Pine Marten

Hammiepeters

Of all our native mammals, This remains the one elusive one for me. I have not seen one ever. If anyone has any hints where they might be in Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare, would be appreciated.

thelurch

See my post entitled "get to Glenmalure" There are a few in wicklow but mostly in the west of ireland. They generally live in wooded areas near water. you might find a few tips here

http://www.abdn.ac.uk/mammal/pine_marten.shtml

They are stone mad and will stare at you for ages before running away.
Wish you well . Mark

psychic-hack

I met a Pine Marten a few years ago while strolling down a bog lane in Donadea county Kildare. It was an autumn afternoon and he just appeared out of a hedgerow. We stared at each other for a while until I took a tentative step forward for a better look at him, then he legged it. It was an unforgettable experience - and to be honest I didn't know what he was until I looked up his description. I hope you meet one but they are very shy creatures. I haven't seen him since....

boneless

psychic-hack wrote: »

I met a Pine Marten a few years ago while strolling down a bog lane in Donadea county Kildare. It was an autumn afternoon and he just appeared out of a hedgerow. We stared at each other for a while until I took a tentative step forward for a better look at him, then he legged it. It was an unforgettable experience - and to be honest I didn't know what he was until I looked up his description. I hope you meet one but they are very shy creatures. I haven't seen him since....

I have often seen stoats in Donadea Woods but never pine martens ! I shall keep an eye out!!

Amtmann

EDIT

Morganna

Theres lots of pinemartens in mayo they are lovely creatures

Kaldorn

wherabouts in mayo cause i spend alot of time there

Morganna

well ive seen a lot round frenchpark which is roscommon heading for mayo by reagans tractors also rond kilmovee ,kiltimagh kilkelly good luck hope you see one.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Morganna wrote: »

well ive seen a lot round frenchpark which is roscommon heading for mayo by reagans tractors also rond kilmovee ,kiltimagh kilkelly good luck hope you see one.

Having participated in several surveys (last being 2005) can you quantify for me what you call "lots"?

thetl

i have seen a few around camross and brisha in co laois amazing to see.

dodgyme

Morganna wrote: »

well ive seen a lot round frenchpark which is roscommon heading for mayo by reagans tractors also rond kilmovee ,kiltimagh kilkelly good luck hope you see one.

you never got a picture?

Morganna

No at the time i didnt have a digital camera

Morganna

Zayne Noisy Rakish wrote: »

Having participated in several surveys (last being 2005) can you quantify for me what you call "lots"?

Five in all at different times

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Morganna wrote: »

Five in all at different times

Nice!:)

You should really report any sighting to one of the groups recording such things. e.g. NPWS http://www.npws.ie/en/ContactUs/

Connacht

Been living and walking in Mayo for 13 years. Walk in Cong, Clonbur, Moore Hall, Bangor Trail, Brackloon, Balla, Windy Gap, Pontoon, Sherkin, etc. Never seen a Pine Marten.

Kaldorn

well if you never seen one in 13 years and i go to Bangor a bit then my chances are veryslim

dodgyme

Connacht wrote: »

Been living and walking in Mayo for 13 years. Walk in Cong, Clonbur, Moore Hall, Bangor Trail, Brackloon, Balla, Windy Gap, Pontoon, Sherkin, etc. Never seen a Pine Marten.

me neither

Connacht

Doesn't mean we won't see one the next time ...:)

Stolen off the internet :

The pine marten is Ireland’s rarest wild animal. It is usually found in the west and south of Ireland. It is a shy animal and is very hard to find. It looks like a stoat, but has a longer body with short legs. It is also much larger and has a bushier tail. Its coat is usually a rich dark brown. Pine martens are about the same size as a cat, but they have shorter legs and longer bushy tails. The pine marten's length (head, body, tail) is about 80 cm (27”). The pine marten is a woodland animal, with good strong feet and claws to climb. The marten lives up to 17 years and weighs about 800-1800g. It usually feeds around dusk or after dark.

Morganna

my friends living off the n17 by knock airport had one that used to visit there place around five years back .There are plenty in mayo believe me.and frenchpark area.

