on the very edge of the polecat?s British range, we are very keen to promote recording within the county so as to map the limits of distribution during the survey window. Most records tend to occur as road casualties and this probably reflects the polecat's tendency to forage along roadsides at night in search of fresh carrion, making it vulnerable to collision with vehicles. If you see a polecat (or ferrety hybrid) dead on the road, please do the following:
- Park your vehicle carefully so as not to compromise your safety nor that of other road users
- Collect the specimen, seal it in a plastic bag and keep it cool (ideally deep frozen)
- Phone the VWT on 01531 636441 for instructions (you will probably be asked to post it in packaging supplied by the VWT)
- Record the date and grid reference and keep these details with the body along with your name
- Please also remember to supply details of the record to Philip Precey at the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust.
A free leaflet on the polecat and on how to tell polecats and ferrets apart is available from the VWT if you send two first class stamps to:
The VWT, 3 & 4 Bronsil Courtyard, Eastnor, Ledbury, Herefordshire HR8 1EP. 01531 636441.
Email: vwt@vwt.org.uk Website: www.vwt.org.uk
Current known distribution of polecats in Derbyshire
(black circles indicate confirmed records since 1993 and open circles indicate unconfirmed records)
Courtesy of Derbyshire Wildlife Trust
