A RICHNESS OF MARTENS

BY POLLY PULLAR, BIRLINN, £12.99 (PB)

This lovely book takes as its title what is surely the leastused collective noun for a British mammal. Until the 1980s, pine martens were so rare and localised that spotting a single individual – let alone several together – was quite a feat. Thankfully, sightings of these “mercurial mustelids” are much easier nowadays, as persecution has lessened and the species has spread out of remote Highland glens to recolonise former haunts in the rest of Scotland and northern England. (See the feature on their reintroduction in Wales, page 38.)

Two people lucky enough to be visited by pine martens on a daily basis are Les and Chris Humphreys, retired dairy farmers from Cheshire, who in 2004 bought a lochside house on the west coast of Scotland with a “bay view to die for”. Pullar tells the extraordinary tale of how the couple befriended their nocturnal guests and over the years created a “Michelinstarred” pine marten paradise, rigged up with CCTV and trail-cams.

So far, the Humphreys have named 126 martens; the maximum number on one night is a scarcely believable 13. Each has its own personality. Graham would take eggs from their hands with a paw that had a “touch of velvet”. On wet nights, Buttons nipped inside and dried himself off on a rug. A youngster called Dan popped in to pinch whole packets of unopened biscuits!

Pullar breaks up the narrative with entertaining chapters reminiscing about her life as a Highland naturalist, in which she recounts adventures watching everything from grey seals to golden eagles.