Staff at Vincent Wildlife Trust have produced a range of free, downloadable resources on the work to conserve threatened mammals in Britain, Ireland and mainland Europe. Some have written books that can be bought online through NHBS.
This leaflet provides information on practical steps you can take to protect game and domestic fowl from pine martens. Details are provided on preventative methods such as line wire and overhang electric fencing and pop holes. Guidance is also given on making hen houses marten-proof.
The pine marten is native to Ireland and is one of our rarest mammals. Once common throughout the country, by the 20th century this species had become extinct from the majority of the island, surviving only in a few isolated and fragmented populations, mainly in the west. This decline was the result of hunting of martens for their fur, loss of habitat and both direct and indirect poisoning and persecution.
Practical measures to protect and benefit the pine marten. This leaflet aims to provide guidance on how to assess and minimise potential impacts of forest operations on the pine marten and recommend a set of measures to benefit martens that can be use d by forest managers and owners.
This report presents an analysis of The Vincent Wildlife Trust’s Irish bat box project and results of an online survey and was possible due to a grant from the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
The Mostela consists of a wooden box containing a plastic tunnel and a camera trap within to record any animal that enters. It has successfully detected stoats in the Netherlands and the UK. The Irish stoat is a subspecies endemic to Ireland and the Isle of Man and, despite being widespread in Ireland, no information exists on its population status due to the difficulty of detecting it. We conducted a twelve-week study from May to July 2019 at twelve locations in Mayo and Galway to test the efficacy of the Mostela to detect the species. A second camera trap was placed outside to record any stoats that did not enter. The results of this study are outlined in the poster below.
VWT established a permanent presence in Ireland in 1995 and the majority of our work has been centered on the bat species, and in particular the lesser horseshoe bat. Today, our work in Ireland has a broader remit and focuses not only on the bat species but also on other mammals in need; in particular members of the Mustelid family, which includes the pine marten and the stoat.
