When out for a stroll in the countryside it is quite a sobering thought that maybe, just a few metres away hidden in the undergrowth lurks a predator which has a fabled reputation for being one of the most ferocious and vicious on earth.

Legend has it that this creature alone has the necessary cunning and deadly skills to battle with a mythical creature known as a basilisk.

As tales tell, a basilisk is a ferocious and terrifying reptilian beast brought forth from the essence of the blood of the Greek monster, the Medusa.

However, before everyone goes scuttling home to bolt the doors and board up the windows, it is probably worth mentioning this animal is also the smallest mammalian predator on earth.

While if legend is correct this creature may be fearless in taking on the terrifying basilisk, it certainly has a fear of man.

This fear is perfectly justified, as it is man who is this creature's main enemy.

It is both its inbred fear of man and its lifestyle of hunting in dense undergrowth, which makes the weasel a very rarely encountered mammal, despite the fact it is one of the most common predatory mammals.

On the few occasions when I have been lucky enough to encounter a weasel, it has usually been by chance.

I have witnessed one frantically running across or down a county lane or track.

They are immediately recognisable by their elongated bodies, but care needs to be taken to determine whether it is a small individual of the weasel's close - but larger - cousin, the stoat.

A weasel resembles a stretched mouse in size and lacks the stoat's distinctive dark tip to its tail.

On spotting one, you will be impressed by the energy and swiftness of the weasel's movement.

Equally, you would certainly not be surprised to find it has a very high metabolic rate. It needs to fuel by eating its own body weight in prey every three days.

The weasel uses its unusual body shape to pursue its prey of mice and voles down their burrows, killing them with a swift bite to the neck.

They gain their fearsome reputation though, through the epic, long- drawn out battles they pursue when taking on rabbits, an animal many times their size.

These ferocious little predators are, unfortunately, in decline and as yet no one is exactly sure why.

Hopefully a reason can be found and weasels will continue to be an active part of British wildlife.