The pine marten is one of the better conservation stories of recent decades in Ireland — a species that came close to disappearing and is now quietly reclaiming ground, including in the woodlands of Tyrone and Fermanagh.
Pine martens are woodland mustelids, agile climbers that den in tree cavities, rock crevices and occasionally in the roof spaces of outbuildings. They are omnivorous, taking small mammals, birds, insects and a surprising quantity of fruit, and are effective seed dispersers as a result.
They were driven to near-extinction across much of Ireland by persecution, trapping for fur and the loss of native woodland. Legal protection and woodland expansion have allowed a slow recovery, and their return has been linked to grey squirrel decline and red squirrel recovery in the areas they have recolonised.
The remaining pressures are the loss of mature trees with denning cavities, woodland fragmentation, road mortality, and occasional conflict where a marten takes up residence in a farm building.
Pine martens are protected under the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 as amended. It is an offence to kill, injure or take a pine marten, or to damage, destroy or obstruct access to a structure or place it uses for shelter or protection, or to disturb it while it is using one.
Pine martens are a consideration for works to mature woodland, felling of veteran or cavity-bearing trees, and, less obviously, conversion or demolition of remote outbuildings and derelict structures near woodland — which are exactly the buildings that also raise bat questions.
Where a building or tree is being assessed for bats, marten evidence is looked for at the same time. Scats, prints, and characteristic feeding remains are the usual signs. Mitigation is generally about timing, retention of denning features, and providing alternatives where a den will be lost.
They are recovering rather than common. Populations are established in parts of the west and are expanding, so they are increasingly worth considering on woodland sites in Tyrone and Fermanagh.
Not without advice. The place it uses for shelter is protected, so the works need planning around it and may require a licence. Take advice before starting anything.
The research points that way. Grey squirrels appear more vulnerable to marten predation than reds, and marten recovery has been associated with grey decline and red recovery in areas of Ireland where it has been studied.
A PEA is the standard first look at a development site: what habitats are present, what protected species could be there, and what further survey work — if any — the application will need.
Read about preliminary ecological appraisals →
Other species: Bats · Badgers · Otters · Nesting birds · Red squirrels · Irish hare · Barn owls
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