Marvellous martens put on a midnight show
MY SON AND HIS FAMILY LIVE IN southern Spain, between Malaga and Ronda, and last night he and my visiting nephew were treated to a wonderful spectacle of three beech martens on their neighbour’s roof, probably young ones, just before midnight! My granddaughter of 13 woke up, and with great forethought took her phone camera, and got some good footage of the three martens.
This was an animal that I had not heard of before, as it does not exist in the British Isles, though is closely related to our pine martens, just a little smaller and with a more extensive white bib (the pine marten’s is cream-coloured).
In all my years of reading your magazine, over 40 now, I have never seen mention of this animal, but Google of course was able to tell me about it – but the footage they have online was not as good as my granddaughter’s, so I was thrilled to get her little video this morning.
I presume it is not at all rare, though haven’t yet spoken to anyone who has heard of it, including a Spanish person staying near me in Co. Westmeath. Is it unusual or, being nocturnal, just not common to see them? Very exciting to learn at my age (78!) of an animal I was not even aware existed.
Anna Baggallay, via e-mail
LUKE MASSEY FROM WILD FINCA IN SPAIN REPLIES:
What a fantastic encounter it sounds like you all had. As you’ve seen, beech martens are very similar to pine martens and confusingly, can also be known as stone martens. They’re quite widespread across Spain, as well as much of mainland Europe and Central Asia. They’re more adaptable than pine martens and can be found in a range of habitats, including relatively urban environments.