Connacht

Morganna,
Don't get me wrong - I don't doubt you for a second. Just saying I haven't seen one.

nacho libre

I have seen a few near Kiltimagh and on the way to Belmullet.

tigra83

Hi all,

I just came across this forum by chance, this is my 1st post on boards.ie!
I have been working with pine martens for the last couple of years with college. While I spent most of my time in the lab and not much in the field, I got the chance to hold a pine marten last June, so excited! :D

There seems to be a pretty strong marten population in the west alright, Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, also in the midlands; Laois, Kildare and Offaly. In the south-east theres a few places in Waterford (not far from the city either!), Ive had reports of roadkill in Tipperary, the Youghal bridge and anecdotes of trappings in Wexford! Fermanagh (around Lough Erne), Monaghan etc etc. They seem to be making a strong comeback!

I did hear of a marten roadkill in Lucan, Dublin.. people in Roscommon and Kildare have them coming to their gardens! Im Jealous! :eek:

As regards Galway/Mayo forests, they were certainly in Sheskin and Cloosh a couple of years ago..

If anyone has any more sightings please PM or post here!!

sorella

I wrote of this here last year on a different thread. Some few years ago now, when I lived in an old cottage in the mountains, it was the territory ( 6 yrs empty) of a female pine marten. A hole in the door and the chimney... She adopted me; I fed her every night - after she started running down the chimney to steal fruit - and she would come to the bedroom window to gaze in. She had young every year and they used to run in and out of the open door. I wrote to several wild life groups at the time. They are magical creatures.

tigra83

Hi sorella,

Thats fantastic! Im jealous!! I cant believe they ran down the chimney, crazy :eek:?
They are so cute, a great encounter..!! What mountains were you living in? (if you dont mind me asking!)

sorella

It was quite scary at first.

I heard 'something" in the other room; an old irish cottage it was. When I got up to investigate, there were a few date stones and a pear stalk on the table...

So I got the cats and went back to bed.

heard noises, and the cats refused to move.

crept to the door and snapped the light on - to see a large critter with huge eyes and a bushy tail disappearing up the chimney, leaving a tooth marked apple behind.

So I looked her up on the web...

Folk suggested I get her to eat from my hand; but i would never do that to a wild creature. So I left food on the doorstep every night.

The full story is in one of our books; "tales from an Irish hermitage"; by a Nun of Grace. along with many other critter tales.

It was a rare privilege indeed.

Blessings this wet night...

tigra83 wrote: »

Hi sorella,

Thats fantastic! Im jealous!! I cant believe they ran down the chimney, crazy :eek:?
They are so cute, a great encounter..!! What mountains were you living in? (if you dont mind me asking!)

tigra83

Hi again,

Sorry it has been so long since I replied, I dont use this very often, keep forgetting to check it!

I had heard about the story now that I think about it, where would I get a copy of the book?

sorella

Email me at anchoresscj at yahoo dot com......

Blessings....

tigra83 wrote: »

Hi again,

Sorry it has been so long since I replied, I dont use this very often, keep forgetting to check it!

I had heard about the story now that I think about it, where would I get a copy of the book?

CiaranJK

We have a Pine Marten who feasts regularly in our wheely bin. We live in a woodland area near Arigna, Co Roscommon. Disturbed him/her a few times and it stood staring right back at me for ages.

thekooman

I think we have a pine martin attacking our black circular (not wheelie) bin in our garage. they are lifting the lid off the bin (has 2 handles clasped down) and getting at the rubbish. the wife is terrified of going into the garage!!
yesterday morning it had ate at a few bags of coals, taken the lid of the bin and dragged some rubbish out of it. last night when i checked the garage there was a black "poo" on the floor; looked like a black lump of grease which was melted. size was about 2 inch circular.

he got in a very small hole in the garage. should i try and catch it with a cage and move him to a different area or just seal up the bin a bit better... the wife wants the first on!!

