Week Three – Pine Martens

This week, Bill and the Wild Thing team are in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, to persuade a population of persistent pine martens to move out of the Marble Arch Caves Centre.

Pine martens have been nesting in the roof of the visitor centre where there is a danger of them chewing through electric cables. Although Jem is able to stop this behaviour, they are also raiding the rubbish bins and to make matters worse, are putting themselves at risk by taking poultry from exceedingly annoyed farmers.

Before they can even think about creating a new habitat for them, the team must get a handle on how many martens there are that they need to help. Trapping and tagging them looks like the best way to proceed. These wily creatures are having none of it though – they take the bait and avoid the traps!

Sasha resorts to collecting scat or poo for DNA analysis – this will tell her how many individual martens are present locally. At the same time, Bill sets off with some 'Wanted' posters to see if local humans can tell him where they have seen the creatures.

The upshot is that there are just too many martens for the territory. Dusty decides to regenerate a disused quarry with plantings and pine marten nest boxes to tempt them away from human habitation. He also finds a good woodland habitat that is not being used by martens.

Jem fashions several nest boxes based on Sasha's design and is left with the job of fixing them to a sheer quarry wall at least 30 metres high. But, once the job is done, it isn't long before the martens move in!

See the story in pictures in the gallery.