A rare pine marten has been spotted on Anglesey in the first confirmed sighting on the island for more than 30 years. The discovery was made by a team of Bangor University researchers while studying the habits of red squirrels.
A pine marten is a medium-sized predator that preys on bird's eggs and, occasionally, squirrels. The predator had been rumoured to be around Holyhead, but no confirmed sightings had come to fruition until the scientists trawled through over 15,000 images from wildlife traps and stumbled across it.
“It’s encouraging to see that even on an island with such low tree cover, local forests still hold the potential for witnessing the return of a charismatic species such as the pine marten,” said Dr Simon Valle, one of three academics involved in Anglesey’s red squirrel research.
The trio, also including Dr Graeme Shannon and Dr Craig Shuttleworth, have established a network of cameras in different types of woodland across Anglesey. Funded by Natural Resources Wales, they hope to better understand how changes to forest management may affect red squirrel numbers.
This spring they began wading through piles of pictures of red squirrels and forest birds that had triggered the cameras. While negotiating a sequence photos of an annoying great tit, Dr Shannon came across three images of a pine marten in bright sunshine.
He said: “After working my way through a few hundred great tit photos – seemingly the same individual hopping back and forth – I was thrilled to suddenly come across three clear images of a curious pine marten looking back at the camera. A species that, until recently, was extremely rare in Wales. An unexpected, but very exciting discovery.”
Bangor University has not disclosed the exact site where the pine marten was found. But its researchers have a number of ideas as to how it got there.
Besides the stowaway theory – pine martens are abundant in Ireland – it is thought Anglesey’s invader may have originated from the Gwynedd Pine Marten project, which saw the animals released near Bangor in 2018-20. “Very occasional” photos of pine martens have been taken in Faenol woodland near Britannia railway bridge.
Another possibility is that the Anglesey animal is a migrant from a mass relocation project in mid-Wales between 2015 and 2017. Some 51 Scottish pine martens were released and within a couple of years they were recorded for the first for over a century in the Celtic rainforests of Dolmelynllyn, Snowdonia, more than 50km from the release site.
Pine martens typically weigh 1.5-2kg and are excellent tree climbers. Usually their diet includes bird’s eggs, forest fruits, tree berries and small rodents – but they have been known to prey on red and grey squirrels. Recent research from Ireland has shown that they can play an important role in controlling grey squirrel numbers.
Last month a grey was spotted in south west Anglesey and “removed” two weeks ago later. It was the ninth grey removed from the island since an eradication programme began in 2013 aimed at keeping Anglesey’s red squirrel population safe from grey invaders.
Around the same time, the £495,000 “Magical Mammals” project was launched in North Wales. Funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund, it aims to boost numbers of both red squirrels and pine martens in the region, while providing the chance for local people to get involved in conservation work.
- Dr Shuttleworth is keen to hear from anyone who may have seen a pine marten on Anglesey. Anyone with any information can email c.shuttleworth@bangor.ac.uk.
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