In the private garden allotment area, I have observed pine martens before – on one side of the area which borders with a riparian forest.
Last summer, I saw a marten bouncing along the dirt road (< 1 m metre from the forest) and leaping back into the grove.
However, on June 13 (at around 4.30 – 5.00 am), we (my dog and I) were about to head back home and to take a turn out of a smaller road and onto the larger dirt road that circles the plots.
Right before us, two pine martens darted up along the larger dirt road.
I was quite startled as this particular spot is quite far from the riparian forest (at least 200 metres) and the martens were running from an even more distant site.
The brief glimpse suggested they were subadults play-chasing one another.
They were so immersed in the activity that they never noticed us.
They were also incredibly swift. Once we had reached the larger road (and it took perhaps 3 seconds), they were nowhere to be seen.
I let my dog track them as I wished to understand whether they had departed toward the riparian forest.
We sniffed their trail to a junction between a smaller road and the large road where my dog became a bit confused.
Apparently, the kits (for those were kits born this spring, perhaps in April, ca. 2 – 2.5 months ago) had been frolicking there before deciding on a turn.
It seemed, however, that they had not taken the smaller road to the riparian forest.
I was wondering if they were still playing nearby and if they were intent on returning along the same route.
We sat quietly behind some shrubs to observe the larger dirt road, and, indeed, out of some private gardens (with very scarce woody vegetation but some long forbs), the two kits sprang out.
They had not noticed us but they stopped just for some 10 – 15 seconds, and I could see that they were already quite large and they both had almost identical bibs (collars) which resembled the rounded ends of the travel pillows one places around one’s neck while taking a flight on an airplane.
Pine martens can be identified by these individualized patches on their throats but these two kits, when it came to the bibs, looked like clones 🙂
Certainly, I only caught the briefest sight of them and, upon a closer look, differences would be discovered.
The kits then proceeded back unto the road and one of them chased the other in the direction whence they had first appeared and, also, in the direction away from the riparian forest.
When they were about 20 metres ahead of us, I decided to step back onto the road because I was itching to see where they actually went.
The kits romped for some more 20 metres and then took a turn to the right vanishing into a plot which had a small grove of trees at the end of it.
As we walked along the road, I could see the prints of their nails in the sand as, just yesterday, the road had been covered with a fresh layer of sand.
Perhaps the soft sand had additionally enticed the pine martens to play on the road although I suspect this was not the first time they did so.
The martens had obviously been playing for a while as the prints led into the other direction from where they had disappeared to, as well.
Apparently, they had run along the entire road.
I tried to spot them in the trees but they were gone.
This observation left me highly curious.
At this stage, I should guess that marten kits either still stay close to den or they accompany their mother on her hunting trips.
However, pine martens are supposed to den in forested areas and they are also supposed to hunt near trees or in the forest.
I have observed pine martens outside of forests before (e.g. the aforementioned observation of an adult marten on the road which was, however, < 1 m from the forest as well as another marten inspecting the recreational area in the town’s forest, also mere metres from the trees).
But these kits were > 200 metres from the forest and evidently they had been playing even 0.5 km from the nearest forest.
They disappeared into trees but the tree line there comprises a mere thin band of 2 – 3 metres at width and the disturbance level is very high as there are private gardens on one side of the grove and private houses on the other side.
I find it hard to believe that a pine marten would have denned in such grove and the mother must have simply travelled there from either the forest bordering the private garden allotment area or even the forest across the river (as pine marten ranges are not that small, 5 – 15 km2 for females).
Thus, it is possible that the female had taken the kits out on a hunting trip and she had perhaps been hunting in the grove or elsewhere in the private garden area.
Meanwhile, it is also unusual because the area where the kits were playing is very open.
Rodents, birds and other potential prey can be found there without a doubt but I have been under impression that pine martens, unlike stone martens, would not hunt that far away from the forest.
I would not have been surprised perhaps to see a pine marten hunting 5 – 20 metres from a forest but this marten family was localizing 0.5 km from the forest.
The kits did not seem lost, scared, nor otherwise out of their element.
They also appeared to have knowledge of the area as there was almost no hesitation and they were not proceeding cautiously but running full speed with little concern for their surroundings.
The martens that I had observed on the road or in the recreation area had been rather wary.
At 4.30 – 5.00 am there is zero traffic in the private garden allotments (occasionally, some people can show up if they have been partying, for example, or when it is truly sweltering and folk go to work in their gardens before it is too hot to do anything).
I suspect that the martens had figured out this was a safe time to use the area for their purposes.
There is another incident of a pine marten possibly having taken residence in the attic of a half-abandoned garden shed (which resembles a small, unheated house).
Apparently, they make use of such structures which can be insulated against elements and which offer space for the kits to play around safely.
Also, in these plots only the owners show up and, accordingly, disturbance might be lower than in the general garden allotment area.
But this shed was also located right on the edge of a riparian forest.
I am highly curious whether it is possible that these martens truly reside in this open habitat.
It seems very unlikely but, on the other hand, the region is rather saturated in terms of marten population density and selecting suboptimal home ranges has been due perhaps this year.
The reason why I still wonder about the probability of a female actually denning in this non-forested portion of the garden allotment is that I do not see much reason for venturing so far from the forest simply to hunt in the garden area.
If the female had access to the forest, she would have sufficient resources there (including the use of the immediate vicinity of the forest).
I cannot imagine why a forest-dwelling pine marten female in this area should be forced to explore hunting opportunities this far from her central activity sites.
It is rather a female living on a suboptimal range with no access to forest but access to some groves of trees who would exploit these areas, especially, while accompanied with kits.
On the other hand, I am not aware of some fineries of resource availability.
For example, I cannot access the grove where the kits disappeared into and there could have been some resource opportunities that a forest-dwelling female might have sniffed out while yet travelling alone.
Some people transport big piles of livestock manure for the use of their gardens.
Sometimes hayfields are mown and rodents are unprotected.
There are ponds with shallow water and plenty of amphibians.
There is a restaurant nearby which might have dumped some food waste.
Accordingly, the female might have ventured far out of the forest if the resources in this open, un-pine-martenish were very abundant, reliable, safely acquired and perhaps regularly available.
I suppose that this was not the first trip for the kits to the area as they appeared familiar with it.
I will keep my eyes open for further observations in order to determine whether this is atypical denning behaviour or rather atypical hunting site selection behaviour.
Notes by Ieva 