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South West Pine Marten Project Gets More Funding

27 May 2024

By Kelly Withers, BBC News, Somerset

The cat-sized predators will be released on Exmoor over the next two years

Conservation groups say they are "thrilled" to have been given a grant of £1.2m to help them reintroduce pine martens to woodland in the south west of England.

Organisations involved in The Two Moors Pine Marten Project have received money from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Around 40 of the animals will be released over the next two years at selected locations on Exmoor and Dartmoor.

The rare creatures were once common across the UK until hunting and habitat loss drove them to the brink of extinction in England and Wales.

The pine marten is being reintroduced to the south west after a 150-year absence

The cat-sized predators, a relative of stoats and otters, prefer well-wooded areas and largely feed on small rodents, birds, insects and fruit.

The project is being led by the charity Devon Wildlife Trust, which is working with organisations such as Exmoor National Park Authority and Somerset Wildlife Trust.

Devon Wildlife Trust's conservation manager, Ed Parr Ferris said: "We are thrilled to have received this support."

He added: "The pine marten's role within a woodland eco-system is to create balance. They control the more abundant species and create opportunities for our rarer species to thrive."

The new pine martens are being sourced under license from existing healthy populations in Scotland.

'Inspire local communities'

The charity says the animal's return will signal the start of an ambitious community engagement project.

People will be given the chance to become nature spotters, monitoring pine marten behaviour and other woodland wildlife.

Stuart McLeod, from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: "We are delighted to be supporting a project which will not only see the reintroduction of pine martens but inspire local communities to care for their woodlands."

The timing of the release of the pine martens has not yet been revealed.

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American Marten

(Martes americana Turton)

From: Saunders, D. A. 1988. Adirondack Mammals. State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. 216pp.

Order: CarnivoraFamily: Mustelidae

Range and Habitat

Formerly, the marten inhabited the forest regions of Canada,Alaska, the Northern half of the U.S. And along the major mountain ranges to central California, New Mexico, and West Virginia. Extensive trapping of this valuable furbearer, once known at the American sable, and deforestation extirpated the marten in the southern part of the range and much of the Northeast. Since 1936, when the range had shrunk from nearly all New York to the central Adirondacks, complete protection or special trapping seasons have enabled the marten to recolonize most of the Adirondacks. Although it is still most abundant in the old-growth forests of the High Peaks, the marten occurs in throughout most of the Park in coniferous and mixed forests, and even in some areas beyond the Blue Line, e.G., Tug Hill Plateau and Sable Highlands near Malone. The marten is least common or absent from some of the southeastern counties of the Adirondack Park.

A marten usually has several dens which it occupies while traveling within its home range. These temporary dens, which may contain nests of dry plant materials, are in hollow logs and trees, under stumps or rocks, in old pileated woodpecker cavities, and occasionally under or within old buildings. Winter den sited tend to be under snow cover, for example, in stumps and hollow logs.

Food and Feeding Behavior

Wild strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, other fruit and seeds are summer and autumn foods of the omnivorous marten. However, the bulk of the diet consists of small animals. Marten prefer mice and voles, but will also eat birds and birds' eggs, insects, reptiles, amphibians, flying squirrels, red squirrels, eastern chipmunks, moles, shrew, and snowshoe hares. The red-backed vole is an important and frequent food item. Martens hunt by searching ground cover or trees, and by bounding over or burrowing through snow.

Activity and Movement

The marten is semiaboreal, easily climbing trees to search for or chase prey, and in winter may leap out of trees from heights of 4-5 m (15 ft) or more into the snow below, bounding to a nearby tree to repeat this pattern, or to use the base of the tree as an entry to the areas beneath the snow. Activity continues throughout the year. Daily activities may be synchronized with the activity of prey. Thus, marten hunting snowshoe hares or small rodents in winter are active at night, but martens preying upon chipmunks in the summer forage during the day.

Reproduction

A female bears her annual litter of 1-5 (average 2-4) young in April or May, and mates in mid-summer. The gestation period is approximately 260-270 days, and as is typical for many mustelids, the embryos undergo a long quiescent phase with most of their development taking place during the last 25-28 days of the pregnancy. At birth, the young are blind, weigh approximately 34 g (1.2 oz), and are either naked or have this covering of soft hair. Their eyes open at 28-40 days of age, weaning begins at about days 42-49, and the young disperse when approximately 3 months old. Males begin breading during their second or third summer; females when 2 or 3 years old. Potential life span is at least 15-17 years, although few adults in the wild are likely to live to this age.

Predators

Few animals are known to prey upon martens; great horned owls, golden eagles, fishers, coyotes, and bobcat occasionally kill them.

