Field signs
Their twisted scats (droppings) can be up to 70 mm long and tapering at one end. Colour and consistency varies with diet. Their scats and footprints are difficult to distinguish from those of mink.
Habits
They use a wide range of habitats and usually den in existing cavities such as rabbit burrows, holes under trees, rock piles and wood stacks. In winter they have a tendency to move into farm buildings and outhouses. The size of the home range changes with prey availability, season, sex and social status. They are thought to be less strictly territorial than other small carnivores with males having larger, more fluid home ranges than those of females.
Compared to polecats, ferrets generally show lower levels of movement, alertness and fear. This docile nature and their white-yellow fur must limit their ability to survive in the wild. They are more likely to occur in urban areas than polecats.
Reproduction and life cycle
Male activity increases in the mating season between February and April, and females become more active both day and night when feeding their young in midsummer.
Distribution, status and conservation
The Vincent Wildlife Trust Surveys of 2004-2006 indicate that the nearest pure polecats have been recorded in West Sussex and Hampshire. The nearest polecat-ferret was recorded in East Sussex. Since that time polecat-ferrets have been recorded on a number of occasions in Kent. Little is known about the occurrence and status of feral ferret populations in Kent. Recently escaped or abandoned animals could be found almost anywhere which makes it difficult to detect well-established populations.
Polecats became extinct in Kent over 100 years ago, but the State of Nature in Kent (2021) reports “small isolated pockets in north- and south-west Kent.”. Once widespread in Britain, the polecat’s range was severely reduced to a main stronghold in mid-Wales by 1915. Throughout the twentieth century there was a slow recovery and expansion from the Welsh stronghold, driven by reduced persecution and an increase in rabbit numbers.
In 2007 polecat was listed as a priority species for conservation in the UK BAP and is on the Biodiversity Lists for England and Wales (listed as a Species of Principal Importance under the NERC Act, 2006).
