A squirrel led me down the muddy hill and to the picnic site, he didn’t stay for lunch but vanished through the hedgerow.
I was pleased by his company on the walk down none the less.
If I had seen only him, it would have been a good walk, but it seemed today would be a busy day for walking with the animals.
I only intended to go for a short walk, a quick picnic and back to work, but that plan was quickly dismissed.
I saw him first as a flurry of brown by the concrete outfall, I thought it was a small bird and raised my binoculars for a better look.
I couldn’t see a bird, or anything, but then I saw movement, rich brown, a flash of white, and there he was, bold as day, running over the rocky shore.
I followed his progress as he came towards me, running along the moss covered paving slabs, then diving off into the long dry grasses, leaping and bouncing high, like he was hunting, pouncing.
He was smaller in size than I had imagined a stoat would be, but he more than made up for that in personality.
He came quite close, running out of the grasses and along the slabs again, then leaving the cover of the grass he stopped, suddenly aware of me.
Then I lost him again, but waited patiently and was surprised and delighted when I realised I had been looking too far away, he was right there, before me, in the shadow of the wall.
I grappled for my camera at last, but too late, he was gone again.
I finally caught sight of him sneaking back around the outfall and out of sight.
I waited and watched, thrilled by my brief encounter, hoping to glimpse him once again.
I thought maybe he had gone around the outfall to the other side, so I started walking that way, and sure enough was rewarded by the sight of white paws and a chestnut brown flash and deep black tail bounding away from me, over the short grass and tarmac path and into the rocks of the dam beyond.
There were two people sitting on the pier that reaches out into the reservoir there, both looking that way, they never saw him, it was like he was visible only to me!
He stalked among the rocks and reeds beyond, I stalked him from the path above, catching glimpses as he progressed through the rocks.
A small group of mallard were sleeping on the shore, they woke and took to the water as he passed.
From then it was easy to track him even when I couldn’t see him, because the ducks chased him along the shore from the shallows, a sharp V of beaks and quaking marked his progress.
When he paused so did they, and I also.
Often I raised my camera but he moved so fast, and I was more interested to watch him than focus my camera.
He was so lithe and graceful, so fluid in his movements and so sneaky!
As we neared the end of the dam I thought he might make a break for it across the open grass to the woodland but instead he did a u-turn and gave the hassling ducks the slip, returning the way we had come, further up the bank this time, closer to me.
I watched him stalking like a cat over the rocks, and bounding, then stopping, sometimes a curious face would peep out at me when I thought I had lost him, checking where I was, but he seemed unconcerned that I was following him and went on about his business.
I followed him back to our start point, the people sitting on the pier were gone and he headed out that way, I followed slowly, right to the end, at one point he was no further than 2 meters away from me at the most.
Then he doubled back again and dashed across the grass to the small copse of trees.
I lost him in the dim interior but hung about a while.
The birds knew where he was even if I couldn’t see him, alarm calls were raised and no wonder, because there he was suddenly halfway up a tree!
I think he fancied his chances of a bird snack but they had the measure of him and kept well out of reach.
Then he played along the woodland edge, jumping up onto the raised paving stones and peering down before jumping down out of sight, but then back up again.
I forgot my camera and just took pleasure in his antics.
At last he dashed across the open again and behind a weather beaten metal box that stands on the wall of the outfall. I couldn’t see where he could go from there without me seeing him, there was no cover to either side, but after watching for some while I realised he’d given me the slip.
I was happily resigned to leave him to his hunting, wherever he had gotten too and set off back, but as I went he was there again, where I had originally seen him jumping through the grasses once again.
I sat on the wall to wait and got my camera ready, maybe I would get a chance of a good photo after all.
But just as he was heading out into the open like before a crowd of noisy walkers passed and he shot back into hiding.
I really thought this time he was gone for good, a little disappointed by our encounter cut short in this way I made to leave again.
And there he was bounding along among the rocks beside me again!
I thought he might accompany me all the way back along the dam, or was I accompanying him?
By this time I had been watching him for 30-45 minutes maybe, so many people had passed us by and never seen him, birders and joggers, walkers and more, no one saw him. It was like he was visible only to me!
But then as we walked back along the dam finally someone saw him.
The magic was broken, he wasn’t my stoat anymore, he was the world’s stoat.
He wasn’t an individual, but ‘a’ stoat, an unusual sighting, a note to be made, a comment of interest to be passed along over dinner no doubt.
But they didn’t know him, they only saw him.
They took only superficial delight in the presence of this wonderful and amazing creature who so freely offered them a glimpse into his world if only they would look.
When they could have been watching him, in his world, they only pointed and filled our peaceful world with their chatter, so that he slipped away from them, leaving them only a glimpse and pale memory of his enigmatic self, while they chattered on oblivious and lost him from sight and mind.
I watched him go, I saw him slip away among the rocks and bid him good hunting and thanked him for sharing his world with me, even for just a brief time, thanked him for the memory he left me with which is vivid and beautiful.
( A few blurred photos of the fella himself )
silly
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