Kits caught on camera: pine marten project celebrates arrival of first young - Devon Wildlife Trust

Exclusive footage shows first pine marten kits born to animals reintroduced in Devon by pioneering project

Conservationists are celebrating the first births of pine martens to a pioneering reintroduction project which has returned the species to the South West of England after a 100-year absence. 

15 pine martens, including 8 females and 7 males, were released at undisclosed Dartmoor locations in autumn 2024. Now camera trap footage has revealed the first glimpses of kits, recorded at a secret site in June this year. 

Two films show the youngsters as they explore their new home. In one clip we see three kits in a Dartmoor woodland chasing each other through foliage and up a bank before disappearing from sight. A second film shows the same mother with two kits as they scamper along a fallen tree close to a fast-running Dartmoor stream.

The kits are among the first to be born wild in Devon for more than a century. The small cat-sized animals were once common in the South West but fell victim to the loss of their favoured woodland habitat and to human persecution. 

The animals have been brought back to the region thanks to the work of the Two Moors Pine Marten Project which is a partnership of seven organisations including Dartmoor National Park Authority, Devon Wildlife Trust, Exmoor National Park Authority, Forestry England, National Trust, Somerset Wildlife Trust and Woodland Trust. The project has been made possible with the support of The National Lottery Heritage Fund and with the expert help of the Vincent Wildlife Trust.