It’s ages since I saw Mustela erminea hibernica, the Irish subspecies of the stoat, a ferocious little mammal feared and respected in equal measure by generations in rural Ireland.
So, it gave me great pleasure to hear one chittering before seeing its sinuous, arched body bounding across a narrow country road in front of me, where I was watching for raptors. Scampering onto the roadside verge, it continued calling while threading through the dense vegetation, out of sight, a fleeting moment of delight.
Still referred to here as a ‘weasel’ and common in Britain, but absent in Ireland, the stoat is larger than its relative and has a distinctive black tip to its tail, absent in the weasel.
The ‘Irish’ stoat is distinguished from the British stoat by the irregular pattern separating the whitish underparts from its brown fur - white markings which prompt the oft used term ‘withred’, or ‘white throat’, for the animal. Like other members of the mustelid family, which includes the badger, otter, pine marten and mink, stoats are carnivorous, hunting mostly rodents and rabbits which they kill by bites to the back of the neck, often after a mesmerising dance to hypnotise their prey. They also take fledgling birds and eggs.
Giraldus Cambrensis, in his 12th century Topographica Hibernica described the feisty stoat thus: “This little animal has more spirit than body, and its courage supplying the deficiency of its strength, with a great heart actuating a slender frame, it is vindictive and relentless in its wrath.” Michael Longley writes of a stoat he meets, “dominating the garden’s quietude”.
Considered by some to be ‘witches’ in animal form, stoats fuelled ominous tales in Ireland for centuries. Only 35 centimetres in length, the stoat is found in various habitats, largely determined by the abundance of prey available and include meadows, dry stone walls and woodland.
Their lean, low set bodies enable them to chase and hunt through seemingly inaccessible places, something referenced in one of its Irish names, ‘Easóg’ meaning ‘eel-like’, eas, Irish for eel. Prone to wanton killing, the stoat has the ancient name of ‘Cain’, in places, likened to the murderous son of Adam and Eve. Another of its Irish names, ‘An beanín uasal’, used in Connemara, translates as ‘the noble little lady’, hinting at its involvement in many superstitious activities.
The stoat is a ferocious little mammal feared and respected in equal measure by generations in rural Ireland
Folklore associated with the stoat has focused on mistrust and fear, even though it rarely interferes with humans, if left alone. It was said bad luck followed anyone who destroyed a stoat’s nest. A parent stoat would spit poison into milk cans, used for drinking by farm workers, should they be seen to kill her young or damage the nest in the fields and, to exact revenge on any person who harms them, stoats were said to summon their friends by whistling on them to gather and pursue the culprit until caught.
Another intriguing story told is the ritual of a stoat’s funeral where a gathering of stoats come from around the district to participate in a funeral procession honouring their dead friend. Two chief mourning stoats carry the corpse in front, using their teeth, while the rest follow behind.
The late Professor James Fairley, from Belfast, former zoology lecturer at University College Galway, and an expert on Irish mammals, wrote in An Irish Beast Book (1984), “One old forestry worker in Co Tyrone assured me that he had witnessed the rites himself”, and that he had also received “a letter containing an eyewitness account of a funeral in Co Mayo”.
Later, after seeing a hunting sparrowhawk, I left content at encountering two of nature’s great predators.
