Rare pine marten spotted on camera at Longleat

An extremely rare pine marten kit, one of the first to be spotted in the West of England, has been captured on camera at Longleat.

The estate revealed in February that two had been spotted together bringing hope of tiny kits.

And now a camera trap has caught a small pine marten making a “slightly ungainly” journey down a tree, says Dr Tom Lewis, Head of Conservation and Research at Longleat.

He said, “The first pine marten appeared on the estate in 2024; we’re not sure where it came from, as there isn’t a formal re-introduction programme in this area.

“But wild populations exist in the New Forest and the Forest of Dean – well within dispersal distance.

“When we discovered two earlier this year, we hoped it was an indicator that a family may follow and reviewing the camera traps from the summer has shown successful breeding has taken place.

“It is extremely rare for footage like this to be available, as they are seen so infrequently because they are primarily active at night.

“Pine martens usually have two to three kits but can have up to five in good habitat. So, seeing one suggests there might be more.

“You can tell it’s a kit on the video as it’s small and slightly ungainly as it comes down the tree.

“There have been reintroductions into western Somerset on Exmoor, where they have bred successfully, but no other breeding pine martens have been recorded in Somerset or Wiltshire.

“In the two and a half years since we first detected pine martens on the estate, we’ve put up den boxes, changed our woodland management and monitored their establishment.

“It’s extremely exciting that all that work has resulted in kits. We now know that they are here to stay and we look forward to seeing our population expand further in the future.”

Pine martens were once found across the UK, but their numbers dropped due to habitat loss and human interference.