'Historic moment' as pine marten kits born

Pine martens have successfully bred in Devon for the first time in more than a century, conservationists have said.

Devon Wildlife Trust said 15 martens were reintroduced on Dartmoor in 2024 following a 100-year absence.

It said camera trap footage, at a secret site, revealed the first glimpses of the kits and conservationists behind the project said they were "ecstatic" to see the animals had successfully bred.

"This is a historic moment for the return of a native animal and for the future of the South West's woodlands," said Tracey Hamston who leads the Two Moors pine marten project.

"To have breeding pine martens back after a century's absence signals a positive step in nature's recovery," she said.

Pine martens were once common in the South West, but a loss of their woodland habitat and human persecution caused their extinction, conservationists said.

Two films show the young pine martens, known as kits, exploring their new home, with one clip revealing three kits chasing each other through leaves and up a bank in the Dartmoor woodland.

The trust said female pine martens typically gave birth to two or three kits in spring and youngsters normally spent up to eight weeks hidden in dens before they emerged in early summer.

The conservationists behind the project said the population across the region should gradually increase over the next few years.

The team is preparing for a further release of pine martens at secret locations in Exmoor this autumn.

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