Young Riverine explorers discover elusive pine marten

A SPECIAL wildlife sighting occurred near Strabane last week when the youngest members of the Riverine Environmental Project managed to record the notoriously elusive pine marten.

It all began when seven-year-old Josh Cairns spotted an animal track in the undergrowth and decided to utlise a motion sensor, wild-life camera. This camera was set up and when Josh returned 48 hours later, he was delighted to see that the camera had recorded something.

It was not until the footage was downloaded onto a computer that it was possible to make a positive pine marten identification.

Council’s Riverine project officer, Allan Bogle, said, “This (Riverine Environmental Project) programme is designed to raise people’s awareness of the environment. Through education and exploration, we have really seen the participants really connect with their surroundings. Our wildlife cameras have given us a glimpse of a hidden world that would not be possible to see without this technology.”

A member of the weasel family, pine martens live in wooded areas and feed on small rodents, birds, insects and fruit.

Every pine marten is chestnut brown in colour, but each has a uniquely shaped bib – a pale yellow section of fur on its chin and throat – which makes it possible to identify and record each individual.

They were thought to be all but extinct in Ireland by 1900 due to habitat loss and being hunted for their fur, but over the past few decades their population seems to be recovering and spreading across the country from a few pockets in counties Down and Fermanagh.

Whilst pine martens have been spotted in the Strabane area before, this is thought to be the first recording.