Evidence from remote cameras has shown that Wales’ rarest mammal, the pine marten, is continuing to thrive, with several females and their young spotted in the forests of Mid Wales.

Vincent Wildlife Trust volunteer Laurence Dupont was the first to spot one of the new arrivals.

“Our moment of magic was when we saw some grainy footage of a pine marten climbing down a tree with a kit swinging wildly from its mouth – and then it returned 15 minutes later for a second one,” Laurence said.

“This was the first evidence of breeding in Wales so far this year, so it was great to feel we are contributing to the knowledge base of the project.”

Pine martens were heading for extinction in Wales until the conservation charity Vincent Wildlife Trust began a project in 2015 to bring Scottish pine martens to Wales and restore a viable marten population.

Each autumn, over a three-year period, the Trust moved more than 50 pine martens from Scotland, where there is a thriving population, to the woodlands of Mid Wales where the native martens had all but disappeared. Without this help, it is likely this native mammal would have been lost from the Welsh landscape, the Trust said.

“We have been able to confirm that the translocated pine martens continue to breed successfully in Wales,” Dr Jenny Macpherson, the Trust’s science and research programme manager said.

“Kits have been seen in a number of locations this year.

“It isn’t possible to give absolute numbers because while some females are using special wooden den boxes erected by the Trust across the release area, others have chosen more inaccessible, natural den sites in which to give birth, such as high tree cavities.

“This makes monitoring more of a challenge.”

The Trust said that pine martens “vanished from most of England and Wales primarily as a result of habitat loss and persecution”.

“While pressures have lessened considerably, especially following legal protection for the pine marten, the species is certainly not out of the woods.

“It will be some considerable time before viable marten populations are back in their former haunts, but the return of this elusive, charismatic woodland mammal to Wales is an important step towards that goal.”

Although very rare, pine martens were still surviving in low numbers in parts of the Cambrian Mountains, Carmarthenshire and Snowdonia.

Between 2015 and 2017, 51 pine martens were captured in Scotland under licence from Scottish Natural Heritage.

They were translocated and released in forestry in Mid Wales.

The Trust said it is “always keen” to hear of pine marten sightings in Wales and a reporting form can be found on the Trust’s website at www.vwt.org.uk/report-a-sighting/

For more information about Vincent Wildlife Trust’s pine marten project in Wales visit www.vwt.org.uk/projects-all/pine-marten-recovery-project