English and Welsh pine marten reintroductions

DesertRhino150

DesertRhino150

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15+ year member
A population of eighteen European pine martens, wild-caught from Scotland, have been reintroduced into the Forest of Dean. The hope is that more will be released in the area over the next two years.

Currently the project is being carried out by Forestry England, the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, Vincent Wildlife Trust and Forest Research.

More information can be found in the link below:
Threatened pine martens return to forest
 
While this news relates to the earlier reintroduction in Wales, I figured it was interesting enough to warrant posting here.

There seems to have been some early success regarding the marten's effect on grey squirrels, with at least one forester who worked with the Vincent Wildlife Trust on the marten reintroduction project describing "a catastrophic collapse of grey squirrels as soon as the pine martens arrived". The result has been an increase in red squirrel numbers where pine martens have been released.

Also interesting to note that this July four pine martens were released into a forest near Bangor as part of a red squirrel conservation project.

The news article is included below:
Red squirrels welcome an unlikely hero
 
DesertRhino150 said:
While this news relates to the earlier reintroduction in Wales, I figured it was interesting enough to warrant posting here.

There seems to have been some early success regarding the marten's effect on grey squirrels, with at least one forester who worked with the Vincent Wildlife Trust on the marten reintroduction project describing "a catastrophic collapse of grey squirrels as soon as the pine martens arrived". The result has been an increase in red squirrel numbers where pine martens have been released.
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They have now reached Denbighshire. A Marten was picked up by one of the Clocaenog Red Squirrel Trust's camera traps a week or so ago.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
There seems to have been some early success regarding the marten's effect on grey squirrels, with at least one forester who worked with the Vincent Wildlife Trust on the marten reintroduction project describing "a catastrophic collapse of grey squirrels as soon as the pine martens arrived". The result has been an increase in red squirrel numbers where pine martens have been released.
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Wonderful news!
 
A feasibility study on the reintroduction of pine martens to Derbyshire will now take place, due to funding from the UK government's Green Recovery Challenge Fund. The last confirmed sighting was one found on the roadside in 2018, the first one found since 2002.

Information about the plans can be found here:
Plans to reintroduce Pine Marten to Derbyshire gain pace - BirdGuides
 
I very much support reintroductions. However, I am always ashamed how bureaucratic and slow they are. Compare how tiny is the actual effort in the field (catching and releasing several tens of martens) compared with the cost and time of preparations, feasibility studies, consultations etc.

I feel reintroductions of wild animals should resemble more reintroductions of game animals, like deer. They are not bureaucratic, and are done in many places on the principle lets try. The best method may be to release animals in many broadly suitable places with minimal feasibility studies, accepting that they will die out in some of them. This will save money and insure against uncertainty in picking suitable sites by biologists. Note that the benefit of feasibility studies is often doubtful - how well a human researcher actually knows what a marten needs to live?

PS. Pine marten is common in farmland in continental Europe. I wonder, whether pine marten in Britain could also take over the niche of stone marten, which locally in Europe is a completely urban animal, living in the attics in city centers like a feral cat.
 
Jurek7 said:
I very much support reintroductions. However, I am always ashamed how bureaucratic and slow they are. Compare how tiny is the actual effort in the field (catching and releasing several tens of martens) compared with the cost and time of preparations, feasibility studies, consultations etc.

I feel reintroductions of wild animals should resemble more reintroductions of game animals, like deer. They are not bureaucratic, and are done in many places on the principle lets try. The best method may be to release animals in many broadly suitable places with minimal feasibility studies, accepting that they will die out in some of them. This will save money and insure against uncertainty in picking suitable sites by biologists. Note that the benefit of feasibility studies is often doubtful - how well a human researcher actually knows what a marten needs to live?

PS. Pine marten is common in farmland in continental Europe. I wonder, whether pine marten in Britain could also take over the niche of stone marten, which locally in Europe is a completely urban animal, living in the attics in city centers like a feral cat.
Click to expand...

I attribute the lagged and sometimes just downright negligent execution of reintroduction programs to the fact that they're largely carried out solely by public or government entities and largely exclude the private sector conservation organizations. The reason that I feel a broad release program wouldn't be feasible in this particular case is due to the fact that all the pine martens reintroduced to Dean were all wild-caught from another population of marten, If the reintroduced individuals were from a captive population, one of many reasons I'm in favor of all captive insurance colonies, then I would think it'd be a reasonable idea to take a larger number of individuals from that captive population and release them into a broad range of reintroduction areas. Due to the fact that all of the martens in this case are coming from another wild population, you don't want to take a large number of unique individuals from that region to reintroduce them into multiple 'what if' reintroduction ranges.
 
