THE team behind the project to reintroduce pine martens to the Forest of Dean are seeking new volunteers to help track their movements.

National efforts to reintroduce the threatened species in England and Wales saw 35 pine martens released in the Forest between 2019 and 2021.

The reintroduction has so far proved a great success with the local population now thought to be more than 40, with at least four litters of kits born as of 2022.

The “elusive” mustelids are now thought to be spreading into the Wye Valley and even towards the Brecon Beacons.

With their population expanding, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, which leads the project in the Forest, is appealing for more volunteers to help monitor them by setting camera traps and carrying out scat surveys.

Pine martens declined massively throughout the UK during the 19th century as a result of habitat loss and predator control.

A small population lingered on in Wales, but was deemed functionally extinct and unable to recover on its own because of low genetic diversity and few opportunities for breeding.

To remedy this, 51 martens were moved by Vincent Wildlife Trust (VWT) from Scotland between 2015 and 2017 to breathe new life into the Welsh population.

The Welsh martens are now thriving, and like those in the Forest and Wye Valley, have begun to expand their numbers and range.

Jamie Kingscott, Pine Marten Project Manager at GWT, said: “A key aim of the reintroduction to the Forest of Dean was that these two groups of martens would one day meet up.

“This will hopefully maintain genetic diversity in both populations and improve the species’ chances of survival in the future.

“It’s fantastic to see the martens doing so well and recolonising their former range, we’re excited to see how far they’ll go.”

The team says the Forest martens’ migration into neighbouring counties is “a significant step forward” for the survival of the species in the UK.

They say that perhaps the biggest hurdle for their expansion is landscape connectivity, with woodland corridors needed to help form “patchwork pathways”.

One way in which GWT hopes to deliver this is by working with landowners and partners on its Severn Treescapes project, which launched last month.

The aim of the project is to create a 60-mile corridor of trees, hedgerows and native woodland stretching from the Lower Wye Valley and Forest of Dean in the south to the Wyre Forest in the north.

The pine marten team initially tracked the translocated animals through radio collars, which are designed to fall off over time.

They now monitor them using camera traps and scat surveys.

Dr Jenny MacPherson, VWT’s Science and Research Programme Manager, said: “Monitoring natural range expansion is a priority action in the national pine marten recovery plan.

“It is great to see pine martens born in Wales and Gloucestershire spreading out and returning to other areas where they haven’t been seen for many years.”

Those looking to become involved in the project should email [email protected] to find out more.