We Have Polecats! Meet our Beautiful Bandits

For the first time, we’ve captured polecats on our wildlife camera! Dr. Orton introduces our beautiful woodland bandits…

Imagine my delight when I looked at our wildlife camera to see a cute little mustelid with a bandit mask exploring our historic Victorian spinney!

Polecats are a conservation success story. They used to be widespread in Britain but disappeared from everywhere except parts of mid-Wales, Herefordshire and Shropshire by the early 20th century. Today, they are making a comeback and can be found in Wales, central and southern England–and we now have some at Orton Academy!

The little mustelids can be identified by their ‘bandit mask’ across the eyes, which stands out against paler cheek patches. They look similar to ferrets, and can even breed with ferrets. We think our polecats are true polecats, not ferret-hybrids, because of the dark strip of fur connecting the mask to the nose. 

This is excellent news for our other native wildlife because of their taste for rats, so the polecats reduce the number of predators on eggs or chicks. Plus, the cute little critters give us some entertaining footage on our camera traps!

For a more in-depth look at polecats, take a look at the polecat blog in our rewilding series, which has links to academic literature. For a quicker, more accessible read, you can read our posts about the nocturnal animals that live in our woods, our baby tawny owls or the other animals that live in our historic Victorian woodland!

Find Out More

If you’re interested in conservation and wildlife, we have a blog series on British wildlife and a series on the people and wildlife of South Asia, from the altitudes of the Himalayas to the dense mangrove forests of Bangladesh!

We also offer online private tuition in our interdisciplinary course, Culture and Conservation, in which you can explore the links between our natural and cultural heritage and study wildlife and cultures from across the world! This is a template of a possible study route and can be combined, adapted, or designed from scratch to suit your interests and goals.

Dr. Orton will work with you to design a course of private tutorials tailored to your needs, ability and schedule. Click the link to find out what it’s like to work with her and contact us to find out more!

Do More

For those who would like to take action to preserve our wild spaces, there’s plenty you can do. If you're lucky enough to have some land, you could plant a wood from scratch (click the link to read about how we are planting our own native woodland). Even if you don’t have a big garden, there are plenty of things you can do to help biodiversity in your area. Why not put up a solitary bee nesting box or insect home, create a woodpile as a habitat for small creatures or leave small areas of your garden to go wild?

Think about your own area and how you can protect vulnerable but important parts of your own environment. You might even want to start your own project investigating the cultural importance of wildlife in your area. Dr. Orton works with independent scholars undertaking their own research for an independent project, people writing a book or simply those who have a personal interest. Click the link to find out what it’s like to work with her and contact us to get started!

Reach Out

We’d love to see what you’re doing to help wildlife in your area. Follow the Conservation highlight reel on the Orton Academy Instagram to see what we’re getting up to and tag us in to any snaps you put up!