Is this a mink den

Traonach

I spotted this den yesterday. It looks new. It's beside a drain (300m long) which drains into the sea. There is a coastal fresh water lake surrounded by extensive reedbeds which is in machair grassland 1.5 km away. There are plenty of otters around so it might be an otter holt.

Kess73

Difficult to tell. It does look like one, but then again it also looks like it could belong to one or two other animals.


Did you have a look around nearby for any scat? Mink scat is pretty easy to spot near a den usually.


If it belonged to an otter I would imagine you would have seen a spraint heap nearby and the smell off of the spraint heap would be quite distinctive.

As it is a new den/holt, I would imagine you will get to spot either scat or a spraint heap fairly quickly and that should narrow down the list of suspects to one species.






EDIT: Just above the entrance on the right side, is that a spraint heap or just soil?

Traonach

Kess73 wrote: »

Difficult to tell. It does look like one, but then again it also looks like it could belong to one or two other animals.


Did you have a look around nearby for any scat? Mink scat is pretty easy to spot near a den usually.


If it belonged to an otter I would imagine you would have seen a spraint heap nearby and the smell off of the spraint heap would be quite distinctive.

As it is a new den/holt, I would imagine you will get to spot either scat or a spraint heap fairly quickly and that should narrow down the list of suspects to one species.






EDIT: Just above the entrance on the right side, is that a spraint heap or just soil?

Had a look around for scat but didn't see any.

EDIT: Just above the entrance on the right side, is that a spraint heap or just soil?

I didn't notice that till now, it was spilling rain so I didn't stay too long. I might get one of the locals who is more knowledgeable to check it out. I hope it's not a mink.

Kess73

Traonach wrote: »

Had a look around for scat but didn't see any.

I didn't notice that till now, it was spilling rain so I didn't stay too long. I might get one of the locals who is more knowledgeable to check it out. I hope it's not a mink.

If it is a spraint heap, then the otters will keep using the same spot and the smell will be quite fishy.


I somehow did not notice you saying in your first post that it was an area that has plenty of otter activity. If it is an otter rich spot, then I would have my doubts if mink would set up there as otters are not too keen on sharing areas with mink and will often kill mink.

Mink scat would be pretty obvious imho, so given that you did not spot some I am leaning towards it not being a mink den. Another option, depending on the size of the hole, would be the brown rat and it being the entrance to a burrow system. Given how good a swimmer the brown rat is, it would also be a great spot for a burrow.


What also catches the eye in your second pic is the piece of stream/drain below the hole. The weed is pretty thick for most of the stream that can be seen in your pic save for one perfectly clear spot right below the hole which suggests something enters and leaves the water at that point and that prevented the weed from growing back.


For me it boils down to the size of the hole and also whether or not that is a spraint heap to the right of the entrance. If it is a spraint heap then it can only be an otter holt.


After waaaay too much thinking and waaay too much time looking at your pics, I am going with a brown rat burrow being the most likely option and an otter holt being my second choice. Lack of obvious scat or tracks has me discounting the mink den possibility.

Am looking forward to hearing what you find out either through locals or through another visit to the location.

Traonach

Thanks for info Kess. I'll let you know what happens.:)

Eddie B

Im thinking Mink! What size is the den? Mink den is only about 5 or 6 inches wide! Otter would be much much larger, and rat would be very small and so very difficult to see! Any prints at entrance to den?

Kess73

Would be surprised if it had mink in it tbh. The OP said it is an area with plenty of otters in it, and in areas where mink and otter are sympatric, the mink tends to either be forced to search for a different food source to the otter (generally means the mink gets pushed inland) or if the otter numbers are very healthy then the mink would be culled by the otter.


Just on the entrance size. A brown rat burrow in loose soil or in easily dug areas near water can have an entrance ranging from about 4 inches to about 8 inches, and an otter holt can sometimes have an entrance as small as 6 inches across.

In fact when building an artificial holt the most common external entrance size is between 15cm and 25cm or 6 inches and 10 inches.

Eddie B

I can't speak for the rest of the country, but here in the midlands, both Mink and Otter live side by side in most of our river's and lakes! I do a bit of fishing in my spare time and see both regularly!
I also trap mink in the winter, so im on the river a lot! As for the size of the den/holt, i don't know much about the size of an Otter holt, only what i've seen, and that's two in my lifetime! Both were quite large, one of which had an Otter going in and out all day whilst i was fishing, nice sight!:)
Obviously both Mink den's and Otter holt's vary in size so impossible to tell, especially from a photo, but id still put my money on Mink!