What is this creature?

cameramonkey

Saw this today on the Liffey in Wicklow about 4Km from Sally Gap towards Blessington. It was carrying something it its mouth than appeared to be slightly brown. The animal was in the water when I saw it first.

Is it a mink and what would it be carrying? Sorry for the crap photo.

Zoo4m8

It is a mink, could have been carrying all sorts, fish, rat, mouse, bird etc, notorious predator of ground or near ground nesting birds..:(

Eddie B

Might be carrying one of its young! Looks very like it from the photo!

cameramonkey

Eddie B wrote: »

Might be carrying one of its young! Looks very like it from the photo!

I was actually thinking that. I saw the Mink pretty close up and I thought that it had prey but the colour and texture of the fur didnt match anything that might be obvious.

Why would monk move their young?

i was also surprised to see a mink in this part of the Liffey. It is pretty exposed around the river and not really that deep, maybe 30cm in pools otherwise rocky and shallow. Is this normal habitat for mink?

elperello

Mink will move their young if they have been disturbed and can be quite urgent about it even travelling openly in daylight.

210

Quite unusual to see a mink out and about during the day. I wonder at this time of year would it be bringing back food to a den for young. These are non native species and are such a veracious little predator that no doubt they will be having a big impact on the local wildlife.

210

Evening Cameramonkey, have you thought about logging your sighting on the biodiversity Ireland website at,

http://www.biodiversityireland.ie/

if you go to the records submission page and select mammals from the species list on the left you can type in mink as the species name which will autofill to american mink.


http://records.biodiversityireland.ie/

Its unusual to get such a good photo and when its so clear it would be a shame not to have the sighting recorded.

Birdnuts

I would pass that sighting on to the NPWS people working out of the Wicklow Mtns NP. As a destructive invasive species mink would be deemed a threat that needs removing from such an area.