Reintroductions


When we published our last article about pine martens in January 2017, recolonisation of the pine marten in Cumbria was looking ‘likely’. Kevin O’Hara, Back from the Brink Project Officer at Vincent Wildlife Trust, presents the very latest information on the pine marten in northern England.


Pine martens in the north of England


Although it is a native British mammal and was once common throughout the countryside, the pine marten had become extinct throughout much of Britain by the early part of the 20th century. Small populations survived in some isolated areas, including parts of northern England, but relatively strong populations were still to be found only in areas of the Scotish Highlands where predator control pressures were less.


The pine marten in Scotland is making a good recovery and now we have signs of martens spreading south from their Scotish stronghold into Northumberland and Cumbria. In addition, there is now a growing marten population in Wales as a result of Vincent Wildlife Trust’s Pine Marten Recovery Project, as 51 pine martens have been translocated from Scotland to mid- Wales to re-establish a viable population.


Despite anecdotal sightings in the 1990s and early 2000s, there hadn’t been any unequivocal evidence to confirm the presence of pine martens in the north of England since the early 1900s. And then, while I was working for Northumberland Wildlife Trust in 2010, I found a scat in a Northumbrian forest, which was DNA tested and verified as a pine marten scat. This confirmed the possibility that pine martens were spreading south from their Scotish strongholds, and led to the Back from the Brink project.


This ambitious project was set up by Vincent Wildlife Trust in autumn 2017 to monitor the status of pine martens in northern England and to inform whether any future conservation effort was needed. It relies heavily on a commited network of volunteers to


14 Cumbrian Wildlife | May 2019 Pine marten facts


Size: similar to a small domestic cat. Appearance: rich brown fur, creamy yellow bib, prominent rounded ears and a long bushy tail.


Family: mustelid (the same as the weasel, stoat, oter and polecat) Latin name: Martes martes. Diet: small mammals, fruit, birds, insects and carrion.


Habitat: requires forest or scrub habitat that provides cover and use tree cavities as breeding and resting sites.


2010:


Scat found in Northumberland


Autumn 2017:


Back from the Brink project launched


March 2018:


Pine marten recorded on a trail camera in the north of England


carry out surveys for signs and evidence of pine martens, to enhance habitats by installing den boxes to provide resting and breeding sites for pine martens, and to raise awareness of the species. We set about monitoring remote cameras and hair traps, and appealed for reports of sightings to guide us in where to search. Through the project, we’re reaching out to every audience that may have an interest in the species, including BASC, the Forestry Commission and, of course, the many red squirrel groups.


Spurred on by recorded sightings of pine martens from the Scotish Borders, we spent many hours surveying and


trawling through hours of trail camera videos, and we were delighted when 2018 brought our first unequivocal records of martens in northern England. As the ‘Beast from the East’ subsided at the end of last winter, a lone marten ventured forth and was captured by a trail camera in a northern forest; probably the first time a pine marten was recorded on a camera trap in northern England.


Later that year, in August 2018, we were able to confirm the presence of pine martens in Cumbria for the first time in many years, as the Red Squirrels Northern England project shared their discovery of a pine marten on a feeder,


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