Diario de mishanook

On 15th June, I was walking the River Calder and taking photos along the way of anything that moved. I have a spot that I especially enjoy where I sit across the river from a large embankment which is peppered with Sand Martin nest holes. There is also a tree root (branch) that transects the scene. On a usual day, the branch is a favourite of a Common Kingfisher for sitting with a fish in its mouth. So, I usually sit there for up to an hour as this Kingfisher will usually appear over that amount of time.

As I was settling down, camera at the ready, I noted a brown mammal of some kind at the bottom of the slope. This was at about 15:40 in the afternoon. It was an American Mink and was at first trying to climb upwards to get to the nests. It failed and slid down and appeared to have left.

Unfortunately, it did not leave and instead, it went up top to the grassy area above the embankment and decided to climb down from above. It managed to slide down into one nest hole and quickly came back out. I was surprised to see such a large creature fit into the nest hole! It quickly climbed back up top and I noted it was now on the right-hand side of the bank edge.

By now, the Sand Martins were going berserk, flying and darting everywhere. The mink then slid down this right-hand side into one fairly large hole and disappeared into its depths. Again, I was surprised at how this very large mammal was able to easily fit into the nest hole. I waited, anticipating that it would grab what it could and come back out quickly. It did not. In fact, it poked its head out whilst the birds were harassing it from the air.

At 15:42, per my photo information, the mink emerged with a dead bird in its mouth, slid down the embankment and was off. It took about 15 minutes before the Sand Martins calmed down and returned to their normal behaviour of going into the nests, flying off and skimming the water for insects. I did not see the mink again. I also did not see the Kingfisher which may have decided not to use his favourite branch.

I have put all of my photos up and in order per the order of this journal entry.