On the subject of stoats, a few years ago walking in the Peloponnese I heard a little rustle from a stone wall, so stopped and watched, and it turned out to be some little stoat kits, presumably nested there, which being inquisitive couldn't resist peeking out to see what was happening. I'd seen almost exactly the same thing in Scotland in my childhood, even down to the slightly delapidated state of the stone wall.