Polly Pullar is working on a new book about pine martens
Renowned nature writer Polly Pullar takes a lighthearted look at rural life.
IT was during the late 1960s that I saw my first pine marten in Ardnamurchan. At that time they were extremely scarce, having been persecuted to the point of extinction in many areas.
It was not until 1988 that this beautiful, arboreal, acrobatic member of the weasel family received legal protection, and since then it has started to re-establish itself in many of its traditional strongholds.
Dairy farmers Les and Chris Humphreys first came to Ardnamurchan from Wales on holiday in 1997. Their passion for natural history has played a part in their lives since childhood.
During their visit they became besotted by the area’s diverse wildlife, and in particular had a desire to see pine martens.
As they crossed to the peninsula on the Corran Ferry across Loch Linnhe during that first visit, a pine marten put in an appearance. It was their first sighting. This brief encounter was the catalyst for a life change.
Thereafter, regular holidays spent in the same remote cottage on Ardnamurchan’s north coast spawned the idea to sell up their farm after 35 years. They soon found a property and retired to the area.
It was a major decision, but over the past 14 years they have forged a new life in a house overlooking Loch Sunart where porpoises, otters, herons, and sea and golden eagles are a regular sight, where the calls of great northern divers, the cries of herring gulls and drumming snipe mingle in the evening air together with copious clouds of midges.
They have made a beautiful wildlife garden that has in turn encouraged an astounding array of visitors. Now their lives revolve entirely around nature, and pine martens in particular.
They have come to know these extraordinary lithe and agile mammals intimately. In the Humphreys’ world, pine martens rule supreme.
Having bugged their entire property with trail and sensor-operated cameras, they have recorded unique and previously unseen behaviour, including interaction of pine martens with one another and with other animals. They’ve also collated fascinating diaries as they have become familiar with the pine martens that visit on a nightly basis.
And there is also much humour as pine martens take over the property, with kits sliding down the greenhouse roof for sheer joy, or using vegetable netting for hammocks having stolen strawberries or raspberries from the vegetable patch. A pine marten that moved into their car and did a spot of rewiring proved a bit less welcome.
This is now the subject of my next book, due to be published later this year.
It is the story of not only the Humphreys and their martens, but will also be a foray into pine martens in general, as well as a personal natural history journey, punctuated with myriad creatures, from an otter and her cubs taking advantage of the seasonal glut of frogs in the Humphreys’ garden pond, to hedgehogs that take food from a tray at the study window and the slowworms that bask in the sunshine.
I have spent much time with Les and Chris since I first met them some ten years ago.
However, though they have kept detailed records and diaries, and Les has produced hundreds of hours of film, they freely admit they will never get around to writing it all down. This is why I have agreed to do so.
It was here with Les and Chris that I had the first really close encounter with a marten – Graham – who came into their sitting-room, jumped up on the sofa and took an egg from my hand. And thus began my own marten journey. n