I thought the pine marten was a bit of a stretch but when I wrote my post on March 3 I had no idea what type of mustelid the little fellow that was called a “ferret” was.
I’ve been researching the long tailed weasel to add to my site and almost fell over when I saw a photograph of one.
I must say that I find it fascinating to learn so much about mustelids as I add pages about them to my site. They are such a wonderfully diverse group of animals and all so different!
If I had to pick another mustelid other than a ferret to fall madly in love with, it would definitely be an ermine!
I was watching this video clip and thought how great it’d be to be able to have a pet like that. I’ve always been fascinated at how big ermines’ eyes seem to be — way bigger than a black-eyed white’s eyes. And that sweet little dark nose! At least this one didn’t have a tree growing out of the top of its head – hahaha!
Make sure your little treasures stay away from the chocolate Easter eggs but I’m sure the Easter Ferret will spoil them on this long weekend with other treats )
I was reading this article about Bovey Castle, an Edwardian estate set within 368 square miles of the Dartmoor National Park in Devon
and it wasn’t the glitzy accommodation which appealed (like the “Grand Stateroom”), or the exquisite golf course which hosts PGA championships every year, or the 5-star restaurant overflowing with bottles of Veuve Clicquot to wash down the meal.
No no no!
Did you see what the draw card was in the article (at least for me)?
Ferret Racing!! :-)
I can’t imagine having ferrets racing up and down pipes on the lawns of that estate but how much fun would that be?
I wonder if I was there and told them I felt really homesick for my ferrets, if they would let me take a couple of them up to my fancy suite to play with. Hahaha! Now that would be a treat!
All I have to do is talk my sweet husband into forking out 9,800 pounds (only about US$19,600) for a week in one of the Lodges.
Sounds like an excellent idea … in my dreams! ;-)))
I had an email from someone in Singapore, asking me if ferrets were capable of hunting and rather than just sending her to my ferreting page, I had a little wander around the Internet to see what I could come across.
Well! How about this YouTube video showing you the fine art of ferreting!
WARNING – they show how to “dispatch” a rabbit and I couldn’t watch it so if you, too, are a bit squeamish, put your hand in front of the screen at that point.
Philip and I took the kids and a couple of our ferrets to a WAFFS (our ferret society) weekend in the country about 13 years ago. Some farmer asked WAFFS if their members could bring their ferrets to rid his property of rabbits so we went along just for the fun of having a weekend away.
I think someone told the rabbits we were coming, because they’d all run away and the warrens were empty but it was good to be out of the big smoke, sitting around with other ferrets owners and enjoying the cool evening outdoors.
The next morning I stayed behind in the tent while Philip took the kids and Scully and followed some other people who’d heard there might be rabbits in another area of the property.
They were gone for ages and I was getting more and more worried as the time passed and there was no sign of them. Finally, about 3 hours later, they rolled up and Philip told me he’d put Scully down a hole and she had stayed down there. Obviously he couldn’t leave her there so they just stood around, waiting for her to reappear.
That was our first – and last – weekend out ferreting
Still, all things considered, it is a fascinating “sport” and I’ve added the link to James Marchington’s blog to my list for those of you who want to read up and learn more about it.
)
