POLECAT Mustela
putorius
STATUS:
Unknown
Formerly widespread
but eliminated from the county by the beginning of the 20th century.
The last definite record was from Bradley in 1900 (see Moyes 1994 for
a historical summary of the polecat in Derbyshire). Polecats began
to expand their range nationally from mid-Wales during the 1960s, spreading
steadily into the Midlands. The first recent Derbyshire record was
a road casualty at Church Broughton in June 1993 (Moyes 1994) and they
have spread widely across the county since then. Early Peak District
records came from Bamford (1994), Buxton and Tideswell (1998) and Hayfield
(1999). Many road casualty records date from the period 2003-2006 and
reflect both further colonisation and a greater intensity of reporting
stimulated by national surveys organised by Vincent Wildlife Trust
and the Mammal Society. Records include ‘pure’ polecats
and hybrid polecat-ferrets. Some road casualties that were too damaged
to identify with certainty were assigned to ‘polecat-ferrets’,
so the total of pure animals may be slightly underestimated. Northern
localities in the last 3 years include Longdendale, Dove Holes, Buxton,
Wye Valley, and Calver. Recent records have come from a range of habitats
including farmland, woodland edge, limestone dales and upland pasture.
Polecats were reported on high moorlands, eg the Derwent Moors, in
the 19th century but there have been few if any recent records from
this habitat. Polecats and polecat-ferrets are expected to continue
to expand, but the pattern of natural expansion may be partly obscured
by releases of pure-bred polecats by ferret breeders (Moyes 1994).
[Old local names: foulmart, filimart].
More on the polecat in derbyshire, including a distribution map.
Species identification information
Photo: Steve Docker
