Pine Martens recorded in Carmarthenshire thanks to Brechfa Forest West Wind Farm

•        Camera traps installed as part of the wind farm’s Habitat Management Plan ‘capture’ the first sightings

•        10 new den boxes have also been installed in the heart of the forest.

Sightings of rare Pine Marten have been recorded in Carmarthenshire’s Brechfa Forest for the first time in over 20 years, thanks to new camera ‘traps’ installed by RWE’s Brechfa Forest West Wind Farm. The presence of the once familiar species is a welcome sight, after the Pine Marten had been hunted almost to the point of extinction in the late 19^th century.

The monitoring facilities through which the sightings were recorded, were set up as part of Brechfa Forest West Wind Farm’s environmental commitments which aim to help improve the local area. In 2016, as part of that plan, the project team erected 10 Pine Marten den boxes, with several associated cameras, deep in the heart of Brechfa Forest that is managed by Natural Resources Wales.

Kristen Liptrot, RWE Renewables’ Environmental and Ecological Manager said: “It is really exciting that Pine Marten have been spotted again in Brechfa Forest as a result of RWE’s ongoing commitment to monitor the den boxes each year. As we carry on this important work in the years to come, we hope to see the population continue to grow.”

Pine Marten were once a familiar feature of British forests, but there had been no evidence of their existence in Wales for more than two decades, until around 2012. Signs of their occupation in Brechfa Forest only re-appeared within the last few years.

Camera trappings have shown that some of the den boxes have now been used by the Martens, and their very distinctive faeces, also known as ‘scats,’ have been found nearby. These droppings are now being DNA analysed to confirm the sex and genetic make-up of the Martens at Brechfa, and to see if they are the same as the original Pine Marten that were native to Wales decades before.