Mink and Common Kingfisher (1 Viewer)

[Ian Bell]

Would Mink have an effect on my local Kingfishers ? I know they are ruthless killers but with the Kingfisher being so brightly coloured,would this put Mink off from killing them as a food source ? I have not seen my local pair in the last week but have seen Mink in the area of roosting and breeding places,used by this pair.The Common Kingfisher is a rare local species up my way.Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[nirofo]

Would Mink have an effect on my local Kingfishers ? I know they are ruthless killers but with the Kingfisher being so brightly coloured,would this put Mink off from killing them as a food source ? I have not seen my local pair in the last week but have seen Mink in the area of roosting and breeding places,used by this pair.The Common Kingfisher is a rare local species up my way.Any advice would be appreciated.[/QUOTE]


I would think they would certainly have an effect, the Kingfishers bright colours are more likely to attract the Mink than deter it! Even if they didn't kill the birds their presence would probably keep them away, or may induce them to leave the area altogether.

nirofo.

 

[GarethW]

Would Mink have an effect on my local Kingfishers ? I know they are ruthless killers but with the Kingfisher being so brightly coloured,would this put Mink off from killing them as a food source ? I have not seen my local pair in the last week but have seen Mink in the area of roosting and breeding places,used by this pair.The Common Kingfisher is a rare local species up my way.Any advice would be appreciated.

Hello Ben,

I remember seeing a wildlife film a few years ago where two kingfishers were having a dispute and a mink jumped from thr river bank and caught one of the birds in mid air. It was an amazing piece of footage. Gareth

 

[Steve G]

Bright colours are more of an attraction to predatory birds than to predatory mammals (most of which have poor colour vision).

That said I also remember the footage of a Mink taking a Kingfisher referred to in Gareth's post -however the opportunity presented itself to the mink on a plate when 2 fighting Kingfishers flopped into the water right in front of the Mink.

My local burn unfortunately has evidence of Mink but also continues to hold breeding Kingfishers & occasional Dippers so hopefully the low profile of your birds is not due to predation.

 

[Ian Bell]

Thanks for your time and help.Hopefully,they shall return in the next few days again and my anxiety shall be over..!

 

[Mike Feely]

How widespread a problem is Mink in the UK?

I used to see the odd one or two at my old local patch at Watermead in Leicestershire, but i dont recall seeing any since i moved to Notts 2 years ago.

I know that they can be a huge problem where they occur, but i have always assumed (perhaps wrongly) that their occurence is localised and not widespread, is this the case?

It would be interesting to hear from people around the country (uk) how common they actually are.

Mike

 

[christineredgate]

We have resident Mink in our river,also a pair of resident KF's.The KF's were very active throughout the Summer,as were the Mink.As from Nov of last year,I have neither species,but continue to watch and wait.

 

[nirofo]

Our next door neighbour had one living in their loft for a while a couple of years ago, it made a nest in one corner out of loft isulation and old paper, (I bet the insulation was a bit itchy). It made some weird noises at night, squeals and chattering, kept the mice down too. We live in the middle of farmland at the edge of the moors, we very often see Weasels, Stoats and Foxes, even the occasional Otter, but this is the first time we've had Mink although we were aware that they are around.

nirofo.

 

[paulwfromtheden]

Our next door neighbour had one living in their loft for a while a couple of years ago, it made a nest in one corner out of loft isulation and old paper, (I bet the insulation was a bit itchy). It made some weird noises at night, squeals and chattering, kept the mice down too. We live in the middle of farmland at the edge of the moors, we very often see Weasels, Stoats and Foxes, even the occasional Otter, but this is the first time we've had Mink although we were aware that they are around.

nirofo.

I was once told that all UK mink were liberated by a bunch of animal rights campaigners, is this true?

 

[rozinante]

I was once told that all UK mink were liberated by a bunch of animal rights campaigners, is this true?

The escape from any attempts of captivity of such a resourceful animal as the mink was surely inevitable. With or without "deliberate" release I would think they would have grown to be a problem. There were though unfortunate deliberate releases by some ill-informed animal rights activists.

I think the chances for Ben's kingfishers would depend mostly in their skill in choosing an inaccessible nest site. In a suitably vertical bank, they might well be safe even in the middle of a mink's territory. If it were at all accessible, I would be concerned. I remember seeing pictures of a mink raiding a kestrel nest box high in a tree.

Mike Freely...

