Christmas over, decorations put away. What’s been happening with us?
To our delight, we have a Pine Marten visiting, on a fairly regular basis. After feeding on the ground for the first few visits, it, and I say it; because we’re not sure if it is male or female. Anyway, he, she, it, has learnt if you run up the log to the elevated feeding platform, it leads to some tasty treats – peanuts and dog food.
Why the need for the elevated feeding station? Due to our very opportunistic Badgers, who will devour any peanut they find. There was a requirement for somewhere for the Pine Marten to feed. If it turned up, after a visit from our black and white friends. Hence a quick look at the RSPB shop and yes, they had the ideal thing; a plain square feeding table that we could attach a log to.
Table duly arrived. We knew from watching online videos, Badgers are quite capable of knocking things over or crawling through small spaces, (have a look on YouTube). Sand bags were the answer; carefully position at the base of the table gives it the needed stability. It didn’t stop the Badgers trying though.
Hey presto. Reviewing the camera footage one morning and the marten, was running up the log to the food. A whoop goes up in the office, when a plan comes together.
We have been lucky enough to see the Pine Marten live, rather than just on the night camera. They are lovely mammals to watch, as they bounce around the garden hunting for food.
We hope that it will continue to visit our feeding station. But Pine Martens have a large home range of between 3.5 square kilometres for females and 6.25 for males. During the winter they are not very active, but hopefully when the lighter nights arrive and they become active for longer, we will be able to watch and photograph them.
The story continues ……………..
Check this out for badger determination https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0hakwASmPY
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