Surrey Wildlife Trust - A coat of many colours

If you’ve ever seen a high court judge in his or her robes, you may have wondered about the fur trimming on their gown – white with little black tippets.

Sadly, this is actually the winter coat of the stoat because, traditionally, people of high rank were entitled to the exclusivity of rare and, therefore, expensive badges of office.

While the animal’s coat is russety red in summer with a white or cream belly, in winter it becomes as white as snow. However, the tip of the tail remains black throughout the year – which results in the black bits in the fur trim.
Thankfully, this antiquated practice has all but died out, though this fascinating creature – known in the winter months as an ermine (hence the scientific name of the animal: mustela erminea) – is still relatively rare.

Preparing for snow...

As every pet owner knows, animals shed their thin summer coat when the autumn days lengthen. Hair gets all over the carpet, seemingly for weeks, whilst this change takes place and the thicker winter coat grows through.

This doesn’t just happen to cats and dogs – all mammals go through the process. Not only can the animals keep warmer, but as the bright summer colours are no longer needed to attract mates any more, the sombre winter coats can be grown, which are more suitable for dark, gloomy days.

However, the stoat doesn’t react in this way at all but goes to a real extreme by preparing its coat for snowy weather.
It is possible to see a white stoat in southern England depending on the hardness of the winter, but this is less likely than in Scotland where stoats go entirely white (apart from the tip of the tail of course). Further south, in our more temperate climate, various intermediate colour changes occur depending on minimum temperature, snow cover and altitude.

Sightings in Surrey...

On the borders of Surrey, I have seen a stoat looking rather like a tortoiseshell cat when in this condition. At first, I couldn’t recognise what the animal was, as the stoat has a curious bounding motion when running and it was only when it came really close that I could identify it for what it was.

This bounding run reflects the fact that the stoat is a long, sinuous animal with short legs so that in order to achieve the speeds necessary to catch its prey, it has to arch its back considerably when galloping.

It will be interesting to see whether, as the earth’s temperature rises over the next century, the stoat in Surrey no longer gets any white fur at all in winter and even if the more northerly animals merely change part of their pelage as the southern ones do.

In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled when you’re out in the countryside and you might just be lucky enough to spot one of these beautiful creatures.

For your information

Surrey Wildlife Trust, School Lane, Pirbright, Woking, GU24 0JN.
Tel: 01483 795440
Website: www.surreywildlifetrust.org  
Email: info@surreywt.org.uk 

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