SIGHTINGS of an invasive American Mink have been spotted at Redditch’s Arrow Valley Lake.
The non-native species are known to wreak havoc on UK wildlife, particularly water voles which will not have evolved to deal with these predators.
These pictures were sent in by J Emms who saw the creature scaling a tree.
We contacted the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust (WWT) which said a lot of American mink were released by – or escaped from fur farms – in the 1950s and 60s and now bred in most parts of the UK.
Picture by J Emms. s
Wendy Carter, from the trust, said: “They’ve been a particular problem for water voles that are able to evade native predators by darting into the safety of their burrows but mink are slinky enough to be able to follow where native predators can’t.
“As you can see from the reader’s photo, mink are adept at tree climbing and are also very good swimmers.
“Like otters, their dens are made close to water but, unlike otters, they’re bolder and are more likely to be seen.
“Research seems to show that where our native otters are resident, mink tend to leave the area.”
According to Wendy, mink are smaller than otters and have much darker fur. They have smaller faces with narrow, rather than broad, snouts and shorter thinner tales.
