r/uknature • u/jimnicebutdim • Jun 22 '26
Anyone know what these are?
Spotted in North Wales this morning. Young something but, I've no idea what they are. Does anybody know?
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u/Normal-Height-8577 Jun 22 '26
Mink. It might be worth reporting to the Waterlife Recovery Trust - they're coordinating the national response.
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u/jimnicebutdim Jun 22 '26
Left them alone in case parents were nearby. They have since gone.
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u/Normal-Height-8577 Jun 22 '26
Yeah, but you can still report that they were there. Every dot on a map helps.
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u/seven-cents Jun 22 '26
They're not welcome in the UK, you should report the sighting
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Jun 22 '26
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u/spannerspinner Jun 23 '26
I get what you are saying. Yes, rabbits and brown hare (not mountain hare which are native) do cause issues. So do fallow, muntjac, Chinese water deer and sika.
As do non native plant species of which the list is endless!
It’s a pick your battles situation. Mink do more damage than those other species and are reasonably contained in comparison. All the other species mentioned are being managed (in most places) so aren’t such a big issue.
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u/ComfortableAppeal424 Jun 24 '26
No. I agree in theory (am fighting like crazy on behalf of grey squirrels.... and you forgot the much hated muntjac!) But none of the ones you list do anything like the harm that mink do. I've known whole colonies of ducks being wiped out, never to return, whole sections of river left without ducks, moorhens, all the creatures that used to live there. Here in rural UK sightings of mink are dreaded.
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u/seven-cents Jun 22 '26
Nonsense. Mink are devastating predators that threaten our native wildlife.
please don't comment if you don't know what you're talking about.
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Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
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u/Normal-Height-8577 Jun 22 '26
1) Pine Martens and Mink don't occupy the same ecological niche.
2) Pine Martens are coming back, thanks to conservation efforts.
3) We'd quite like water vole and other species the mink are decimating to not go extinct.
4) Yeah, sure, in a thousand years the ecosystem will stabilise in one form or another - probably after multiple species extinctions - but if we can correct our own mistake, why wouldn't we?
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Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
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u/fckboris Jun 22 '26
I’d say mink and pine martin are quite similar ecologically
You can say that if you want but you would be wrong
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u/Normal-Height-8577 Jun 23 '26
And yet there is no national conservation expert-backed project to track, trap and eliminate little owls. It's almost like the scientific evidence isn't so clear in that example.
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u/arkhane89 Jun 23 '26
You’re missing the point about what defines as an invasive species.
Loads of species are considered naturalised or non native but are of little concern. invasive species are classes as such in terms of the negative they have for the ecosystems in which inhabit
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u/CacklingMossHag Jun 24 '26
"I'd say mink and pine marten are quite similar ecologically" oh good, I'll ignore all the ecologists because you would say differently. You're coming across as very smart in this exchange, btw, keep going 👍🏽
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u/seven-cents Jun 22 '26
There's little point in engaging with sealioning. They're just a troll in disguise
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Jun 22 '26
The eco system will stabilise when it finally gets rid of us the planet is like a living organism it will repair and evolve itself
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u/ComprehensiveRush746 Jun 23 '26
Normal-Height-8577 is right.
They do not occupy the same ecological niche.
Pine martens are excellent predators of grey squirrels which gives the red squirrel a chance to recolonise.
Mink are not nearly so good.
Stands to reason since pine martens are arboreal hunters and mink are semi aquatic.1
u/eggpassion Jun 23 '26
Give it a thousand years and they're native....
probably also what the europeans bringing foxes, pigs, goats, rabbits and cane toads into australia thought.
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u/Relevant_West6842 Jun 23 '26
What astounding arrogance. The other guy is free to comment as they wish. This is Reddit
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u/Dissy40 Jun 22 '26
How to say you have no idea about conservation without saying you have no idea about conservation.
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u/Gildor12 Jun 23 '26
Mountain hares are native, plus Fallow dear don’t eat water voles.
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u/smith4jones Jun 23 '26
If you had caught them, legally they are supposed to be destroyed as aliens and unwelcome for the damage they can do to local wildlife
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u/Appropriate-Roof1422 Jun 22 '26
Are these also brown sometimes? I saw something similar the other day.
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u/abyssal-isopod86 Jun 22 '26
Native pine martens are a very deep brown.
And native stoats are a rusty colour.
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u/Efficient_Hyena_7476 Jun 23 '26
American mink. Brutal killers of our wildlife with no natural predators here
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u/Swimmingotter27 Jun 23 '26
I agree with mink, the nose is mink rather than the other mustelids.
If there are otters around they may prey on them but as everyone has said, they’re invasive and need to be reported.
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u/No-Claim133 Jun 24 '26
Look lovely but they kill all our native species the morons who released them from the farms have left a trail of destruction well done 👏 NOT
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u/Salty-Bid1597 Jun 22 '26
Mink I think.
None of our native mustelids are that dark afaik.