A family of twenty playful pine martens has set up their home in the woodlands surrounding cabin 26 at the Forest Holidays site in Strathyre, Stirling.
A survey from Forest Holidays revealed that sixty per cent of the population have no idea what a pine marten is and thirty-five per cent assume that it is a bird while twelve per cent think it is a type of tree!
Pine martens used to be seen regularly across the UK but now they’re almost extinct in England and Wales.
In Scotland however, forest restructuring brought about by the Wildlife and Countryside Act in the 1980s has meant that pine marten populations are thriving.
Visitors to Forest Holidays have been so enchanted by the nocturnal guests stealing scraps from the picnic tables on their outdoor decking that, four years ago, they started a ‘pine marten diary’ to record their antics.
One customer wrote: “At about 11pm we heard a thud, the pine marten had jumped onto the balcony rail and was peering in at us, he was beautiful and a lot bigger than I thought. When he’d finished eating scraps from our table, he came right up to the glass and looked at us then disappeared into the night. It was amazing!”
Conservationists are hopeful that raising awareness of this rare and protected species will support efforts to relocate the pine marten back to previously occupied areas of the UK.
Pine marten facts
Pine martens are a close cousin of otters and weasels (mustelids). They are dark reddish brown, with a creamy yellow throat bib and between 19 and 27 inches long, roughly the size of a domestic cat.
They rely on well-connected, mixed species woodlands for food, shelter and a place to raise their young.
They live on a diet of fruits and berries, supplemented with voles, rabbits, squirrels and insects. They have a real sweet tooth – particularly enjoying peanut butter scraps.
They are super agile and can leap, run and hunt squirrels in the treetops of woodlands, twisting fluidly in mid-air to make a safe landing in the branches.
The collective noun for a group of pine martens is a ‘richness’.
For more information and a video of the pine martens, https://www.forestholidays.co.uk/locations/scotland-holidays/strathyre-holidays/pine-martens
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