If so, then keep those sharp eyes peeled while out and about! We’re in stoat breeding season and clamping down on stoat sightings.
Why is the stoat breeding season significant?
After spending some time hiding away in their dens, stoats are reemerging now in multiplied numbers. This is a crucial opportunity for us to capture stoats while they’re in family groups. It’s much easier to get them now while they’re still together – tracking their movements will get harder once they split up.
Before the breeding season, our team worked hard to knock down the female stoat population to decrease the number of stoats that could give birth during this time of year. Now the challenge is to stay on top of the emerging population and continue to reduce it.
Why is it so important I report my stoat sightings now more than ever?
Because of the increased number of stoats around, we’re focusing more resources to respond faster to sightings! It is vital sightings are reported to us quickly so our rapid-response technique can work. In some cases, we’re getting detailed reports in the morning, setting the traps at lunchtime, and then catching them overnight.
Giving us much detail as possible also helps. If you saw a stoat running along a fence line or ditch, it may reuse the path. Or if you saw it carrying something in its mouth, it may be close to where it stores food. Contextual information like this helps our eradication team decide where to best deploy traps.
By using a combination of your reported sightings, dog searches, and monitoring tools, we’ve honed in on where the stoat activity is. We’ve made a lot of progress since 2019. Stoats aren’t everywhere in Orkney anymore; they’re living in pockets of preferred habitat and with your help we are finding them!
Protecting our island’s incredible native wildlife is a mission which we all have a part to play.
If you've seen a stoat, report it to orkenynativewildlife.org.uk/report.
Still looking for that stoat? Try focusing around the middle left!
Keep up to date with the Orkney Native Wildlife Project in our monthly Orcadian column.