Pine martens are once again roaming free in woodlands in South West England after a 100-year absence thanks to a pioneering conservation project.
This September, 15 pine martens – including eight females and seven males, sourced from healthy wild populations in Scotland – were released at secret locations across Dartmoor.
The project is being hailed by conservationists as a historic step in the restoration of the region’s woodlands and their wildlife.
“These rare mammals need our help to return to their former homes in the south west, but we also need their help to bring back the natural balance of wildlife to our woodlands,” says Ed Parr Ferris from Devon Wildlife Trust, which is leading the Two Moors Pine Marten Project, a partnership of seven conservation organisations.
The project is now monitoring the progress of the 15 pine martens and each animal has been fitted with a radio collar to allow their movements to be tracked. The specially designed lightweight collars will drop off the animals after six to nine months.
Pine martens, which are members of the weasel family, are mostly solitary creatures and live at low densities. It is expected that the newly released animals will disperse to establish their own territories and that their population will gradually grow over the coming years.
The release of pine martens into Dartmoor is the first phase in the project’s plans to establish a resident population in South West England following their disappearance more than 100 years ago as a result of their woodland habitat being destroyed and being hunted and trapped to extinction.
The project’s second phase will now see a similar release of pine martens in Exmoor during 2025.
“The size of a small cat, pine martens are wonderful tree climbers which makes them ideally suited to living in woodlands and they play an important ecological role in our ecosystem. Their reintroduction benefits the restoration of woodlands more broadly,” says Ed Parr Ferris.
The release of the pine martens that feed on small animals, birds and insects is being seen as a significant milestone in recreating the temperate rainforests that once covered vast areas of the UK's western coast which experiences high levels of rainfall.
The pockets of surviving rainforest, some of which are found in Dartmoor, are home to a wide range of threatened wildlife including wood warblers and pied flycatchers as well as an abundance of mosses, lichens and fungi.
Words: Simon Birch | Main image: Karl Franz
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