12 Days of Christmas – 2022
Day 9: A Celebration of the Pine Marten
A pine marten minute to enjoy. We’ve had only a few clips of the pine marten in the last couple of years. It’s always exciting to get a brief view into the mysterious world of the elusive pine marten.
At one time hunted to near extinction, they have been making a slow come back since they were protected in the late 1970’s. One of our top predators, a force to be reckoned with for sure 
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.We had a rescued pine marten released in our woods in 2020 under the supervision of the NPWS, but that’s another story. These clips don’t feature the NPWS pine marten, which reassures us that our woodland provides adequate resources for the pine marten successfully forage.
The daytime footage shows a pine marten investigating one of our hens that we posthumously put in the undergrowth with a trail cam documenting its return to nature. You’ll note that the pine marten didn’t commit. Successful wild animals are rightly suspicious ‘free food’ and will typically be slow to take offerings without, being desperate, or having checked out the offering thoroughly on a number occasions. This is footage from May 2021, so presumably a time of year when live ‘natural’ prey is readily available.🙂
Some additional info: https://www.vincentwildlife.ie/species/pine-marten