It may not be a pine martin but i know our neighbours hens were killed a few years ago so they are sure to be around still. have seen mink nearby before.... could it be them? they are witty enough to get the lid off the bin anyways. they have to scale a 6 foot wall to get into the garage.

any advice on what it is would be great?

sorella

More likely to be mink killing the hen; pine martens will take eggs though..
Mink are vicious ******

Pine martens are solitaries whereas minks are not.

They also "hole" lambs when they are alseep after a feed; in the vein behind the ear and suck the blood out. They did that to a deaf cat of ours too; she lived but the lambs rarely do.

Ask google images for mink scat and pine marten scat; I don't have time just now... Images will have some photos.

thekooman

sorella wrote: »

More likely to be mink killing the hen; pine martens will take eggs though..
Mink are vicious ******

Pine martens are solitaries whereas minks are not.

They also "hole" lambs when they are alseep after a feed; in the vein behind the ear and suck the blood out. They did that to a deaf cat of ours too; she lived but the lambs rarely do.

Ask google images for mink scat and pine marten scat; I don't have time just now... Images will have some photos.

looks like our mink (i think its a mink now) has a dose of the runs!! should have taken a pic before i cleaned it up.
saw a mink on the road near our house a few months ago and then a few minutes later someone ran over it!! so they are around... the dirty fcekers!
have the cage set now with some sardines in it... will they go for that?

IrishDerbyfan

Pine Martens are now confirmed in The Glen of the Downs. Photographed a dad one yesterday. Juvenile

IrishDerbyfan

Pine Martens are now confirmed in The Glen of the Downs. Photographed a dead one yesterday. Juvenile

axe2grind

IrishDerbyfan wrote: »

Pine Martens are now confirmed in The Glen of the Downs. Photographed a dead one yesterday. Juvenile

They were already confirmed from there before, but I picked up a dead male (was in good health) there the day before you. 2 in 2 days, the destruction nature of wide roads with little wildlife corridors. Such a shame

bernard0368

Re: The Glen of The Downs, I was talking to my father a while back about trying to photograph pine martins.
He said that the Glen was the one place he constantly saw them in the past he also mentioned a spot in Killruddery est where there was a breeding pair.

The kicker that was 20 years ago when he could get out and about.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

bernard0368 wrote: »

Re: The Glen of The Downs, I was talking to my father a while back about trying to photograph pine martins.
He said that the Glen was the one place he constantly saw them in the past he also mentioned a spot in Killruddery est where there was a breeding pair.

The kicker that was 20 years ago when he could get out and about.

There has always been a population of Pine Martens in the Glen. Numbers have fluctuated considerably but it has never been completely denied of them.

IrishDerbyfan

axe2grind wrote: »

They were already confirmed from there before, but I picked up a dead male (was in good health) there the day before you. 2 in 2 days, the destruction nature of wide roads with little wildlife corridors. Such a shame

Probably same animal? Sunday?

axe2grind

IrishDerbyfan wrote: »

Probably same animal? Sunday?

No, because I literally did pick it up!...and took it away

Day Lewin

Anecdotally - I hear that pine-marten populations in Co Leitrim are reaching nuisance proportions in some places - isolated cottages surrounded by pine plantation offer an inviting, warm roof-space.
Very hard to get rid of and you can't do much about it, either.

Happy news in some ways, though - wherever the pine martens are recovering, the red squirrels are regaining also!

Joeseph Balls

katemarch wrote: »

Anecdotally - I hear that pine-marten populations in Co Leitrim are reaching nuisance proportions in some places - isolated cottages surrounded by pine plantation offer an inviting, warm roof-space.
Very hard to get rid of and you can't do much about it, either.

Happy news in some ways, though - wherever the pine martens are recovering, the red squirrels are regaining also!

Theres more roadkill of them here than any other animal

Half-cocked

Grey Squirrel population in Kilruddery Estate crashed last year. Wonder if Pine Martens had anything to do with that? The Greys disappeared from a friends farm in Kildare around the same time I started getting Pine Marten photos on my trail cameras.

Murray007

Pine martins and red squirrels have taken up residence in our local forestry, noticed this about 7 years ago.

