Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-05-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the potential for the reintroduction of pine martens into areas of the UK that are infested with grey squirrels.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The Forestry Commission is involved in the Vincent Wildlife Trust’s pine marten recovery project in mid and north Wales. The Forestry Commission in England is supporting a project in the Forest of Dean with the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, Natural England, Forest Research and others to pursue a pine marten restoration project. This project includes studies into impacts of pine martens including on trees and other wildlife. Natural England is also working with the Trust to restore viable populations of pine martens to northern England.

The Forestry Commission is also working closely with one of the authors of the paper that identified the decline in grey squirrel populations in the Irish midlands, which may be associated with the abundance of pine martens. The work with the author and others will further explore the relationship between red squirrels, grey squirrels and pine martens in the UK.