Pine martens return to Mid Wales woods
Nine pine martens have been released into the wild in Mid Wales in an effort to reintroduce them to the region.
The animals have been brought down from Scotland and released by the Vincent Wildlife Trust, which will be reintroducing them to the region over the next five years.
The trust said the project has involved meticulous planning to ensure the elusive mammal – the second rarest in the country – settles in well.
Natalie Buttriss, the trust's chief executive officer said: "Pine martens are thriving in Scotland, but in England and Wales the population is in danger of extinction. To help Wales's pine marten population recover, the trust aims to translocate 20 pine martens to woodlands in Mid Wales, with a further 20 animals next autumn.
"This number should result in a self-sustaining population that over time will spread to other forests of Wales and across the border into England."
She added: "My team of mammal conservationists has been working tirelessly over the last two years to make this happen."
At the time of the First World War, pine martens had simply disappeared from almost all of southern Britain. Those that remained had found refuge in the north-west Highlands of Scotland and in tiny pockets of the uplands of northern England and Wales.
This disappearance was principally a result of predator control associated with the increase in popularity of game shooting coming on top of the loss of so much of Britain's mature woodland – the favoured habitat of the pine marten.
