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

Hereford Times Camera Club

, 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

  1. Stoats have a longer tail with a distinctive black tip that weasels do not have.
  2. If it has white on its back, it is a stoat. Weasels do not turn white in winter.
  3. Stoats tend to bound along when they are running. Weasels generally move quicker and lower to the ground