pine martens were being reintroduced into Somerset<\/a>, some people had questions.<\/p>\nThe Two Moors Pine Marten Project released nine females and 10 males at secret locations on Exmoor in September.<\/p>\n
Some people expressed concerns about whether smaller mammals and birds would be impacted.<\/p>\n
But Somerset Wildlife Trust wants to reassure people the reintroduction of the animal will restore balance in local woodlands and says there is “plenty of habitat to accommodate the species”.<\/p>\n
Simon Clarke, head of nature recovery for the trust, spoke to BBC Radio Somerset to answer your questions. <\/p>\n
Pine Martens return to Exmoor after over a century<\/p>\n
Why have pine martens been reintroduced?<\/p>\n
Mr Clarke said the project was “about restoring balance to our woodland ecosystem”, which pine martens were a critical part of before their woodland habitat was lost and they were hunted for fur.<\/p>\n
He said the animals fed on fruit, especially in the autumn, which helped the surrounding environment.<\/p>\n
“They’ll be spreading the seeds, you’ll have new plants growing. They are an important part of our woodland flora,” he explained.<\/p>\n
Are pine martens a danger to small mammals?<\/p>\n
If pine martens are not eating berries, they can feed on small mammals like voles.<\/p>\n
But Mr Clarke said other mammals had adapted to their presence over the years.<\/p>\n
“Red squirrels for example are adapted to pine martens, they’re smaller, lighter and faster,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Whereas grey squirrels aren’t adapted to them – so actually it could be beneficial to red squirrels,” he added.<\/p>\n
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PA Media<\/p>\n
Pine martens are predators but also eat fruit <\/p>\n
Are pine martens dangerous for birds?<\/p>\n
Another concern raised was whether pine martens would endanger nesting birds.<\/p>\n
However, Mr Clarke said birds usually nested away from woodlands.<\/p>\n
“Pine martens, they want to live in woodlands. It’s unusual for them to go away from woodlands, that’s not where their food sources are,” he said.<\/p>\n
And for people with poultry, Mr Clarke suggested managing the canopy above the area birds are kept in so pine martens would not have branches to climb. <\/p>\n
What can I do to protect my house from pine martens?<\/p>\n
Some people were concerned pine martens would build nests under their roofs and damage them.<\/p>\n
“You can adapt your buildings to keep pine martens out and we’ve got a lot of advice and resources to help you do that,” Mr Clarke said.<\/p>\n
Devon Wildlife Trust’s Tracey Hamston, who is leading the reintroduction project, added: “We’re not separate from wildlife, we live in the same places – and it is really not in a good place.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Devon Wildlife Trust Pine martens were released at secret locations in Exmoor last month When it was reported…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-230261","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom","11":"tag-unitedkingdom","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Devon Wildlife Trust<\/p>\n