Greys have disappeared. Is there a link, some people suggest pine martins can catch greys but the reds can go out on smaller branches and escape.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Murray007 wrote: »

Pine martins and red squirrels have taken up residence in our local forestry, noticed this about 7 years ago.

Greys have disappeared. Is there a link, some people suggest pine martins can catch greys but the reds can go out on smaller branches and escape.

That seems to be the thinking at the moment.

mecksimay

Murray007 wrote: »

Pine martins and red squirrels have taken up residence in our local forestry, noticed this about 7 years ago.

Greys have disappeared. Is there a link, some people suggest pine martins can catch greys but the reds can go out on smaller branches and escape.

Whereabouts is the forestry?

Murray007

West Cavan

Half-cocked

Murray007 wrote: »

Greys have disappeared. Is there a link, some people suggest pine martins can catch greys but the reds can go out on smaller branches and escape.

Greys also spend a lot more time on the ground than Reds making them easier prey for Pine Martens. It looks like when Pine Martens move into an area the Greys not only fall prey to them but exhibit higher stress levels and can stop breeding. In the States where they have both American Martens and Greys, the territories never overlap - the two species don't coexist. Looks like the same thing is happening over here.

zoe 3619

Pine martin flew across the road in front if my car today,mid afternoon.slowed down to let it pass,and a second one ran across in hot pursuit.looked like two young males in play.nice to see them (and I say that as a poultry keeper).

Jayo11780

Had a pine marten eating a thrown-out swiss roll in my back yard this morning before i went to work... a beautiful looking animal it must be said. looked very playful and bouncy in it's movements.
The little fe**er had got into my wheelie bin and taken it out!

pine marten.jpeg

I took a picture of him eating his meal.
My wife thought it was a mink at first as there are plenty of those around our place - we live in Offaly, but i checked online when i got to work and yes it is a pine marten.

Does anyone know how common they are?

Phil_Lives

Jayo11780 wrote: »

Had a pine marten eating a thrown-out swiss roll in my back yard this morning before i went to work... a beautiful looking animal it must be said. looked very playful and bouncy in it's movements.
The little fe**er had got into my wheelie bin and taken it out!

pine marten.jpeg

I took a picture of him eating his meal.
My wife thought it was a mink at first as there are plenty of those around our place - we live in Offaly, but i checked online when i got to work and yes it is a pine marten.

Does anyone know how common they are?

They leave their dirty paw prints on my bonnet, windscreen, rear window some mornings.
Annoying if it happens a day or two after going to the car wash.

Can't complain. I live up a mountain in forest.
Had to brake heavily yesterday to avoid a black red squirrel scampering across the road.

mecksimay

Jayo11780 wrote: »

Had a pine marten eating a thrown-out swiss roll in my back yard this morning before i went to work... a beautiful looking animal it must be said. looked very playful and bouncy in it's movements.
The little fe**er had got into my wheelie bin and taken it out!

pine marten.jpeg

I took a picture of him eating his meal.
My wife thought it was a mink at first as there are plenty of those around our place - we live in Offaly, but i checked online when i got to work and yes it is a pine marten.

Does anyone know how common they are?

Unforutanately I can't post a link to the VWT webpage on pine marten as I'm a new user (apparently) but if you google pine marten ireland and VWT you should find the webpage. Here you will find information on the pine marten in Ireland, there's also a distribution map and you can see that they are more widespread now than ever before!

Eddie B

Jayo11780 wrote: »

Had a pine marten eating a thrown-out swiss roll in my back yard this morning before i went to work... a beautiful looking animal it must be said. looked very playful and bouncy in it's movements.
The little fe**er had got into my wheelie bin and taken it out!

pine marten.jpeg

I took a picture of him eating his meal.
My wife thought it was a mink at first as there are plenty of those around our place - we live in Offaly, but i checked online when i got to work and yes it is a pine marten.

Does anyone know how common they are?

Very common around Offaly/Westmeath!
Can't say for the rest of the country though! Some people have never even seen one!