Stoat versus crows

[zico]

Out on a walk today, I noticed several crows that appeared to be chasing a small animal in a field that then sheltered under a tree. I wondered if they were preying on a baby squirrel, but then got my binoculars out and saw it was a stoat. Looked like the crows were trying to drive the stoat away, and after two or three minutes they succeeded, and the stoat ran off across the field then on top of a drystone wall. About the longest and clearest view I've ever had of a stoat (clearly had a black-tipped tail so I knew it wasn't a weasel) and an unexpected wildlife confrontation. It wasn't in the middle of nowhere either, being in a field on the outskirts of a small village only yards from a few houses.