Shropshire scoop as pine marten seen in England for first time in 100 years
It is the first official sighting of a pine marten in England for 100 years – in the heart of rural Shropshire.
Shropshire Wildlife Trust said photographer Dave Pearce captured this grainy image in woods west of Craven Arms.
It comes as a new project is being launched to reintroduce the animal back into our region.
Stuart Edmunds, for the trust, said he was happy to verify the sighting after studying the picture.
Mr Edmunds said: "This is incredibly exciting news as pine martens were thought to be extinct in England and possibly even Wales and there is now a possibility that they have been living under our noses all this time.
"Pine martens are house-cat sized members of the stoat and weasel family and spend most of their time in trees, out of site.
"I have been following up reports of sightings for five years and have been running the Shropshire Pine Marten Project since 2011. Most sightings have been confirmed as cases of mistaken identity, including cats, mink and even black squirrels. This is the first evidence we have had in Shropshire that pine martens are here, though in very low numbers.
"The next step is to find droppings, which can use to determine the origin of the marten, whether it has travelled across from Wales, or whether it is a marten released from Scotland."
There is a thriving population of at least 4,000 pine martens in Scotland and they are known to exist in Wales in small numbers in Snowdonia and Mid Wales. They are very mobile, easily travelling 20km in a day.
The Vincent Wildlife Trust is running a project to reintroduce the animals into the wild in Mid Wales. It was this week given a £200,000 boost from sources including Chester Zoo which will fund work
Mr Edmunds added: "I would also like to make an appeal to anyone living in the area west of Craven Arms to let me know if they have seen a pine marten."
Email stuartedmunds@rocketmail.com or contact Twitter @PinemartensUK
