Pine Marten - additional images in first comments box.
When we booked our holiday cottage, we were aware it had visiting Pine Martens, which were habituated to humans. Even so, I really didn't expect to see them. Nevertheless, on the first evening, we put out food for them on their special feeding brick on the kitchen windowsill- nuts, eggs both cooked and raw and peanut butter and jam sandwiches. What a breathtaking sight when "Bob" (Marten - get it??) appeared, then and every evening between 1930 and 2240hrs, sometimes visiting several times. Records in the visitors books go back as far as 2005, mentioning Bob and compared to the others we saw, he certainly looked older and masculine, so I have no doubt he is one and the same - he also has a broken tooth visible. He is showing his teeth in the shots here as he is crunching nuts. A female also visited once and so too did one of the well grown kits, which daughter Pog's pix saw and photographed back in early July. Totally unafraid, they sometimes appeared on the windowsill while I had the window open, still putting the selection of food out, much to the dogs excitement and much hysterical barking, to which there was little reaction from Bob, who calmly lifted a sandwich and walked off with it. Not something I would encourage tho, so we then put the food out early evening, well before they were expected. Photography was a bit tricky and much of the early shots were duff as we hadn't wanted to scare them off, but actually we found later in the week that they weren't fussed by flash photography! They were confident as long as we were in the kitchen, but were apparently shy if anyone went outside. So the main problem was the flash reflecting off the window and the difficulty with a damp Marten smearing the window. It was also a bit tricky having to stand on tiptoes and lean over the sink and drainer - which we also had to cover with coats to avoid glare off them too. We definitely improved our technique as the week progressed, but see last shot below for one of my first efforts with the Canon Powershot, where I've also managed to take myself reflected in the glass too - LOL. Me and a Marten in the same shot, what a thrill!
Pine Marten - additional images in first comments box.
When we booked our holiday cottage, we were aware it had visiting Pine Martens, which were habituated to humans. Even so, I really didn't expect to see them. Nevertheless, on the first evening, we put out food for them on their special feeding brick on the kitchen windowsill- nuts, eggs both cooked and raw and peanut butter and jam sandwiches. What a breathtaking sight when "Bob" (Marten - get it??) appeared, then and every evening between 1930 and 2240hrs, sometimes visiting several times. Records in the visitors books go back as far as 2005, mentioning Bob and compared to the others we saw, he certainly looked older and masculine, so I have no doubt he is one and the same - he also has a broken tooth visible. He is showing his teeth in the shots here as he is crunching nuts. A female also visited once and so too did one of the well grown kits, which daughter Pog's pix saw and photographed back in early July. Totally unafraid, they sometimes appeared on the windowsill while I had the window open, still putting the selection of food out, much to the dogs excitement and much hysterical barking, to which there was little reaction from Bob, who calmly lifted a sandwich and walked off with it. Not something I would encourage tho, so we then put the food out early evening, well before they were expected. Photography was a bit tricky and much of the early shots were duff as we hadn't wanted to scare them off, but actually we found later in the week that they weren't fussed by flash photography! They were confident as long as we were in the kitchen, but were apparently shy if anyone went outside. So the main problem was the flash reflecting off the window and the difficulty with a damp Marten smearing the window. It was also a bit tricky having to stand on tiptoes and lean over the sink and drainer - which we also had to cover with coats to avoid glare off them too. We definitely improved our technique as the week progressed, but see last shot below for one of my first efforts with the Canon Powershot, where I've also managed to take myself reflected in the glass too - LOL. Me and a Marten in the same shot, what a thrill!