Pine Marten

Morganna · 16-09-2010 9:15am #1

I was privileged on saturday ,to have a pine marten visit.i was at the kitchen sink when i saw him.he was with me for abot ten minutes.Seemed to be in a playful mood.i got the camera ,but unfortuantley .couldnt get a picture.
Its a good while since i saw one here on my land.I love them,..

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 16-09-2010 1:58pm

How wonderful to see such a creature at close quarters! They are not rare but certainly shy and not many people have actually seen one. You may well have it visit more regularly now. Good for you and thanks for sharing the moment with others.

Morganna · 16-09-2010 2:20pm

thank you Srameen.There is a good population of them here in the area i live.i have seen sevral.but was extremley privliged to have one visit and to watch at close quarters from my kitchen ,instead of seeing them as ive been travelling in motors.wish i had a decent camera to get a pic with.

wildlifeboy · 16-09-2010 4:48pm

Morganna you lucky lucky person. I am a budding wildlife filmmaker and there are two species that it is my ambition to make a documentry about, the pine marten and the Stoat, these two are extremely elusive and no one in htis country as far as i know has ever made a proper programme about them. I may pm you for some details regarding their location.

Sundew · 17-09-2010 12:53am

wildlifeboy wrote: »

ah damn what did JW say? Morganna you lucky lucky person. I am a budding wildlife filmmaker and there are two species that it is my ambition to make a documentry about, the pine marten and the Stoat, these two are extremely elusive and no one in htis country as far as i know has ever made a proper programme about them. I may pm you for some details regarding their location.

Wildlifeboy: A few years ago I was out walking with my small little dog in the west of Ireland near my family's home and my dog started getting very excited near a stone wall. I picked her up and to my amazement I spotted all these tiny heads peeping through the stone walls. There were at least 4 stoats hanging out in the stone wall. Cute little things and unfortunatly I did not have my camera

But I reckon they still hang out in the same location.

Morganna · 17-09-2010 7:59am

There are a lot of stoats here also.The stone walls make great homes for them.Was privileged to see one running along carrying a mouse.
We are so lucky in whatever wildlife we are privileged to see.And should do all we can to safeguard our wildlife.

E39MSport · 17-09-2010 1:59pm

Would/do they kill birds?

Edit: - Yes.
Found a nice site. http://www.ionalister.com/pinemarten/pinemarten.htm

I'm seeing a good few bird kill remains in the garden. Wood pigeon and Blackbird so far. I think the Marten is around more often because there are plenty of gaps opening up along the ditch. Hope to see it more. I need to get that trail camera set up.

wildlifeboy · 17-09-2010 2:07pm

Stoats will generally go for mice/rabbits/shrews/rats etc and Pine Martens will go for same including Squirrels and Birds but the both will take a bird if the oppotunity presents itself. more so Pine Martens because of their habitat.

mgwhelan · 26-05-2011 7:22pm

Caught this fella on my camera trap, left a bit of meat on the table two days later it was gone, first thing i caught on the camera. Kept having a problem uploading to youtube first bit is slowmo and last bit real time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdRaXHxYPQU

cuddlycavies · 27-05-2011 9:42pm

Still haven't seen one yet. The only Irish mammal I've yet to see.

Calochortus · 30-05-2011 11:13pm

Pine marten are relatively common in Co. Waterford. We had some board.ie members attend the linked event.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62352114@N03/sets/72157626678039965/with/5757622853/

mgwhelan · 30-05-2011 11:31pm

common here in the slieve blooms as well from the amount of scat i see around the place.

swifts need our help! · 31-05-2011 5:35pm

A friend who lives in County Clare has a family in his attic - jealous

E39MSport · 03-06-2011 9:26pm

One casually strolled by me in the garden. Twice now. Beautiful.

mgwhelan · 26-06-2011 4:25pm

I made and put up what i thought was going to be a red squirrel/bird feeder, I set up my camera trap beside the feeder to see what it would attract. No sign of any squirrels but got a load of great tits and chaffinches. i'm disappointed not to get any squirrels but got the next best thing pine marten. Or should i say pine martens what i think a male from the size difference you'll see at the start of the video and a female 25 sec in, you'll also see a difference in the pattern of there white hair on there neck chest area or mane a good way to tell them apart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHdXnSJqaqc

swifts need our help! · 26-06-2011 4:39pm

well done!

whyulittle · 26-06-2011 5:33pm

Great stuff.

Brilliant quality too.

BargainHunter · 26-06-2011 8:34pm

Great stuff MGWhelan!

