{"id":20459,"date":"2020-01-26T18:25:13","date_gmt":"2020-01-26T18:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/?p=20459"},"modified":"2021-01-19T14:26:21","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T14:26:21","slug":"the-return-of-the-taghan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/the-return-of-the-taghan\/","title":{"rendered":"The Return of the Taghan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite centuries of persecution and habitat loss, pine martens have proven themselves to be survivors, and as they expand their range, they\u2019re revealing some surprising secrets.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Even\na dead pine marten leaves its mark. I won’t forget that first\nsighting.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nIn\nfront of me lay a beautiful cocoa-coloured animal brought into the\npublic bar of my parent\u2019s hotel in Kilchoan, on the Ardnamurchan\nPeninsula. It had been caught in a snare and then squeezed into a\nbloodied game bag. Now it lay on the table revealing an exquisitely\nfurred body so soft to the touch. Its tail was full and bushy, the\nochre-coloured patch at its throat dappled with dark brown blotchy\nmarkings. As it lay motionless, I saw its little foxy face revealing\nsharp teeth set firm in a macabre death grimace. I was eight years\nold, and I had never seen anything quite so lovely. I had been close\nto other dead animals but this one I recall had no odour. It is the\nreason that the pine marten bears the nickname sweet mart, while its\nrelative the polecat is fou’ mart \u2013 or foul mart, because of its\npungent aroma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAt\nthe end of the 1960s, even the lush Atlantic oakwoods of the Western\nseaboard were devoid of pine martens. We stood looking at this\nastonishing creature amid conjecture \u2013 was it a ferret, a polecat,\na mink?  No one seemed to be sure. Someone suggested a marten\ncat.  Looking back now, this lack of knowledge proves how\ndesperate things had become for the pine marten. The relentless\npersecution had rendered it so rare, it was almost lost to our\nmemory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The lush temperate rainforest that once fringed much of Scotland\u2019s west coast would once have harboured many pine martens, which were historically Britain\u2019s second most common carnivore.<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The\narboreal pine marten is undoubtedly the most glorious member of the\ndiverse Mustelidae family that includes, the badger, stoat, weasel,\npolecat and otter, and like the rest of the group, it has many\nextraordinary traits, is adaptable, and strong for its size. The\nGaels called it taghan,<\/em>\nand in Scotland, it was also frequently called, mertrick<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1888, in his book, Wild Sports of the Scottish Highlands<\/em>, naturalist and sportsman Charles St John wrote: \u201cThe marten cat is accused by the shepherds of destroying a great many sheep. His manner of attack is said to be by seizing the unfortunate sheep by the nose, which he eats away, till the animal is either destroyed on the spot or dies a lingering death. I have been repeatedly told this by the different Highland shepherds and others, and believe it to be a true accusation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supposed eyewitnesses backed up the theory that the hapless marten was indeed a livestock killer. Referred to, and treated as, the \u2018scourge of the glen\u2019, the marten is another example of an animal damned by Victorian dogma: sheep slayer, a beast with a poisonous barb attached to its bushy tail, a filcher of poultry and eggs. The marten is guilty of only that last crime. Whatever the anti-predator brigade was imbibing at the time, we must give them full marks for their vivid imaginations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coupled with a catastrophic loss of native woodland due to fire, axe and over grazing, the odds against the pine marten were stacked high. Its luxuriant, exotic pelt also added to its downfall. In 1906 naturalist J. Harvie-Brown claimed that it was even rarer than the wildcat. The few remaining animals fled to the remotest corners of Scotland where they adapted their superb tree-climbing skills to scaling rocky outcrops where they sought dens high in inaccessible crags. Here they miraculously clung on by their pale-coloured, semi-retractable claws and were seldom seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marten pelts are still widely available in many parts of Norway.<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In\n1988 an amendment to the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 brought\nprotection for the pine marten. Around a decade earlier, the mass\nplanting of fast-growing commercial conifers also inadvertently aided\na population recovery. Pine martens are omnivorous with a catholic\ndiet. They relish earthworms and field voles and the dense tussocky\ngrasses of the young forest fringes brought rich pickings. And as the\nmonoculture tree canopy closed in, it offered safe, secret places to\nhide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Today\nthe majority of us no longer want to view the pine marten that\npreviously swung husk-like from the gamekeeper’s gibbet, through the\nbarrel of a gun. Instead, the taghan<\/em>\nhas become an icon for a growing wildlife tourism industry, which has\nadopted the marten as a symbol of a nature-rich landscape. A network\nof viewing hides and self-catering cottages that supply the local\nmartens with regular treats, means that with a bit of patience, these\npreviously rare and elusive mammals can be enjoyed at close quarters\nacross much of the Highlands. From a once detested varmint that\npolarised people\u2019s perceptions, to an ambassador for an\necologically richer Scotland, the pine marten offers a glimpse into\nwhat else might be possible with a change in our attitudes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Many self-catering cottages attract nightly visits from opportunistic martens. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As well as resurgence in Scotland, martens are beginning to leach into Cumbria and Northumberland. However, it is the exemplary work of the Vincent Wildlife Trust (VWT) and its partners that is helping the beleaguered population further south in Wales and England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social acceptance is a critical factor in the complex process of re-establishing lost or endangered species. For such projects to succeed, public opinion must always be a significant consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following two decades of detailed consultation and surveys, the VWT found that 91% of respondents wholly supported the idea of helping restore the pine marten population in mid-Wales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scottish Natural Heritage granted licences for some animals to be taken from areas of high population density, and between 2015-17, a total of 51 martens were successfully translocated to mid-Wales. The Welsh releases took place in secret forestry locations, and follow-up