THESE delightful young stoats have found a perfect playground.
They chase around happily near their den under and old shed in Denise Bartle's garden in Bridge Sollers, near Hereford.
Denise, a member of the
, said: "I first saw a stoat here about five years ago. She had five kits with her.
"I saw these kits two days ago, but couldn't get close enough to take a picture. So I sat in the garden close to where they had been playing and waited."
The stoat is related to the weasel and otter, according to the Wildlife Trusts
.
It has an orange body, black-tipped tail and distinctive bounding gait. It can be seen on grassland, heaths and in woodlands across the UK.
Denise used a Nikon D5300 camera with an 18 to 140mm lens.
How to tell the difference between a stoat and a weasel
At first glance stoats and weasels are very similar looking animals... but there are ways to distinguish them
- Stoats have a longer tail with a distinctive black tip that weasels do not have.
- If it has white on its back, it is a stoat. Weasels do not turn white in winter.
- Stoats tend to bound along when they are running. Weasels generally move quicker and lower to the ground
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