In article ,
Christina Websell wrote:


I saw a small animal scurrying around in the undergrowth near a suburban
retail park towards dusk - light silvery grey, size and shape of a very
well fed grey squirrel. But wrong behaviour for a squirrel - and when it
came out on to the grass, I saw it had a long thin tail. Unless anyone
has a better idea, it is probably a rat - but it was too light a colour
for a rat, and the head was too large and too rounded.

polecat? A neighbour used to keep them for rabbiting; his were greyish
and the size was midway between a stoat and a ferret.

Far more likely to be a mink. They are bred to have all sorts of
strange colours, and are much more common.

It would be unusual to see a mink in a retail park, though.
Unless there was a river very close.

Don't you believe it! They aren't as urban as some animals, but
get to a lot more places than people realise. And they aren't
exclusively aquatic, unlike otters.

My money is still on a squirrel with a skin problem.

That's certainly a very likely scenario. It might have caught
its tail in something, for example.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.