Meet the pine martens flourishing in mid-Wales
Four years ago, 20 pine martens were released into the forests of mid-Wales, where they are now thriving. Julie Brominicks finds out how these rare and remarkable mammals can help revive our woodlands
When I check the woodland feeding station, the eggs and jam have vanished. Shakily, I transfer the data from the camera to my laptop. Sure enough, the footage reveals a glossy, chestnut animal. It pauses, sniffs the air and arches its back, before springing lightly on to large paws. A pine marten!
Again and again we watch our two minutes of film, in the dark, the dinner uncooked, the stove unlit. That a creature so exquisite and elusive has returned to our neck of the woods is thrilling. This glimpse of the pine marten is precious: the species is Britain’s second rarest carnivore – only wildcats are more scarce.
It’s hard to believe that pine martens were once Britain’s second most abundant carnivore, after the weasel. In the Mesolithic Age (9,000 to 4,300 BCE), an estimated 147,000 of them thrived in the wild wood that covered the country.
The reason for their decline? Over centuries, their forest homes were cut down in vast tracts, and they were hunted by humans. As early as the sixth century, pine martens were trapped for fur. Later, they were considered a pest; omnivorous and opportunistic, they would take valuable game and poultry. In the 19th century, when grouse shooting became fashionable, gamekeepers would cull any predators they could. Already scarce after centuries of deforestation, pine martens were almost obliterated.
Some respite came in the early 20th century, after David Lloyd George – Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Liberal government – introduced new taxes on the wealthy. As a result, many landowners reduced spending on their country estates, and there were fewer gamekeepers around to cull pests.
Soon there was more woodland, too, offering pine martens a suitable habitat to move into. After the war, Britain’s forest cover gradually increased (see our feature on the history of the Forestry Commission, page 50). Finally, in 1988, the Wildlife
Act gave pine martens legal protection for the first time.
In the Scottish Highlands and Ireland, pine marten populations began to recover. Yet in England and Wales, there was still little sign of them. Possibly the remaining populations were just too small to expand.
BAD NEWS FOR GREY SQUIRRELS
Enter the Vincent Wildlife Trust (VWT). After years of research, the mammal research and conservation charity concluded that the marten communities in England and Wales would not recover without help. With biodiversity crashing globally, and an EU obligation to restore native species, the government approved the Trust’s proposals to reinvigorate dwindling pine marten populations.
Support for the idea was bolstered by reports from Ireland showing that where pine martens thrived, grey squirrel numbers dropped significantly. This was good news to the forestry industry, as greys allegedly cause £20m worth of damage annually by eating buds and fruits, stripping bark and weakening young broadleaf trees. Trapping is ineffective – squirrels just move on. But pine martens, it transpires, find greys rather tasty.
In 2012, with support from – among others – the Woodland Trust and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES), the VWT led a two-year field study that identified woodland around the Cambrian Mountains of mid-Wales as suitable for relocations.
VWT’s David Bavin consulted local people by mail and knocking on doors with forester Huw Denman. Thriving pine marten populations in Scotland, from which individual animals could be trapped and moved south, were identified. Legislation was secured.
Finally, the first 20 animals were released into Coed Rheidol in 2015, followed by 19 in 2016 on the Hafod Estate, and 12 in 2017, in Forge. All were microchipped and wore radio collars for a year.
Restorations can test the sometimes delicate relationship between conservationists and landowners. The introduction of carnivores – and the concept of ‘rewilding’ – can trigger a strong response from communities, especially farmers and those rearing game birds for the shooting industry.
In this case though, little outcry surrounds the relocations. “Support from the farmers was hard-won,” David Bavin admits. “It was handy that
I lived locally; it can seem that conservationists just parachute in, but we need to be embedded.”
WARY ACCEPTANCE
Nevertheless, there is still caution among local farmers. David introduced me to Wyn Evans – National Farmers Union vice chairman for livestock – at his farm near the release area. “We weren’t supportive,” Wyn says, “and we still have grave reservations. We have struggled for generations to produce food. We’re worried that years down the line, who will be monitoring the pine martens then, and checking them for diseases and potential threats to domestic livestock?
“There’s nothing more devastating for a farmer than finding dead sheep,” he adds. And the offer of compensation for any losses doesn’t appease him. “My sheep go back to my grandfather. A lot of work goes into the breeding and the bloodlines, so… money doesn’t buy that.”
Yet there’s clearly a good rapport between the two men. “The Trust have tried to answer our questions and show us evidence,” said Wyn. “They have shown interest in us. They’ve come to work on the farm here,” – David and several colleagues helped with lambing on three farms – “to understand things from a farming perspective. And it was a controlled release – we always knew what was happening. We are on two different sides of the fence. But they have shown respect to the landowners and worked closely within the community to address their feelings, negative and positive.”
“It’s tricky but important to get access to the people who don’t like what you do,” David tells me later. “We had to tackle the misconception that pine martens kill lambs, and identify people who were still unhappy, such as the pheasant-shooting syndicates. It’s important to acknowledge those fears.” David says there are ways to prevent pine martens from raiding pheasant pens. While they are capable of scaling tall mesh fences, a simple electric circuit at the top is an effective deterrent – as is the sound of Radio 4, according to one gamekeeper.
Other local people have worries, too – about dormice or songbirds, for example. “We work with people like the RSPB to provide solutions, such as predator-proof nesting boxes,” says David. Fears for the safety of the ospreys breeding at nearby Llyn Clywedog were allayed with the use of an inverted cone to prevent martens climbing up to the nest and stealing eggs or chicks.
“WE HAD TO TACKLE THE MISCONCEPTION THAT PINE MARTENS KILL LAMBS”
Meanwhile, the relocated pine martens have spread across Wales, found territories and started breeding. Tracking them isn’t easy, despite the radio collars. But they appear to be thriving. “Often when we open a den box, we find it full of squirrel tails,” VWT project officer Josie Bridges told me.
EXPANDING FRONTIERS
The Trust is still busy – communicating, installing den boxes to compensate for the lack of mature hollow trees in young forests, and distributing camera traps. While it’s too early to tell for sure, it appears that a population of pine martens in England and Wales will evolve, benefitted by a gradual increase in diverse woodland.
The pine martens are contributing to a growing understanding of how the presence of carnivores can revitalise an ecosystem by regulating pests and other predators in the food chain.
Back at home, our camera reveals pine martens regularly. Our expectations of actually seeing these secretive creatures are low. But knowing they are here has changed the way we experience the woodland. We find ourselves stepping out more quietly now, sitting in the dusk and looking up to the treetops.
GET INVOLVED
• If you think you’ve seen a pine marten, want tracking advice, den box plans, or to get involved in the recovery project in Wales or the Back from the Brink project in northern England, visit vwt.org.uk/projects-all/pine-martenrecovery-project • Pine Martens by Johnny Birks, published by Whittet Books (£15.99), is a compelling read.