The discovery of pine martens in a wood in south Shropshire has caused huge excitement, locally and nationally. Video footage from camera traps has revealed at least two martens in this secret location, probably arriving from Wales, where there is a very small population of these beautiful and rare creatures.
“This is a hugely significant discovery,” said Stuart Edmunds, chair of Shropshire Mammal Group. “We need to make sure there are places for these beautiful creatures to live, feed and breed in safety, so we are setting up a pine marten research project to find out where they are and how many there may be in Shropshire.” Pine martens are cat-sized members of the stoat and weasel family and are active at dusk and at night in trees, so are very difficult to see. While they exist in healthy numbers in Scotland, with an estimated population of 4,000, there have been no confirmed records of them in England for over 50 years.
These creatures are very mobile, easily travelling 20km in a day. Pine martens are also highly territorial, with bigger ones pushing out younger, smaller ones so they need to travel to set up new territories.
We hope to discover the provenance of the Shropshire pine martens by getting hair samples (using hair tube traps) and checking the DNA profile against pine marten populations from Scotland and Wales.
Our new pine marten project will involve fieldwork to establish their distribution and will have a strong community element, encouraging people in the area to get involved. We will also be working with local people to find out their attitudes towards these creatures and raise awareness about how pine martens are likely to interact with other wildlife. We hope to see a positive response to their presence and a willingness to work together to create the conditions needed for them to flourish.
If you’d like to help us find out more about Shropshire’s pine martens please donate securely at: www.shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/appeals, or by post to Pine Marten Appeal, Shropshire Wildlife Trust, FREEPOST ANG60017, SHREWSBURY, SY2 6ZD. Thank you
