An organisation that protects a rare animal has been handed a boost.
The Dumfries and Galloway Pine Marten Group has received their first batch of den boxes thanks to the efforts of volunteers at Glenkens Men’s Shed.
The boxes will be installed across the region to help the pine martens, which are undergoing something of a renaissance in Dumfries and Galloway.
Having been extinct, a reintroduction programme took place 40 years ago and their numbers are now increasing.
And that has added benefits for red squirrels, with pine martens helping to suppress grey squirrels.
The Dumfries and Galloway Pine Marten Group was set up last year and the den box project has the backing of both Kilgallioch Wind Farm Community Fund and the Galloway Glens Scheme.
They’ll soon receive a further batch of boxes from Gatehouse Men’s Shed.
Group chairman, Dr Stephanie Johnstone, said: “The volunteers at the Glenkens and Gatehouse Mens Sheds have been amazing, and it is thanks to their skill, hard work and volunteer time that we now have this amazing store of den boxes ready to install across Galloway.
“This work has been possible thanks to funding that we have received from the Galloway Glens Landscape Partnership and the Kilgallioch Wind Farm Community Fund.
“We have been so pleased with the support that our pine marten conservation work has received from individuals, organisations and communities across Dumfries and Galloway.
“Our volunteers are looking forward to getting out in the forests over the coming months and installing these new homes ready for pine martens to take up residence.”
Glenkens Men’s Shed secretary, Tom Leach, said: “Members of the shed have, over the last couple of months, worked very hard to produce 20 nesting boxes.
At times it has involved a lot of space juggling and adaptation, but we persevered and recently Stephanie and the group came to collect the finished boxes.
“They were delighted by what the shed members had done. We look forward to hearing how well and quickly the pine martens colonise their new pads.”
The Glenkens Men’s Shed is open in Balmaclellan on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 9.30am to 12.30pm. New members are welcome to drop in.
The group hopes to extend opening hours to a weekend and possibly evenings, with the Wednesday afternoon woodworking group low on numbers. Newcomers are welcome to come along between 2pm and 4pm.
McNabb Laurie, team leader of the Galloway Glens scheme which helped fund the pine marten dens, said: “With increasing numbers of sightings across Galloway of pine martens, this den box project should work towards the further recovery of the species.
“Our congratulations go to all the volunteers in the Dumfries and Galloway Pine Marten Group for getting the project under way and massive thanks to the Glenkens Men’s Shed – themselves a previous recipient of a Galloway Glens grant – for making the boxes to such an impressive standard.”
