I tried traps too, caught a hedgehog. Never any luck with a marten
We lost three hens to martens.
sorry for the late posting but I am still working in the uk and get online when I can,If we ever get this house purchase done and get over I am looking forward to maybe spotting one in the wild,sounds like their could be work for me in france as I am a pest controler 
We are very uninformed on the subject of birds (as will be evident by some earlier posts!) but my partner and I were discussing them this morning as a result of the (now mercifully subsided) gales. What we were wondering was that, given most birds donāt fly at night and the ones that do have specially adapted eyesight, what do birds do if dislodged from their perches (roosts?) at night by gales? Do any of you erudite people know?
They do what they can to find shelter, you sometimes find them in odd places if they have been badly buffeted by the storm. I have two big covered terraces and often find refugees there.
Thatās interesting @vero. I had assumed they wouldnāt be able to fly far partly because of the storm and partly because itās night. On the ground, theyād be at risk of predatorsā¦
If it is a really awful night the predators suffer too and tend to stay at home.
I suppose that makes sense 
My chooks are a bit wild and sleep in the trees (they are part Arucana and are known for it!) I do loose them sometimes after a windy night, Iām guessing Mr Fox comes around when it is very early.
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If Mr Fox has had a disturbed night too, heāll be hungry 
Mrs Fox and her children are to be seen poking about in my garden fairly often, as are Mr or Mrs Badger who like to dig and eat plums and cherries - but they donāt come right up under the covered bits of the terraces - thatās where I find the refugees, various birds, toads, hedgehogs, snakes etc
Thatās lovely @vero. You obviously have quite a lot of space! When you say ācoveredā do you mean roofed as in an extension to the house or are they external structures? (Just thinkingā¦and planningā¦)
I happened to look out of our full length double glazed front door yesterday and saw a large bird heading straight for it at a rate of knots. It hit the glass with a bang, but might have realised at the last minute and pulled up a little because it hit with its chest rather than beak which would no doubt have resulted in a broken neck.
It rebounded off but did not fall and instead flew off out of the terrace and round in a great arc over the valley. For the first time I saw that it was not a pigeon but a Green Woodpecker and, pursuing it closely a similarly sized Magpie. Now I know that Magpies take small birds and chicks but do they pursue and indeed kill large birds in this fashion? The pair passed behind some trees so I do not know what the outcome was, I can only hope that the Woodie escaped.
I imagine the poor woodpecker inadvertently got too close to the magpieās nest, so the magpie had to see it off, they are thorough and keep chasing. Happens all the time chez moi, blasted creatures.
Weāve noticed this more this year. The magpies chase the bigger birds - woodpeckers, blackbirds, doves. Their first attempt at a nest this year was destroyed by a storm, but they made another, so are still around creating havoc.
We had one fly over a couple of years ago, magnificent 
I know naff-all about birds - what is he, Colin? Heās beautifulā¦