I do not believe that is the case, public service conservation organisations are well Able to executie these. More often than not, and also in the USA, it is local outside interests that block or excuse the reintroduction projects from going ahead even if we are talking native species that are part of the local fauna (think cougar, jaguar, wolf) and government USFWS trying hard to make these programs a success. Quite often it is local political coalitions and land interests that thwart sensible conservation action. Here in the UK same with English Heritage and Scottish Wildlife Trust as can be seen elsewhere in continental Europe too.
 
Again related to the Welsh pine martens, but I will post here rather than create a new thread (perhaps the thread could be retitled English and Welsh pine marten reintroductions?).

For the first time in 30 years, a pine marten has been recorded on Anglesey, where three camera trap photos have been taken by red squirrel researchers.

More information can be found in the link below:
Pine Marten confirmed on Anglesey for first time in 30 years - BirdGuides
 
A new planned pine marten reintroduction has been announced today. The Two Moors Pine Marten Project, being run by Devon Wildlife Trust, National Trust, Woodland Trust and both the Dartmoor and Exmoor National Park Authorities, is aiming to restore a healthy population of pine martens to southwest England.

The project is currently working with experts and local communities, to establish where and whether the reintroduction can happen. Possible release sites being considered are Exmoor and Dartmoor National Parks, with the first releases aimed for 2024.

More information can be found in the link:
Bringing back pine martens | Devon Wildlife Trust
 
During camera trapping for the London HogWatch project (a project run by ZSL to identify hedgehog populations), a pine marten was recorded in a woodland in the south-west of London. The nearest current population is around seventy miles away in the New Forest - the conservationists who recorded the sighting think it is most likely that this is the result of an unlicensed release. This is the first sighting of a pine marten in the capital in the last century.

More information can be found in the link below (the mentions of this possibly being an unlicensed release come from a comment on the topic on ZSL's Facebook page):
Nationally Critically Endangered Pine Marten spotted in London
 
A study of the pine martens in the New Forest (almost certainly from an unlicensed release) has recorded over 100 camera trap videos in 2022 including videos of young martens, showing that the animals are successfully breeding and well-established. The videos also confirm that fallen logs and trees are important to the pine martens, helping them move along the forest floor and cross wet areas.

An article about the study, with video clips, can be seen here:
Study shows New Forest pine martens successfully breeding
 
The Two Moors Pine Marten Project has made its first release. Fifteen pine martens, comprising eight females and seven males, were reintroduced to Dartmoor in September, following two years of planning and consultation.
This is the first officially sanctioned release of pine martens in Southwest England, and will be followed by a second reintroduction of a similar number of martens in Exmoor in 2025.

More information can be found in the link below:
Wild once more: pine martens return to the South West of England after 100-year absence | Somerset Wildlife Trust
 
At least one pine marten has been camera trapped on the grounds of Longleat Estate. While their droppings have been found in pine marten nest boxes raised in the woodland, no images had been caught of the animal itself until now. Longleat is midway between the official reintroduction site in the Forest of Dean and the unofficially returned population in the New Forest.

More information, including several camera trap films, can be found in the link below:
Rare pine marten spotted at Wiltshire safari park
 
A group of five male and eight female pine martens have been released in Grizedale Forest and the Rusland Valley in the Lake District, as part of a project by the University of Cumbria and the University of Leeds.
It is the first of two releases, using animals taken under license from Scottish populations, that aims to boost the small number of martens present in the area as part of the Pine Marten Recovery Project.

More information can be found in the link below:
Pine Martens released in Lake District - BirdGuides
 
DesertRhino150 said:
The Two Moors Pine Marten Project has made its first release. Fifteen pine martens, comprising eight females and seven males, were reintroduced to Dartmoor in September, following two years of planning and consultation.
This is the first officially sanctioned release of pine martens in Southwest England, and will be followed by a second reintroduction of a similar number of martens in Exmoor in 2025.

More information can be found in the link below:
Wild once more: pine martens return to the South West of England after 100-year absence | Somerset Wildlife Trust
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Some news from Dartmoor - the released population has started to establish itself, with the first births of kits being recorded in July 2025.

The Exmoor reintroduction mentioned in the quote has also begun, with nine female and ten male pine martens caught under license from healthy wild populations in North-West Scotland released at secret locations owned by the Forestry Commission and National Trust on Exmoor.

More information can be read in this link.
 
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