Help Pine Martens Make a Comeback in Cornwall 🌿

Aim

Help pine martens return to Cornwall by providing safe den boxes and practical support to aid their natural recovery.

🌿 Help Prepare Cornwall for the Return of the Pine Marten 🐾

***Our project has been pre-approved for £5,030 worth of provisional extra match funding by the Cornwall Council: Cornwall Climate Nature Fund. Their support will kick in once we have raised 25% of our project target and will be unlocked when we hit our target.***

🎯 Our Aim

To help pine martens return to Cornwall by providing safe den boxes and practical, evidence-led support for their natural recovery.

Kernow Conservation is a Cornwall-based Community Interest Company delivering hands-on conservation to support wildlife recovery 🌍. We work with landowners and local communities to help species return and thrive where the conditions are right.

🐾 Why this matters

Pine martens were once widespread across Britain - including Cornwall - but disappeared due to persecution and habitat loss.

Now, they are making a comeback 🌱.

In Devon, the Two Moors Pine Marten Project is restoring populations, while elsewhere in Britain pine martens are naturally expanding their range. Increasingly, there are signs that this recovery is beginning to edge further into the South West, with Cornwall becoming part of that emerging picture 📍.

But returning wildlife needs the right conditions.

This is not a reintroduction project and no animals will be released.  Instead we are preparing Cornwall so that as pine martens naturally recolonise, they will find a landscape ready to support them 🌳.

By supporting a native predator and enhancing woodland condition, the project strengthens biodiversity and ecosystem resilience - both essential for climate adaptation. Healthier woodlands store more carbon, improve water retention, and are better able to withstand climate impacts such as extreme weather, pests, and disease. Through community engagement and partnership working, the project also builds local understanding and capacity to respond to the climate and ecological emergency.

🌿 Backed by strategy and science

This work aligns with Cornwall Council’s Species Reintroduction Feasibility Study 🦊, which identified pine martens as a species that could potentially return to the county.

The study highlighted:

• The presence of suitable woodland habitat
• The importance of habitat connectivity
• The need for community support and ecological evidence

It also emphasised preparing landscapes before species return.

By installing den boxes and monitoring wildlife, this project builds that readiness 📊.

It also supports the Cornwall Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS), which aims to create bigger, better and more connected habitats across the county 🌿.

🪵 Why pine marten den boxes?

A major limiting factor for pine martens is access to safe den sites.

They depend on tree cavities to rest and raise young 🐣 - but modern woodlands often lack old trees with natural holes.

Den boxes provide a practical solution:

🏡 Safe places to rest and breed

🌳 Support while woodlands mature

🔗 Stepping stones across the landscape

This helps create the connected habitat network needed for wildlife recovery.

🔧 What we will do

With your support, we will:

🪵 Build and install pine marten den boxes across Cornwall

🌳 Work with landowners to identify and prepare suitable woodland sites

📷 Monitor activity using trail cameras and field surveys

🤝 Engage volunteers and local communities in hands-on conservation

This is an evidence-led approach - helping us track progress and share findings with partners and stakeholders 📢.

💚 How your support helps

🔁 A match funded donation of

£20 could be used to purchase materials for the den boxes

£50 could go toward the travel costs when installing den boxes

£100 could pay for a camera trap to monitor a den box

£250 could help us to organise and run volunteer days to build the den boxes.

🌍 A practical step towards wildlife recovery

Healthy ecosystems need their full complement of native species.

Pine martens are a vital part of Britain’s woodland ecology - and their recovery is one of the UK’s most inspiring conservation stories 🐾✨.

Our vision is simple:

🌳 A Cornwall with thriving, connected woodlands
🐾 A landscape ready for pine martens as they return naturally

By supporting this project, you are helping turn that vision into reality - creating safe spaces for wildlife and building the foundations for recovery 🌱.

💚 Be part of bringing pine martens back to Cornwall.