I can't find any online distribution maps but I found this on http://www.jncc.gov.uk/page-3744

"147% increase in NGC bag records 1962-2004, changed to a significant decline since 1995"

I don't know exactly what defines their "bag" though or how "significant" the decline might be!

Does anyone have any links to any info on the possibility that a return of otters to an area pushes mink out? I remember reading the suggestion somewhere but can't find anything more on it. Sounds like an ideal solution to me.

 

[Isurus]

I was once told that all UK mink were liberated by a bunch of animal rights campaigners, is this true?

I think some escaped less efficiently run fur farms of their own volition but the above tale probably has some truth behind it too.

 

[paulwfromtheden]

I think some escaped less efficiently run fur farms of their own volition but the above tale probably has some truth behind it too.

Thanks for that

 

[gareth_blockley]

I was once told that all UK mink were liberated by a bunch of animal rights campaigners, is this true?

There were hundreds of them releaded from fur farms - if only those campaigners THOUGHT about what they were doing for at least one second, using all of their brains cells at once instead of lining them up to use one by one.

As to the Kingfishers, i shouldn't think they would cause to much harm as the birds would outfly a mink (except for extreme cases like GarethW pointed out). The biggest problem with Mink is them predating Water voles as they can fit down burrows and erradicte whole populations. Kingfisher nest tunnels are too small for mink. so i dont think they'll cause much harm to the birds. More likely to predated on things like ducks and moorhens i should think.

 

[turkish van]

Mike Freely...

I can't find any online distribution maps but I found this on http://www.jncc.gov.uk/page-3744

"147% increase in NGC bag records 1962-2004, changed to a significant decline since 1995"

I don't know exactly what defines their "bag" though or how "significant" the decline might be!

Does anyone have any links to any info on the possibility that a return of otters to an area pushes mink out? I remember reading the suggestion somewhere but can't find anything more on it. Sounds like an ideal solution to me.

Funnily enough, I have just done an essay on this very subject.

Only the NW Scotland, NW Wales and most of the Scottish Islands are still Mink free.

From what I read, mink are stable or declining nationally and have been for over a decade. There are papers which link this quite convincingly with the recovery of the otter, and experimental studies which have shown otter and mink do not live happily together. Where otters repopulate an area, mink do move out.

It's not a solution but has been predicted that otters could reduce mink populations nationally by 50%... whether this is enough for them to live in balance with our native wildlife is unknown. Wait and see I guess.

I'll try and find the references for some relevant papers and attach them.

 

[turkish van]

Here's a couple...

 

[buzzard12]

Hello Ben,

I remember seeing a wildlife film a few years ago where two kingfishers were having a dispute and a mink jumped from thr river bank and caught one of the birds in mid air. It was an amazing piece of footage. Gareth

Saw this too, would love to see it again in fact. That footage was quite incredible. Seem to remember the bird protecting its territory was the lucky one that survived!

 

[rozinante]

Thanks Laura.

The indications of 50% reductions are encouraging in themselves. I dread to think of what damage might be done to achieve similar results by other methods. I suppose that predicted limit of 50% would be primarily due to the mink that would reside in areas unsuitable for otters? Even so, it sounds like a no lose situation. Otters returned to all suitable habitat, mink population halved and likely relief for hard pressed water voles.

Have I overlooked a potential downside?

 

[matt green]

It would be interesting to hear from people around the country (uk) how common they actually are.

Mike

They're certainly a problem in norfolk, especialy in the river valleys in the norfolk broads where they are able to spread like wildfire!

I believe redgrave and lopham fen on the norfolk/suffolk border and a number of broadland nature reserves have used minktraps in order to keep numbers down.They are also the bain of many private fisheries!

Matt

 

[James Blake]

It's universally accepted that mink were breeding in Britain by the 1950s if not earlier. Some escaped from fur farms and others were deliberately released by bankrupt fur farmers.

Releases by animal rights activists began in the 1970s. The number of animals released was very small when compared to the size of the feral population that was already then established. I've never come across any evidence that these releases contributed in any substantial way to the spread of mink in Britain.

Cambridgeshire has in recent decades had a faily large mink population but also a very healthy kingfisher population. Water voles have become rare, as everywhere, though otters are now returning.

James

 

[nirofo]

I was once told that all UK mink were liberated by a bunch of animal rights campaigners, is this true?

In a word 'NO', there were plenty of Mink escapes long before the animal rights nutters created havok among wildlife with their ill conceived and stupid release of hundreds of Mink into the open countryside. Many were re-caught or killed, but many more stayed free long enough to do untold amounts of damage to local wildlife.

nirofo.