12 Days of Christmas – 2022


Day 9: A Celebration of the Pine Marten


A pine marten minute to enjoy. We’ve had only a few clips of the pine marten in the last couple of years. It’s always exciting to get a brief view into the mysterious world of the elusive pine marten.
At one time hunted to near extinction, they have been making a slow come back since they were protected in the late 1970’s. One of our top predators, a force to be reckoned with for sure 🙂.
We had a rescued pine marten released in our woods in 2020 under the supervision of the NPWS, but that’s another story. These clips don’t feature the NPWS pine marten, which reassures us that our woodland provides adequate resources for the pine marten successfully forage.
The daytime footage shows a pine marten investigating one of our hens that we posthumously put in the undergrowth with a trail cam documenting its return to nature. You’ll note that the pine marten didn’t commit. Successful wild animals are rightly suspicious ‘free food’ and will typically be slow to take offerings without, being desperate, or having checked out the offering thoroughly on a number occasions. This is footage from May 2021, so presumably a time of year when live ‘natural’ prey is readily available.🙂

Some additional info: https://www.vincentwildlife.ie/species/pine-marten

A day in the life of the undergrowth

12 Days of Christmas - 2022 Day 8: A day in the life of the undergrowth This is from a couple of years ago, but I still remember reviewing the footage from the SD card. 🙂 Early in the day we see a little water rail. Later in the evening the secretive pine marten comes...

Badger Wrestlers

12 Days of Christmas - 2022 Day 7: Badger Wrestlers We do see badgers occasionally passing by our trail cameras. Typically they are on their way from A to B, without much to report. Occasionally, we get to see them dig for worms as they go, or even sprint off when...

Great Tit

12 Days of Christmas - 2022 Day 6: Great Tit It's mid-April 2022, just before we open up fully and I put a camera on a dead leveret that I'd found. I was hoping for an opportunist fox, or pine marten, to visit so I could see what might happen. What I didn't expect to...

The Irish Stoat

12 Days of Christmas - 2022 Day 5: The Irish Stoat We've only twice captured a stoat on our trail cameras. The first time we saw one, it was in full chase of a rat. It was all over fairly quickly (Stoat 1 : Rat 0). This time the stoat was on its own looking over a...

The Elusive Water Rail

12 Days of Christmas - 2022 Day 4: The Elusive Water Rail You can't imagine the excitement we felt when we saw that we'd caught a water rail on one of our trail cameras. This secretive amber-listed bird is heard more often than seen (said to sound like a squealing pig...

A Busy Redwing

12 Days of Christmas - 2022 Day 3: A Busy Redwing Loads of redwing thrushes in the Purecamping woods in Winter 20022! 🙂 A common, but welcome winter visitor from the North. Birdwatch Ireland has them favouring open fields, but our woods seem to be just as attractive....

A Wonderful Woodcock

12 Days of Christmas - 2022 Day 2: A Wonderful Woodcock The fantastically camouflaged woodcock in the Purecamping woods. Talk about a beautiful bird! Check out the variety of colours in the plumage! Now with a Red conservation status in Ireland due a decline in the...

A Solstice Fox

12 Days of Christmas - 2022 Day 1: A Solstice Fox As we enjoy our Christmas fare, spare a thought for all our wildlife. Daytime sightings of the Fantastic Mr. Fox are rare, but Winter hardship can force daylight foraging. Just think about their challenge of waking...

The 12 birds of Christmas 2021

#1 Santa's robin, a favourite for many. This robin was in the bushes waiting for an opportunity to collect the crumbs left by the other birds on the feeder. #2 Goldfinch - Lasair choille (Wood or Forest Flame) Easy to see where it got its name. This confident little...

Barn Owl Box

Barn Owl Boxing So, it seems that there is no bad time to put up a barn owl nest box. Something like planting a tree, with the best time being 20 years ago and the second-best time being now. Procrastination is the Thief of Time (and my constant companion) I had...

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