Social Behavior

Social system - The marten is polygamous, sedentary, and solitary. Adults occupy fixed home ranges with those of the opposite sex, but not those of the same sex. The home range of a male may include the ranges of several females. Males have larger ranges then females, about 4.5 sq km (2 sq mi) versus 2.6 sq km (1 sq mi) for females (Mark Brown, pers. Comm.).

Communication - Both sexes mark their home with sent from the abdominal and anal glands which presumably facilitate mating and spacing among adults. Martens are relatively quiet animals, but in aggressive and sexual encounters may produce a clucking sound, or screech, growl, hiss and scream.

Additional References

Gebo, T. 1976. The pine marten (Martes american) in the Adirondacks: distribution of habitat affinities. M. S. Thesis, Univ. Of Idaho, Moscow, 39pp.

Hamilton, W. J., Jr. 1958. Past and present distribution of marten in New York. Journal of Mammalogy, 39:589-591.

Hargis, C. D., and D. R. McCullough. 1984. Winter diet and habitat selection of marten in Yosemite National Park. Journal of Wildlife Management, 48:140-146.

Masters, R. D. 1980. Daytime resting sites of two Adirondack pine martens. Journal of Mammalogy, 61:157.

Spenser, W. D. 1987. Seasonal rest-site preferences of pine martens in the northern Sierra Nevada. Journal of Wildlife Management, 51:616-621.

Zielinski, W. J., W. D. Spencer, and R. H. Barrett. 1983. Relationship between food habits and activity patterns of pine martens. Journal of Mammalogy, 64:387.

Ae Forest Pine Marten Poo Count Shows Number Growth

Image caption,

Pine marten numbers in the two plantations appear to be on the rise

By Giancarlo Rinaldi

South Scotland reporter, BBC Scotland news website

As jobs go, it is far from the most glamorous role.

Pine marten researchers Johnny Birks and John Martin are trying to establish if pine martens can thrive in productive timber forests.

Every autumn they return to the Forest of Ae and Castle O'er in Dumfries and Galloway to count poo.

The numbers of droppings - or scats - are on the rise which, in turn, shows the population of the protected species is making "encouraging" progress.

Image source, John Martin Image caption,

Johnny Birks and John Martin carry out regular checks on numbers in the two areas

The two plantations are managed by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) and produce more than 120,000 tonnes of timber each year.

However, they are also home to growing numbers of pine martens.

Research is now looking at whether the installation of artificial dens - which provide an elevated safe space to rest and breed - can boost the population further.

The ultimate aim is to show that a profitable timber industry and the pine martens can co-exist.

"Productive forests provide the UK with timber, which is vital, but they're also home to a variety of species," Mr Birks said.

Image source, John Martin Image caption,

Piles of pine marten poo are used to help assess if numbers are rising or falling in an area

Working with FLS, he and Mr Martin installed 50 dens in Forest of Ae in 2020 with none in Castle O'er in order to compare the results.

The method they use is to count the droppings they find - with some sent for DNA analysis for authentication.

It is a job which requires an expert eye.

"We use pine marten scats as a proxy for population establishment," explained Mr Martin.

"It's a basic survey method but it indicates population growth or decline.

"It's important you can distinguish between pine marten and fox scat - it wouldn't be obvious to a beginner but do enough of these surveys and it becomes easy to differentiate between them, with DNA confirmation as a crucial back-up."

Image source, John Martin Image caption,

Pine marten den boxes are being used to boost numbers in the area

The results from last year were promising.

"Both plantations showed an encouraging increase in the abundance, density and spread of likely marten scats," Mr Martin said.

"Our DNA results also showed that the species is continuing to establish in both forests.

"Forest of Ae, which has artificial dens, is still leading the way, with 50 scats compared with 15 in Castle O'er."

However, he said it was too soon to jump to conclusions about the reasons for that difference.

"Although it's tempting to attribute the greater numbers at Ae to the artificial dens, the population at O'er could be lagging simply because pine martens started establishing there a year or so later," he added.

Image source, John Martin Image caption,

Cameras have confirmed that the boxes are being used by the pine martens

Bill Coombes, regional environment advisor for FLS, said the organisation tried to balance the need for timber with supporting native species.

"Trees in plantations tend to be quite young, and so don't have the cavities that pine marten like to rest and breed in," he said.

"We are therefore managing our forests to retain some areas of older trees and some windblown areas, as well as some dead trees which will provide potential areas for the pine martens to use.

"These retained areas also provide suitable habitats for a range of flora and fauna as they develop."

FLS is also adding more artificial dens across the country as the pine marten is a natural predator of grey squirrels and can help to boost red squirrel numbers.

"We hope the marten populations continue to grow, and of course, people are very welcome to visit our forests to spot them for themselves," Mr Coombes added.

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