Pine Martens Caught On Camera in England for the First Time
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The pine marten was once the second most common carnivore in the UK, but deforestation and predator control saw their numbers reduced massively. Seeing a pine marten has been restricted to those who strike lucky up in Scotland, with only rumours of their recent move back across the border to England indicating a possible comeback of the charismatic mammal.
The Vincent Wildlife Trust has been conducting a study on pine martens for over 30 years, monitoring their distribution and range expansion within Scotland. Now, however, the charity has captured the first ever images of a pine marten in Northumberland, England. This is great news for the once persecuted species, and could also be good news for the red squirrel (the spread of a predator for grey squirrels is surely a good thing).
The footage lasts for almost a minute, captured with a Bushnell trail camera, and shows a pine marten foraging on the forest floor. The time-stamp says the footage was captured at the beginning of March in the middle of the night, and there’s a second clip shot almost a week later in the same video.
From 0:30 onwards, you can see the pine marten making footprints in the snow – a particularly charming sight.
So fingers crossed that this marks the beginning of a comeback for the pine marten, and that could mean a new photography star is on the cards for wildlife photographers in the north of England.