The history of stoats Mustela ermina and weasels M. nivalis in the Post-glacial of the British Isles

Abstract

Introduction In reviewing the origins of the post-glacial mammal fauna of the British Isles, it was assumed that stoats and weasels were native, and little detail of their recent history was offered (Yalden 1982, 1999). In their review of the history of Mustelidae in western Europe in the Late and Post-glacial, Sommer & Benecke (2004) assembled an impressive set of records of these species for the continent, but included few records from the British Isles. While they included two Late Glacial records of stoat from Ireland, there were no Late Glacial records of either species from Great Britain. This has allowed informal speculation that the weasel, perhaps both species, were introduced by humans to Great Britain, however unlikely this might seem. A more detailed summation of the records for these species is thus worth attempting. Many come from local accounts, not readily available in the international literature on these species.