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DAN ICETON: First time you see a pine marten on the estate?.
NICK ALLEN: I think I'll scream. I actually do.
DAN ICETON: It's going to be a day of celebration.
NICK ALLEN: Yeah, absolutely.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Have you ever seen a pine marten? Could you
picture what they look like? These small, slinky,
tree-dwelling predators were once one of the most common
carnivores in Britain and Ireland. Now they're one of the
rarest.
But pine Martens are making a comeback. In this episode we're
joining my fellow Ranger Dan Iceton in Northumberland to
uncover the story and secret lives of these mysterious
animals.
I'm Rosie Holdsworth. Welcome to Wild Tales, Pine Martens'
Return.
There was once a time you could look at a tree in UK woods and
you might catch a glimpse of an unusual animal.
Cat-like, agile, with sharp teeth and sharper claws,
pocket-sized predator the pine marten climbed freely around
their treetop territory, hunting, making their homes and
raising tiny kits.
Then, over the centuries, habitat loss and persecution
drove these arboreal animals to the absolute brink.
But now, determined conservation work has given pine martens
another chance.
In Wallington estate in Northumberland, Ranger Dan's on
a mission. He and his team are determined to encourage pine
martens down from Scotland through Northumberland to make
these woodlands their forever home. How close is Dan to
getting to see pine martens for the first time? And what can we
discover from the conservation success stories where, after a
long absence, pine martens are back in our forests?
DAN ICETON: Hello, I'm Ranger Dan. We're here at Wallington in
the new hide, situated off west wood. We're looking out on a
mixed woodland of young oak trees and some mature larch. We
can hear the birds singing.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: It's a spring morning and Dan shares how
starting the day in the woods is his happy place.
DAN ICETON: So I finished university. I've always loved
nature, always been really interested in being outside. I
love the outdoors, being out on walks, climbing, swimming. And
that led me into wanting to do a job where I could work outside,
work with nature and try and help nature conservation in the
country.
I've got a son and I'm trying to get him out as much as possible,
which has always got its little adventures to it. He loves the
water as well, which keeps us on my toes.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Hunkered in this small wooden lookout hide
away from the visitor path, you're immersed in the forest
and nature is all around you.
Here in Wallington, in rural Northumberland, we're surrounded
by a wealth of wildlife. There are birds, deer and somewhere
out in the estate, rare mammals like reintroduced beavers and
native red squirrels.
Hopefully one day soon, visitors will be able to see a new rare
mammal, the pine marten. And today Dan will be getting this
habitat pine marten ready. Now, I'm one of the lucky few. I used
to work in the Scottish Highlands and would regularly
take people to see pine martens.
We used to tempt them out with peanut butter and jam
sandwiches. They look pristine and beautiful, but they have a
cheeky, naughty vibe and they're super charismatic. So what
exactly do these unusual tree-dwelling predators look
like? And how do you know when you've seen one?
DAN ICETON: pine marten, they are part of the mustelid family
which are related to weasels and stoats. So they look very
similar, they're quite a long slender body about the size of
the cat with quite a big bushy tail.
They've got lovely little rounded ears and tend to be a
brown sometimes a light brown or a dark brown depending on the
season and then they've got this bright yellow bib so that their
chest is a really bright yellow colour which is a really good
identifier so that's how we tend to see them. They're arboreal
creatures so they live up in the trees that's where you'll find
them most, they're phenomenal climbers.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: pine martens' conservation status is
critically endangered in England and Wales with most of the UK's
population surviving only in Scotland. Once widespread the
animals suffered catastrophic decline during the 18th the 19th
centuries.
DAN ICETON: pine martens, they were all across England. So they
got pushed out of England about 400 years ago roughly. There was
habitat loss so as we cut down our trees, as we cleared our
woodlands out or as we moved our woodlands to just monoculture
which didn't have as much life in, it pushed the pine mountains
out.
But they're also seen as a pest species. We used to control
them, we didn't like them because they will predate on a
lot of things so they were hunted. And as well on top of
that, their fur was used. It then pushed them out of the
country to the point where they were only really up in Scotland
in a few isolated populations in the Highlands.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: But since the later part of the 20th century,
conservation efforts have helped bring pine martens back in
pockets across Britain.
DAN ICETON: But now there is a really good population in Wales
where there was a translocation done. There's a really strong
population in Scotland and actually in the borders. They
are heading down from Scotland and have naturally travelled
down into Northumberland through Kielder and are spreading
through Northumberland at the moment.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Pine martens' comeback is great news for the
species. And there's another reason their return to our
forests is so important.
Pine martens are amazing predators and play an important
role in naturally balancing ecosystems.
DAN ICETON: We sometimes call them as regulating predators.
They'll kind of take whatever's most dominant in that woodland
which means that they help balance out the diversity of
species in the woodland.
