First signs of success in bid to reintroduce pine martens to England

Conservationists say at least three females have produced offspring in the Forest of Dean

The first pine martens to be reintroduced to England have had kits, marking a milestone in efforts to boost their recovery, conservationists said.

The native carnivores all but vanished from England in the face of extensive hunting and loss of their woodland homes over the past two centuries, and in Scotland they were pushed to a stronghold in the north-west Highlands.