radio tracking and camera trapping has revealed that every year since, breeding has occurred and the martens are flourishing. In September 2019 the VWT reintroduced 18 martens to Gloucestershire’s Forest of Dean. The hope is that this latest group of animals will eventually link up with the Welsh population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who clutch at anti-pine marten straws are quick to suggest that their population recovery will be detrimental to our struggling red squirrels. However, following detailed research led by Emma Sheehy of Aberdeen University, both in Scotland and Ireland, the pine marten’s role in red squirrel conservation has surprised many people. After the disastrous introduction of the non-native North American grey squirrel to England in 1876, red squirrel numbers have plummeted. Greys carry a lethal parapox virus, though they are immune to it themselves. However, when it infects a population of reds, there will be no survivors. Greys also outcompete the smaller red for a diminishing natural food source and are accused of damaging forestry with their bark stripping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Though pine martens will predate red squirrels, recent research suggests that the slower, heavier grey squirrel is becoming a favoured prey item, aiding red squirrel recovery.<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Where\npine martens are regaining a foothold, the grey squirrel population\nis tumbling, but conversely, reds are thriving. Not only is the red\nsquirrel swifter, lighter and more agile than the grey and can escape\npredation by reaching the thinnest branches, but it has co-evolved\nwith the marten. Not so the grey. One of the most exciting results of\nthis research is proof that the presence of native predators can help\nnaturally with the removal of invasive species. Had the pine marten\npopulation been buoyant when our misguided forbears brought greys to\nthe British Isles, would we still be faced with the problem of their\ninsidious spread? This developing research also brings to the fore a\nbasic ecological principle: that the removal of a predator from an\necosystem often results in catastrophic consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For\nme the memory of that first deceased marten lingers but half a\ncentury on, things are indeed changing for the marten cat. Drizzle\nfalls fizz-like on the steel-grey waters of Loch Maree, Wester Ross.\nThe eerie, melancholy calls of black-throated diver echo beneath the\nbastion of brooding Slioch. On the mountain\u2019s lower slopes, where\nwild goats graze, ancient contorted Scots pines eke out an existence\nbetween this rock and a hard place. On a moss-padded boulder close\nby, a pine marten dozes. It is cat-sized, curled into a neat\ndoughnut, yet vigilant. If I move, it will instantly melt into the\nlandscape as if it was never there.  The wind is in my favour\nand I lie hidden in russet-coloured bracken beneath the bank, while\nit remains oblivious. Through binoculars, that lustrous pelt once so\neagerly sought, glistens with raindrops. The creamy-yellow cravat,\nwith its unique brown patches, makes it possible to identify\nindividuals. There is movement. It rises and stretches out its lithe,\ngymnast\u2019s body and dances into the crags above. Shortly a range of\nyattering, growling and hissing sounds indicate a dispute \u2013 two\nmartens emerge facing one another in a standoff. Rain is running down\nmy neck; the loch has vanished. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For\nthe past twenty years, I have been relishing more and more pine\nmarten encounters. Each experience, be it in a wild, remote and\nwindswept part of Scotland, or my garden, fills me with a frisson of\nexcitement and joy. Twisted scats are becoming increasingly prominent\non my walks, a sign that pine martens are beginning to emerge from\nthe bigoted beliefs of the past. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An expanding network of native woodland with abundant food and places to den is allowing martens to return to areas where they\u2019ve not been seen for generations. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Their\npresence in gardens, where their every move is watched and recorded\nby eager owners, is helping to contribute to vital citizen science.\nRadio-tracking projects are also giving us further valuable\ninformation about this mercurial, misunderstood mustelid. And\nwherever there are martens, colourful stories abound. This is an\nanimal with a penchant for mischief. Though shy, it is also an\nopportunist that takes advantage. In some areas, nest boxes erected\nfor ducks such as goldeneye are increasingly being taken over. The\npine marten is no angel and may first consume the eggs, or newly\nhatched occupants before using it as a maternity suite. Warm houses\nwith insulated attic spaces provide ideal denning sites too, and\noccasionally give rise to ghoulish noises in the dead of night.\nPutting Houdini to shame, the sinuous marten can find a route into\ntight places, including storerooms or kitchens lured by sugary foods.\nCrawling beneath car bonnets, or boarding boats in search of food and\ncomfort, may lead to some rearrangement of wiring, insulation and\nseat belts. Devilment is part of the marten psyche but ripping out\nsheep\u2019s throats? Not guilty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At Scottish Power\u2019s Visitor Centre on Loch Awe-side, pine martens are regular visitors attracted by the scones and jam, (specially made for them). Their presence not only delights human visitors by the score but also boosts sales. Almost everyone is desperate to see a pine marten and that first encounter will likely prove life changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our attitudes towards predators are often deep-seated and frequently misguided. After just a few decades of recovery, there are those who consider that already, there are \u201ctoo many\u201d pine martens. In most cases this simply translates as more than there were ten years ago. Martens were previously abundant across the British Isles and their return shines like a beacon in a sea of ecological despair. The taghan<\/em> brings a welcome layer of ecological complexity to Scotland\u2019s forests, but it also brings something even more valuable: hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Words by Polly Pullar. Images by Peter Cairns, Mark Hamblin & James Shooter of SCOTLAND: The Big Picture<\/a>.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Despite centuries of persecution and habitat loss, pine martens have proven themselves to be survivors, and as they expand their range, they\u2019re revealing some surprising secrets. Even a dead pine marten leaves its mark. I won’t forget that first sighting. In front of me lay a beautiful cocoa-coloured animal brought into the public bar of my parent\u2019s hotel in Kilchoan, on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula. It had been caught in a snare and then squeezed into a bloodied game bag. Now it lay on the table revealing an exquisitely furred body so soft to the touch. Its tail was full and…<\/span> <\/p>\n

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