Testimonials from some of our Wild Kernow Business Members

“It is going to take passion to conserve our countryside for future generations. As a business trying to achieve Net Zero, the global challenge can feel overwhelming which makes our efforts feel trivial by comparison. Then you find organisations like Kernow Conservation who need your support. Their commitment to our wildlife shines out in their work with landowners and restoring biodiversity. If everyone did that, then achieving a sustainable future will become more of a possibility.

”No business should be an island. We all have a responsibility to be part of our wider community. We cannot ignore the pressing need for us all to take action to ensure global security. It is important to clients and staff so why would you not make it part of your business strategy? What we like about Kernow Conservation is that we can see the difference they are making. In a world of increasingly grim news, doing something visibly positive is just what every business needs.”

— Hannah Rowe - Director, Rowe IT

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“We owe everything we have to our natural world. As humans, we dramatically affect every aspect of the natural world, and we have an incumbent responsibility to protect that which was given. Over the coming years, all businesses will seek more sustainable ways to operate. At Richfords, we strongly believe that supporting and nurturing biodiversity is critical to sustainability. Our support of Kernow Conservation and their fantastic work enables us to have a direct and tangible effect on improving biodiversity.

”Just one of the many things you will love about supporting Kernow Conservation is the direct and tangible benefits your support will enable. Our team at Richfords was pleased and proud that the company sponsored Kernow Conservation, but when our team members had the opportunity to be directly involved, the sense of pride and well-being right across the team rocketed. ”

— Michael Cooper Business Development Director, Richfords Fire & Flood

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“To witness the reintroduction of a species that was previously extinct across the county, and to know that our hard work and success as a company has contributed towards this program was a great privilege and something we can hopefully all be proud of.”

— Sam Culley, Richfords Technician

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“We are so delighted to support the great work Kernow Conservation are doing. As a registered B-Corp, being able to work in partnership with KC is part of the commitment that we, as a business, have to being a force for good. In addition to our own efforts to have positive impacts in all that we do, part of this commitment is to donate to charities and projects that are doing the same. We wanted to concentrate on charities and projects local to us, and we feel strongly about nature conservation. Kernow Conservation fits these objectives perfectly. It is a relatively small organisation, with a very hands-on focus on using smart and targeted actions to make big impacts on biodiversity and nature conservation in our own locality.

We are not a large business and want our limited resources that we are able to donate to go a long way. Kernow Conservation are a small organisation and the support of businesses like ours is of vital importance to them. Their ecological expertise means that they target their programs to have a big ecosystem impact with small and targeted interventions, and partnering with them makes us feel like we are making an important contribution to nature in Cornwall. ”

— Prune and Collin, Directors, Prune Harris Ltd.

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“All of us at Cornish Tin are proud to support the valuable work being done by Kernow Conservation.

It has always been, right from our earliest days, an essential aim of Cornish Tin to benefit our natural environment. As well as our tree-planting programmes, we know that our support to Kernow Conservation makes a direct contribution to environmental diversity and protection in Cornwall.

Some of our geologists participated in a recent water vole release into the wild, and said how great it was to be part of a hands-on effort to support the natural wildlife of Cornwall.

As a local company we think it’s important to support Kernow Conservation’s valuable work and I am sure that it would appeal to many other businesses looking for an effective way to help protect Cornwall’s natural environment.”

— Sally Norcross-Webb, Founder and CEO of Cornish Tin

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“Sustainability and community are two main pillars of Brooks Estates and Kernow Conservation aligns with both these factors and only supports and furthers us towards our goals. Brooks Estates are proud to support and be a part of the growing community of partnerships that also support Kernow Conservation. Kernow Conservation also provide an opportunity for individuals to reconnect with nature and aware and be involved in local environmental projects.

”Brooks Estates are advocates for supporting local communities and organisations, especially when the environment is at the helm. For Brooks Estates Ltd, this partnership has been an investment in time, knowledge and awareness of local environmental projects. Kernow Conservation is creating a growing community of likeminded businesses, and we are proud of this partnership.”

— Flora Tswei Assistant Ecologist, Brooks Estates

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Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 22nd June 2026 at 8:00pm