Moonbird Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 I expect that it was a large rat, but could it have been an escaped ferret? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eater Sundae Posted February 8, 2015 Author Share Posted February 8, 2015 Thanks, all. I'll go with Lillyland's suggestion of a heavily pregnant rat. I posted just in case there had been sightings of anything alien in the area, eg coypus (although my sighting was proabaly 200m+ from the river, I was opposite the Ghia car place on Penistone Road, near Leppings Lane). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markus66 Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Probably a mink, loads in the don at clay wheels lane, or a wild ferret. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuttsie Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Rats seem to be getting more prevalent this year. I can watch them any morning I want at a couple of places on my morning walk. They do not seem to mind that people are around either . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjos16 Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 yeah the rats are in force this year it seems, shot 41 of the little beggars this year so far. see more of them in built up areas nowadays than I do on farms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parvo Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 rats can get big when feasting on human garbage http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Big+Rats+in+New+York&Form=IQFRDR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackbeard Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 About 10years ago I was sent a pre publication copy of this book, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rats-Observations-History-Unwanted-Inhabitants/dp/1582344779/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423485513&sr=1-6&keywords=rats It makes very interesting reading, I lent it to a friend and never got it back, I suspect a rat eat it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Saw a report today (Daily Mail) that a coati had been seen (and photographed) on the banks of the Thames. Have a look at a picture of one, it could be what you saw. Wow, looks like a brick hard brown, black and white pine marten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANGELFIRE1 Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Sounds like the rarely seen pigmy wallaby. Bet they have been breeding in this cold weather, as it keeps them warm. It's a fair bet that under someone's hut there will be a pigmy nest, full of baby pigmy Wallaby's. They eat well with Yorkshire pud and some tatties. Angel1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rothschild Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 My first thought when I saw it was guinea pig, from its stance. But again, it looked too big. It was only when it moved that I saw its long tail. What also stood out was the way it moved. It seemed to shuffle, not what I would call a typical rat type of movement. It just looked too fat, especially around the rear. It sounds like a rat to me. The tail is the give away. Big adult male rats also shuffle and have large rear ends. They can move fast when they want but they are so common in built up areas now that they are no longer scared of anything. My first close up sighting of a huge rat was in our garden! It ambled along and I thought it might be something else.......some nice furry otter or something.......but then we found the nest in the shed! Since then we've found rat holes all over the garden which we block up with stones etc. Ours is a country garden surrounded by woodland etc so it might be expected but unfortunately "town" rats are massively on the increase because of all the fast food places and the way people just throw their waste on the ground. The old saying is that you are never more then a few feet away from a rat. We now regularly lay rat poison down in the shed and also blocked up any holes. We haven't had them move into the shed for a few years now because we keep a close eye on it. As for the field mice that we get living in our bit of dry stone walling.....I love them and they can stop because they are so sweet and never try to come into the house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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