This is a timely book as this native UK (and Ireland) species is making a strong comeback and so may be appearing in a wood near you soon. Pine Martens are spreading on their own once released from the pressure of illegal killing but also because they are being reintroduced in several parts of their former range. They seem to be cropping up here, there and almost everywhere – almost as though they were hitching a ride with kindly conservationists.
This book will tell you about the biology of the species and its impact on Grey and Red Squirrels, as well as lots of interesting facts about its ecology and behaviour. There is a whole chapter on tracks and signs and another on scats which demonstrate that the author has Pine Martens in his Irish garden and has studied them at home and abroad.
The author’s own observations of Pine Martens are interspersed with information from the scientific literature. I was interested to learn about this species’s interactions with Red Foxes.
I’ve only once seen a Pine Marten and it was a good, very satisfying but all too brief sighting. Even if there were Pine Martens just down the road from me (I’m pretty sure there aren’t) I wouldn’t see them often and so this book, based on decades of observation and interest, fills gaps in my knowledge that it would otherwise be very difficult to obtain.
The cover? That is very clearly a Pine Marten and it looks lovely. I’d give it 8/10.
Pine Martens: the secret life of Martes martes by Dan Bagur is published by Pelagic.
Buy this book direct from Blackwell’s – a proper bookshop (and I’ll get a little bit of money from them).
