UKH

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v9TnuxKVTHnL4GbbF3jeTubNkwa126Qc/view

Can anyone identify this animal? Seen in a semi-rural pond in Cheshire yesterday.

Shape doesn't seem to match an otter's. And afaik water voles have darker colouring. I'm thinking Amarican Mink but I know next to nothing about this.

Thoughts?

Looks like a Water Vole to me. What size was it?

The pointy muzzle suggests a mink though it might be the angle. If it was the size of small cat then it's a mink. Water voles are much smaller.

Mink. 

Not sure about the size as I wasn't there and the background doesn't have any objects for comparison. 

I'd estimate vertical size of the head as about three inches.

Hmm! Difficult one. Pity the photo is blurred, and not more of the body, and tail are visible. I still err towards water vole. The nose is pointy, but not over so, like the brown rat's. And brown rats can swim, so being over water is not unusual!

Judging by the worried look on its face I think it may be an alpaca. Were there any placard-holding cat ladies nearby?

A coypu, perhaps?

100% certain it’s a mink. Water voles (photo) look like over large blobby voles - they are very buoyant when they swim and you could hold one if you cupped both hands. Mink look bigger than a ferret with that pointy nose visible on your photo. If you see a mink, unlikely to see a water vole as they devour them. 

I'd put my money on a rat. The nose seems to be too pointy for all the other mammals suggested here; mink have a bigger nose and the head is more flattened, Voles have a kind of Roman nose, missing here, and Coypu have a much blunter nose, lots of whiskers and a more massive lower jaw. 

That was my thought too.  

T.

I’ve seen dozens of mink. It’s a mink. The OP  considered it being an otter, which makes me think no way a rat. The average maximum weight of a mink is four times greater than a brown rat. For comparison, all the photos are of mink. 
 

Edit: to anyone who even considers a coypu, they’ve been extinct in the UK for 30 years and never been seen in Cheshire. 

Yeah, you could be right - reckon the OP's friend has to get back there with loads of time and a better camera! 

And a trap!

Other clue: very small ears (a rats are pronounced and fleshy, no good for diving underwater) 

OK, you're convincing me. Also - the size of those leaves and grass blades would seem to point to a pretty huge rat. 

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions! Once again I'm impressed by the knowledge of people here. I'm now personally convinced it was a mink.

Ah, I didn't know that, thanks. I remember seeing them in Essex/Suffolk when I was a kid. Interestingly, Wiki has this: 

However, in 2012, a "giant rat" was killed in County Durham, with authorities suspecting the animal was, in fact, a coypu.[45]