Poster 23: Advance of the stone marten Martes foina in Flanders in the historical context

Only very few sources are available on the historical spread of the stone marten in Flanders. A few works in the field of natural history, dating from the 19th century, still consider the species to be generally occurring in the whole of Belgium. However, on the basis of results concerning the extermination of harmful game, published in the weekly 'Chasse et Pêche', from 1882 onwards, stone martens appear to occur only very rarely in Flanders, up to halfway through the 20th century. After World War II, starting in the south, a bulwark was able to develop in the eastern part of Flemish Brabant and the southern part of Limburg, whereas the species appeared to occur only very diffusely elsewhere. From the 1960's onwards, a general increase could be noticed in Central Europe. Within this "international context", Flanders is in the meantime also characterised by the start of a remarkable increase of density and area expansion, be it only from the 1990's onwards. An obvious expansion developed from the 'historical' bulwark towards the north, leading to an almost complete recolonization of the eastern part of Flemish Brabant and practically the whole of Limburg. From there on, the species seems to pass further on in the northern direction, to Antwerp. Apart from that, the southern region of the provinces of West and East Flanders appears to be obviously recolonized at this moment as well, with a similar development northwards, thus covering the rest of these provinces.