How many weasels have you chanced upon?

One?

Two?

Three?

Very possibly none, I expect.

I've seen four or five stoats now and attracted (called) a few weasels (much harder to see I think) in my time, after hearing them in long grass - but I've only accidentally chanced upon two weasels. Ever. In my life.

The first "accidental weasel" I chanced upon was in the year 2000.

I worked at a craft bakery in Hazlemere (Bucks) and lived in Beaconsfield at the time.

At the start of a summer's evening in that year, as I cycled through rural(ish) Penn to start work at around 7pm that evening, a weasel (definitely a weasel not a stoat) raced across the single track road in front of my bike.

It left a hedge and crossed the road westward into someone's drive.

By the time I reached the drive (it was a hill I was cycling up!) it had gone. But it was lovely to see and I remember it like it was yesterday.

But it wasn't yesterday.

It was, in fact, twenty years ago, this year!

Today, twenty years later, I chanced upon my most recent and only my second ever "accidental weasel".

I was nearing the end of my daily five-mile-walk (to keep my back muscles in check after slipping two lumbar discs a few years ago) in Binfield, Berkshire - and again it (a weasel again, definitely not a stoat) raced across the busy (this time) road maybe 70 yards in front of me into someone's front garden hedge.

Two "accidental weasels".

Twenty years.

Some people reading this may know me quite well and know very well that I tend to see (or notice I suppose) EVERYTHING.

So if I've only seen two accidental weasels in twenty years... well... I guess that tells it's own story.

These delightful wee animals are awfully hard to see.

How about you then?

How many accidental weasels have you seen?