So that could be anything from sort of birds and eggs all the
way through to squirrels which is very helpful for us because
it'll help control the grey squirrels. They will hunt greys
and actually we've seen in other places that because of that they
push the greys out which then opens up spaces for the reds to
come in.
We do have to talk about that they will predate the reds but
red squirrels have co-evolved with pine martens. So actually
the reds are smaller, they're quicker, they can get away more
easily and it's been seen that even red squirrels that haven't
lived alongside pine martens are still aware of them as a
predator and will react to their smell in the surrounding area.
So really exciting species for us. Could do massive benefits
for the biodiversity of our woodlands.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Pine martens are nearby. They're making their
way down from Scotland and excitingly they've been spotted
not far from Wallington in Northumberland's lush forests.
Pine martens and other animals travel through green corridors
like wooded areas and hedgerows. It's a bit like following a road
map to get from one area to the next. It's one of the reasons
joined up green spaces are so important. Dan's sure Wallington
will be the perfect home for the animals and he's constantly on
the lookout for their arrival.
DAN ICETON: So I've been working for the past year and a half
trying to get pine martens onto the estate, trying to encourage
them down through Northumberland using habitat improvements,
trying to get more spaces for them. Constantly looking for
pine martens.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Today Dan's putting up pine marten boxes.
It's time to head out of the hide and into the open
woodlands.
It's a heavy, manual job fixing these sizeable wooden boxes into
trees but they'll provide the perfect home for pine martens
and their kits. And the team will be able to survey the dens
with cameras for activity. First Dan gives us a quick tour of his
handmade pine marten mansion.
DAN ICETON: This is one of our pine marten den boxes. Imagine
your standard bird box in there and probably quadruple it in
size.
It's a much bigger, chunkier thing than a bird box. It
doesn't have a hole on the front instead the holes are on the
back at the bottom so that you can get straight from the tree
into the box. And then on the inside it's split into the main
chamber in the middle and then the two little side channels
which are, kind of, imagine your front and back door to your
house.
Pine martens are phenomenal climbers so they can get up and
down trees really well. Normally in the wild they would stay in
cavities in old trees, they've got a delayed pregnancy, they'll
mate in the autumn and then the females will travel through the
territory that they've got finding some good spots and then
the kits will then arrive late spring into the summer.
They'll use this box, the kits will stay in the box and the
females will bring food and then once they're old enough the kits
can then start exploring from these box which will be nice.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: The morning birdsong is interrupted by the
sound of Dan's colleague Ranger Nick arriving to help put up the
den box.
DAN ICETON: This is one of the rangers turning up arriving in
style on the quad. So he's going to help put one of the boxes up.
So Nick has arrived carrying a ladder ready for the pine marten
box. You alright Nick?
NICK ALLEN: Yeah how's it going? I'm good. I'm good, I'm good,
I'm good.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: It's an uncomfortable start.
NICK ALLEN: So I've just driven across a very muddy and wet
field that is covered in cow pats. Ladder is now covered in
cow pats which means I'm now covered in cow pats. Yeah I
don't think I could get any more covered in poo but we'll keep
going. I'm covered now so it doesn't matter.
DAN ICETON: It's the glamorous part of the job.
NICK ALLEN: Yeah.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: We rangers never let a bit of poo get in
our way. So Dan and Nick crack on with the task in hand.
DAN ICETON: First time you've put one of these up, isn't it?
Are you feeling all right about this?
NICK ALLEN: Yeah, I'm feeling good. Feeling strong. Feeling
ready. Hopefully the thing doesn't come tumbling down on
top of me.
DAN ICETON: Let's do this. Let's go. All right, let's do this.
So this is a large tree. It's got a number of sort of dead
branches at the lower down part. You've got essentially what
looks like a ladder going up the side of the tree so this is a
really good tree for a box.
NICK ALLEN: Got a rope on here? Left over right, under, and then
pull that tight.
DAN ICETON: And then right over left, under.
So I think that's good. It's secure, it's taking its own
weight. Are you happy with that Nick?
NICK ALLEN: I'm happy with that, yeah.
DAN ICETON: So that's the box up in the tree, roughly two and a
half metre mark up the tree. It's got some really lovely
branches behind it and it's held on fast. Nick's done a really
good job of getting it up there.
NICK ALLEN: Thank you.
DAN ICETON: Nice and safe.
So putting these boxes up and doing this work is the first
step on this project. From there we hope that they arrive. After
that it'll be monitoring the Pine Martins themselves, seeing
how they're getting on, see how many kits we get and seeing how
biodiversity changes. The first time you say a pine marten on
the estate?
NICK ALLEN: I think I'll scream. I actually do.
DAN ICETON: It's going to be a day of celebration.
NICK ALLEN: Yeah, absolutely. Aye.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Nine months pass. It's winter. The woods are
bare and there's no sign of pine martens yet. But there's
excitement in the air for what the new year might bring. It's
been a year of progress for pine martens. In the autumn, 19 pine
martens were reintroduced to Exmoor National Park in southern
England.
