Celebrate the pine marten

Pine martens have rich, brown fur; rounded ears and long, bushy tails. They eat a wide variety of food, including mice and rats, fruit, birds, insects and carrion.

All too often, public awareness of our wildlife is stirred for the wrong reasons. We’ve had wild allegations about eagles and pine martens attacking lambs, for instance. All of which can lead to needless persecution of creatures that can only enrich nature in Ireland.

Although now in every county, the protected pine marten is still one of our rarest mammals. Not seen that often as it tends to come out at night, it is about the size of a small cat and plays a useful role in the balance of