Order: Carnivora
Family: Mustelidae
Species: Martes martes
IUCN Status: Least Concern
Population Trend: stable
Distribution: in the British Isles, the pine marten is mainly confined to remote areas of Scotland, Wales, the Lake District and Irish Republic. Also found in rest of Europe, except southern Spain, Portugal and the Balkan peninsula.
Habitat: woodland, mainly coniferous but found in mixed woodland too. Sometimes lives on rocky moorland and hillsides.
Description: cat-size and slender with long, dark, chestnut-brown fur and a bushy tail; has a distinctive creamy-yellow throat.
Size: male measures, on average, 68cm from nose to tip of tail. Female is slightly smaller.
Life-span: may reach 10 years or more in the wild. Food: mainly small birds and mammals, including squirrels, voles, tits and wrens. Also eats beetles, caterpillars, birds' eggs, berries and carrion (dead animals).
The pine marten is a carnivorous, arboreal (tree-living) member of the weasel family. It was once widespread in Britain but now it is rare. Human interference has caused a serious decline in marten numbers over the past 200 years, although there are now signs that the population may be increasing in certain areas.
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