How to find a pine marten?
I live in Ireland, and while I have an Ardnamurchan Peninsula trip planned in a few weeks, I would also love to see pine martens in my home country. There is a hide in the Slieve Bloom Mountains, but ideally I’d like to get a sighting without using a hide.
I can imagine none of you have visited Ireland for mammalwatching (with our 21 native land mammals, 9 of which are bats…), but I’m curious to hear from anyone who’s had success seeing pine martens in Western Europe generally. What strategies work best? How did you get your first pine marten?
Cheers!
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2 Comments
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JanEbr
There are Pine Martens in Ireland? On what … trees?
I have seen maybe 3-4 Pine Martens ever, all completely randomly in daytime, walking somewhere or climbing a tree. If I wanted to search for them, I wouldn’t even know where to start – here they aren’t really found often near people, unlike Stone Martens which are apparently even common in cities.
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mikerichardson
By far the easiest way to see Pine Marten in the UK is to stay in accommodation where the martens visit on an evening for food scraps. There are many such places in Scotland, including a B&B in Fort William. However, as you mention you would prefer not to visit a baited sites, your best bet is to drive through suitable habitat at night. The Ardnamurchan Peninsula is perfect for this, and I’ve seen several individuals just crossing the road, and also one while spotlighting an area moorland some distance from any trees (it was being chased by a Red Fox). Many of the residents on the peninsula feed the martens so keep an eye out around houses, although I guess these would count as baited? I would say you would be unlucky not to see one after 2-3 night drives on Ardnamurchan, although be careful not to attract the attention of the local game keepers if you decide to spotlight on the moors.