Pine marten kits caught on camera playing in the Forest of Dean

• Watch the footage from Gloucester Wildlife Trust here

Baby pine martens have been caught on camera playing in the Forest of Dean. 

Pine martens are rare and nocturnal - meaning they are usually very hard to spot.

However cameras set up by Gloucester Wildlife Trust have captured a group of pine marten kids playing together.

Pine martens used to be among Britain’s most common mammals, but they were pushed to the brink of extinction in England due to loss of habitat and persecution.

They were shot for sport during Victorian times, trapped for their fur and persecuted by gamekeepers. By the 1880s, they had completely disappeared from the South West.

But the animals were reintroduced into the Forest of Dean in 2019, with 35 of them being released into the wild.

This is now the third successful breeding year since they were reintroduced.

Gloucester Wildlife Trust said the footage is “very exciting” as it shows the continued success of the breeding programme.

Females usually give birth to two or three kits and according to the wildlife trust, at this time of year the kits will become more confident and start to explore the forest around them.