While in the north, 16 more pine Martens joined the population in
Cumbria, bringing the total to 29. And pine martens are
continuing to make their way down from Scotland through
Northumberland's woodland corridors. Will Wallington be
their next home?
To find out about an inspirational pine marten
success story, Dan calls a fellow conservationist who's
been at the forefront of pine marten recovery in the UK.
Dr Stephanie Johnstone at the Vincent Wildlife Trust is a
project manager for the Martins on the Move programme. And she
has some exciting footage from a trail camera to share.
DAN ICETON: Hi Stephanie, how are you?
STEPHANIE JOHNSTONE: I'm good, how are you?
DAN ICETON: So can you tell me what you get up to?
STEPHANIE JOHNSTONE: I manage the team across 11 counties in
Scotland, England and Wales. And we are working to support the
natural recovery of pine martens.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Stephanie and her fellow conservationists at
the Vincent Wildlife Trust have been working with communities,
landowners and organisations to help the recovery of pine
martens. The charity has set up monitoring hubs at six key
locations across Britain, including 250 den boxes to give
Pine Martins a safe home.
Den boxes are carefully monitored with trail cameras and
thermal imaging cameras, so conservationists like Stephanie
can gather information about pine marten activity and build a
picture of their recovery across Britain. And Stephanie's excited
to share some great footage from one of the monitoring hubs in
Wales, which reveals the secret lives of pine Martens at the
location.
STEPHANIE JOHNSTONE: Yeah, so what you're seeing here is
you're seeing the marten mother going inside the den box. And
you can't see any kits at all. But if you listen really
carefully, you can hear the little kits squeaking inside the
den box.
And that's how we actually first discovered it.
DAN ICETON: It's adorable.
STEPHANIE JOHNSTONE: It is. They sound so cute. This is how we
actually first discovered that there was kits in there. And we
didn't actually see the kits until another couple of weeks.
So you can see this footage here, that's the mum taking the
first kit down. And then a couple of hours later she
removes the second kit and takes it somewhere else. And then
about an hour and a half later this third one here, that's the
third kit that's actually the biggest kit that you can see
there now. And she's moved them away somewhere else. And then in
this next clip here you can see the mum like a couple of weeks
later bringing the kits back. So she's used this den box right
throughout the breeding season.
It's such an important resource for them.
This final clip here. So this is now like into June. Those little
tiny kits have obviously grown up a bit now. And now this kit
is learning how to climb up this tree. And they're just so
uncoordinated when they first start learning to climb. But
it's totally adorable.
DAN ICETON: I mean, just that footage from one box. I can't
get over how lovely that footage is.
STEPHANIE JOHNSTONE: It was such an incredible box this year in
our mid-Wales site. We were all so excited when all that footage
came in.
DAN ICETON: Oh man, very jealous.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Another vital part of conservation work is
through people like you and me getting involved. Citizen
scientists. Especially when it comes to working together to
build big pictures to help nature.
DAN ICETON: So you're calling citizen science, aren't you? You
want people to help yous out with monitoring the pine
martens.
STEPHANIE JOHNSTONE: Yes, Dan, we've got Marten Map. We are
monitoring and mapping the recovery of pine Martens across
Britain. And we're asking anyone who is lucky enough to see a
pine marten to get in touch with us and let us know. So far, we
have had 871 people get in touch with their pine marten
sightings, which has just been absolutely phenomenal.
All of these people contributing, all of these
lucky, lucky people that have seen pine martens. It really is
allowing us to get a much bigger, fuller picture of how
well martens are recovering across Britain.
DAN ICETON: It is lovely to see that positive success story.
Does it look like they're moving through Northumberland much?
STEPHANIE JOHNSTONE: Yes you'll be pleased to know they're
definitely on the way.
DAN ICETON: Don't worry i'll give you a call as soon as we
see them.
STEPHANIE JOHNSTONE: Please do.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Feeling inspired and hopeful, Dan
reflects on what pine martens' recovery means for biodiversity
and what it'll be like for him to come into work one day and
find that pine martens have arrived.
DAN ICETON: It's really exciting that they're not too far away
and hopefully we'll be seeing them here soon. But I think the
biggest thing is going to be the biodiversity increase that we'll
see here at Wallington and across Northumberland and the
rest of the country really.
The positive for woodland ecology that we're going to see
with these predators coming down is going to make such a
difference to our woodlands. No, selfishly, I just really want to
see them. I can't wait to see a pine marten. I'm just having
thoughts of walking out of my office into the woods and just
having a pine marten there. And that's my dream.
ROSIE HOLDSWORTH: Thanks for listening to this episode of
Wild Tales. If you want to find out more about Pine Martins
citizen science and reporter sighting, please head to
pinemartens.uk. We'll of course keep you updated when Dan sees
his pine martens arrive at Wallington. And do join us over
on Instagram, @wildtalesnt. See you next time. [
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