On a cold and windy night (25th February 2008), my delightful cats decide to go hunting. Now I realise that cats hunt, in fact I quite like the idea of a cat doing what it was designed to do. What I do not like is them releasing their still live but very stunned prey on the office floor and then waiting for a response from me something along the lines of " oh, you clever thing". This has to happen before they sit down and consume their meal.

Last night is a case in point. The cats came running through the cat flap into the office and amid screeches released their prey. Unfortunately their prey this time was very much alive and very indignant at having been caught and announced this to the world in no uncertain terms. From the sound of it it was a little bird, but not sure as to where they would have got one I decide to take a closer look. To my surprise I see what looks like a miniature Weasel looking back at me. This weasel like creature was not impressed with what it saw and promptly started screeching like a banshee again. Well I decide that this is one little animal to cute to be eaten and in any case the cats are looking rather terrified at what they had caught. Jo takes one look and disappears out the door and Cleopatra is keeping a very respectable distance. It is only Elijah who thinks that all creatures are like sheep - Cute a cuddly - who seems absolutely unfased by the noise and intent on kissing noses. I get Elijah out the door and then proceed to try to catch the elusive creature. It takes me about 20 minutes to find a suitable container, entice the little creature inside and carry it outside where I can release it back into the field. During this time I manage to notice that yes it looks very much like a weasel but is only about 15 centimeters long but boy toes it pong. The whole office has been fumigated with the smell of this little thing.

After I manage to let it go again I decide to have a bit of an investigation into what this could possibly be. At first I think it may be a Stoat. According to wikipedia a Stoat can grow to be about 30 cm long. This one in that case would have to be a juvenile. Although it is possible I think that due to the amount of noise and they way it managed to chase off the cats it must be an adult so I go back onto the hunt. I stumble across a page on the Least Weasel or simply Weasel if you are in the UK. They (again according to Wikipedia) can grow to a maximum of 23 centimeters with the female being a lot smaller than the male. So there You have it. My clever cats have introduced me to another beautiful species that I would not have seen. I have copied a picture of a Least weasel from http://dnr.state.il.us/orc/wildlife/virtual_news/images/least_weasel/least_weasel.jpg I hope they do not mind.