Spy cameras aim to track down elusive martens

8:20am Saturday 23rd August 2008

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THE search for a mammal that was believed extinct in England a few years ago has been intensified with the aid of modern equipment.

Cameras triggered by infra-red beams are being installed in a remote North York Moors wood to capture an image of a pine marten – the second rarest carnivore in Britain after the wild cat.

The cameras are the latest move in a project to track down the creature that was launched four years ago after a series of sightings.

Tubes baited with jam sandwiches have been deployed to collect hair samples from the animal.

And more recently, boxes have been put up to offer the treeclimbers a ready-made home to raise their young. Forestry Commission wildlife officer Brian Walker said: “We always knew the search for irrefutable proof of the creature’s presence in England would be a long one.

“The cameras will give us another string to our bow. They are being trained on feeding stations near the boxes and if anything breaks the invisible beam any time of the day or night, the shutter will be activated.

My gut feeling is that we do have pine martens, but they are few in number, nocturnal, and often in the trees, making them extremely tough to spot.”

Droppings found on the boxes have undergone DNA analysis to determine their origin, because martens are known to mark their territories that way.

One batch was from a stoat, but another is being subjected to further laboratory tests.

Pine martens look similar to ferrets and stoats, but are significantly larger, and have bushy tails.

Once widespread in the UK, persecution and habitat loss meant the population dwindled during the early 20th Century.

Today, the animal is mainly restricted to the Scottish Highlands, but there are persistent reports of sightings in North Yorkshire, County Durham and Northumberland.