Any chance you'd tell us what kind of location the video was taken in? A Coillte forest, large or small, native or commercial trees?

Secondly, what kind of feed did you use and how much did the martens eat?

mgwhelan · 26-06-2011 10:19pm

BargainHunter wrote: »

Great stuff MGWhelan!

Any chance you'd tell us what kind of location the video was taken in? A Coillte forest, large or small, native or commercial trees?

Secondly, what kind of feed did you use and how much did the martens eat?

It's a mixture of mature and young plantation mostly evergreens with the exterior been mixed broadleaf with a bog in the middle, the hole area must be over 300 acres all together. Just giving them peanuts, I'm feeding them for a few weeks now looks like they ate a few kg's. As you can see in the vid i used mostly daytime visits but they came to the feeder night and day.

fryup · 27-06-2011 9:45am

saw two over the weekend, each in a different location

Graces7 · 29-06-2011 2:00pm

Smiling here at the memories of the years we lived in an old cottage that had when empty become pine marten territory. Even a large hole at the base of the door.

We lived alongside that family several years. The babies used to run in and out of the door. They are enchanting creatures.

E39MSport · 14-07-2011 9:29am

Finally caught my regular visitor to the garden on one of the cameras.

fryup · 15-07-2011 6:32pm

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

where do you live forth knox?

E39MSport · 16-07-2011 11:01am

Bit isolated so technology and bare bones chains help. It's all DIY.

edit - off topic anyway

artieanna · 18-07-2011 1:00am

Can ye help me out here at all...

Can anyone tell me the main differences between a pine marten and a weasel(stoat) any pics I bring up on google show different colours on both animals, even mink look similar and I dunno if its my eyes but they all look alike to me.

I'm sure I saw a weasel awhile back, was about the size of a cat bit longer, med grey/brown coat.

Just wondering as well why are people so fond of pine martens and not weasels??

doctor evil · 18-07-2011 9:52am

artieanna wrote: »

Can ye help me out here at all...

Can anyone tell me the main differences between a pine marten and a weasel(stoat) any pics I bring up on google show different colours on both animals, even mink look similar and I dunno if its my eyes but they all look alike to me.

I'm sure I saw a weasel awhile back, was about the size of a cat bit longer, med grey/brown coat.

Just wondering as well why are people so fond of pine martens and not weasels??

No weasels in Ireland, we have stoats that are incorrectly referred to as weasels.

mgwhelan · 18-07-2011 10:04am

artieanna wrote: »

Can ye help me out here at all...

Can anyone tell me the main differences between a pine marten and a weasel(stoat) any pics I bring up on google show different colours on both animals, even mink look similar and I dunno if its my eyes but they all look alike to me.

I'm sure I saw a weasel awhile back, was about the size of a cat bit longer, med grey/brown coat.

Just wondering as well why are people so fond of pine martens and not weasels??

pine marten can be twice the size of stoats (weight wise). i say it was a pine marten you saw, as for people liking pine marten more i don't think they do just pine martens are more curious and come into peoples gardens for food and if your lucky a home.

(google images used)

pine marten

stoat

littlebug · 18-07-2011 10:43am

doctor evil wrote: »

No weasels in Ireland, we have stoats that are incorrectly referred to as weasels.

this confusion probably arising/ evolving because they both have the same Irish name (éasóg).

I've never seen a pine marten

Mothman · 18-07-2011 10:48am

mgwhelan wrote: »

pine marten can be twice the size of stoats (weight wise).

I think the difference is even bigger.
About twice the length but 4 times the weight. A Stoat is smaller than even a small cat.

mgwhelan · 18-07-2011 12:08pm

Mothman wrote: »

I think the difference is even bigger.
About twice the length but 4 times the weight. A Stoat is smaller than even a small cat.

should of done my home work before answering

stoat 30cm long (around a foot) weight 400 grams

pine marten 65cm long (around two foot) weight 1500 to 1900 grams.

LostCovey · 18-07-2011 6:42pm

mgwhelan wrote: »

should of done my home work before answering

stoat 30cm long (around a foot) weight 400 grams

pine marten 65cm long (around two foot) weight 1500 to 1900 grams.

I suppose the other way to put it is that a Stoat is so much smaller than you would expect! It is incredible to watch one dragging a rabbit!

I came across Pine Martens breeding in a hollow tree near Hollymount in Mayo last year, and she eventually brought out a litter of four one evening in daylight.

They are absolutely gorgeous things.

LC

Pine Marten

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