Country diary: the ferocious beauty of two natural born killers

Dolbenmaen, Gwynedd: The polecats were pale-masked, an aura about them of fierce intent as they undulated along the roadShrinking out of the downpour into the inadequate shelter of an ash tree, I peered along the lane in rain-dimmed light and saw movement in the verge. A dark animal, sturdy-slender and perhaps two feet in length, appeared out of the grass and darted on to the tarmac, closely followed by another. They were pale-masked, an aura about them of fierce intent as they undulated along the road before climbing a badger track up the bank, squeezing under a wire fence, lolloping a few yards across the field and disappearing with assured speed down a rabbit burrow.That was the last I saw of them. They were the first polecats I'd seen in perhaps a year, though these beautiful, ferocious predators are common enough throughout north and west Wales. They're just exceptionally wary and, in general, are solitary hunters, though at this time of year the spring broods form packs and hunt together, mother-cat being preoccupied with her second annual litter. Continue reading...