\n The elusive pine marten was captured on camera at Benacre National Nature Reserve on the beach, thanks to a device set up to monitor predators and disturbances affecting bird populations.\n<\/p>\n
\n Adam Burrows, senior reserve manager at Natural England, said: “This fantastic find is a real thrill for everyone who works on this reserve, and seeing what we think is a pine marten in Suffolk for the first time shows just how special this landscape is.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Pine martens are primarily nocturnal and hard to spot, but their light bib and bushy tail help set them apart from other mustelids.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Benacre National Nature Reserve is a coastal area between Kessingland and Covehithe (Image: Allan Drewitt\/Natural England)\n<\/p>\n
\n “Their presence at Benacre National Nature Reserve reflects the natural balance of a healthy ecosystem, where predators and prey coexist as part of the site’s wildlife thriving together.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Pine martens are cat-sized mammals related to weasels and stoats.\n<\/p>\n
\n Once widespread across Britain, their numbers have declined sharply due to habitat loss and historical persecution.\n<\/p>\n
\n According to the Woodland Trust, they are now critically endangered and extremely rare due to historical habitat loss and trapping.\n<\/p>\n
\n The closest previous sighting to Benacre was recorded in Heacham, Norfolk, in 2024.\n<\/p>\n
\n Camera traps will continue to be used at the reserve to monitor predators and disturbances, especially during the breeding season for ground-nesting birds like little terns and avocets.\n<\/p>\n
\n The footage also helps conservationists understand how different species interact within the habitat.\n<\/p>\n
\n Benacre National Nature Reserve is managed by Natural England and forms part of the Suffolk coast’s network of protected areas for breeding and migratory birds.\n<\/p>\n
\n It supports more than 100 breeding bird species.\n<\/p>\n
\n These include marsh harrier, bearded reedling, and bittern, as well as a range of coastal plants such as yellow horned poppy and sea holly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The elusive pine marten was captured on camera at Benacre National Nature Reserve on the beach, thanks to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-795048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795048","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=795048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}