Then it got interesting. The next mouse was collected by a new weasel, a female I haven't seen before. She is smaller than the two males and has brown toes and distinctive gular spots.
She seemed unfamiliar with the box and didn't know the routine with the mouse. She eventually found it under the slate and took it away.
Less than 20 minutes later she was back and seemed convinced there was another mouse under the slate. After digging for nearly two minutes she gave up and left.
She came back again for another look in the afternoon and took no interest in the slate this time but was more interested in the camera. It will be interesting to see if she becomes a regular visitor or was just passing through. At this time of year the full-grown kits are dispersing and this one might be intimidated by the two regular males. We'll see.
The weasel camera box has been very busy since I started putting mice in as bait. I was puzzled that "the weasel" would appear for a look around so soon after taking a mouse and part of the reason is now clear - there are at least two weasels.
I put in two mice at once in my previous post and I can now see that the mice were collected by different weasels. This is the weasel that took the first mouse last time (let's call him weasel 1). He has white front feet, particularly the left, which makes identification a bit easier as the gular spots (under-chin markings) aren't always clear.
And this is weasel 2 with brown paws and who looks a bit bigger. He took the second mouse.
And here are their gular spots, weasel 1 above, weasel 2 below. Their flank markings are different as well.
Once I realised what was going on I have taken a careful look at the activity since then. The next mouse I put out vanished without the camera being triggered. My solution was to put the next mouse under a small piece of slate to slow the weasel down a bit. And that has worked. Here is an example. Weasel 1 (white paws) took the mouse, made a quick check that there wasn't a second mouse, and hurried away.
Just over an hour later weasel 2 (brown paws) turned up and could obviously smell the mouse but couldn't find it.
Here's the video.
And then it happened again. Weasel 2 was just too late - this time only 15 minutes. Weasel 1 came in and took the mouse, hurrying off with it, perhaps knowing there was another weasel around.
Fifteen minutes later weasel 2 arrived and could smell the mouse. He searched for it before realising that it was gone and giving up.
Here's the video.
Over seven days there were 14 weasel visits, 12 by weasel 1 (who collected all three mice in that time) and two by weasel 2.
When I look back both male weasels 1&2 have been around for a while. Weasel 1 was the first to explore this new box at the beginning of March. And weasel 2 was the unlucky one I released from the rabbit trap at the end of March
One other interesting observation is that there are now almost no visits to the box by mice or voles. Both weasels can be seen scent-marking in the box so I expect it reeks of weasel and discourages potential prey. Perhaps the smell of dead mouse puts them off as well.
