We watched as one of the Beech Martens went right down all the guttering on the cottage tossing everything out looking for grubs, had a quick look later and they did a really good job.
Only thing is I will have to hose the conservatory roof down to get rid of the big lumps of moss he chucked down.
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Excellent, Colin. I could do with one of those…
Our stone martens only seem to like using our loft as a toilet and somewhere to chew cables 
And the pine martens here delight in infuriating the dog by hanging around in the top of trees where he can’t chase them, so he just refuses to continue to walk with is and stops and barks…
The cable eaters in our house are mice. Currently have a colony and we can’t get to them as they are in the ceilings. There must be a way in somewhere, but damned if we can find it.
I learned my lesson after the last house renovation, everything in the loft is armoured cable, the pine marten keeps any mice levels we have down as there are little pine marten flaps between all the lofts and any loft doors.
They won’t be happy once we start the loft conversion though, I plug all the cable runs with foam laced with formaldehyde and rodenticide then cement them as a cap.
Is there not a 'Fzzz!’ 
and a smell of over-done marten?
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The fouines have had the last of our old chickens.
Mice can squeeze thru’ the most absurdly small gaps. I watched one pass under the skirting board in my kitchen. The gap was just wide enough to pass a pencil thru’. It just made itself almost flat, like in a cartoon.
I ‘painted’ a gloopy layer of Nitromors along the base of the skirting …
If you can’t get to them, how about getting them to come to you?
I had a colony of mice in my attic. There was so much stuff up there it was impossible to find their HQ. I cleared a space and put down three traps baited with p/n butter - the crunchy variety. It makes for a better bait ball than smooth.
All was set soon after lunch. I left the hatch of the attic open and flopped out on my bed, in the bedroom hard by. It was like castanets practice up there. I got 13 in 3 hrs. I chucked the bodies out of the Velux onto the roof, where the magpies formed a disorderly queue.
Next day I got 2. Third day, 1. Thereafter, about 1 a month - the suicidal scout sent to see if it would be safe to recolonise.
I know you don’t want them in the house but this sounds horrific.
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Sadly the main colony is in the ceiling of our bedroom and the attic above is inaccessible from the house. You can get to it with a very very tall ladder from outside gable wall but OH fell off a ladder last year so no longer permitted to play with them… I will have to find someone soon as getting a bit silly.
Neither of us is good on ladders and we were thinking of getting one of those scaffolding towers in order to do general maintenance but I imagine they wouldn’t be tall enough for your purposes, @JaneJones
Nutella also makes an excellent bait.
Once the residents were taken care of, I discovered that the Nutella was so desirable it was actually attracting mice from outside…
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Perhaps not quite the outcome you were hoping for Brian 
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That’s exactly how it felt 
As we know, mice are doubly incontinent and the diseases they transmit are worse than rats.
Up with them running around in my kitchen I will not put, under any circs.
Looks like my hols are going to be busmans holidays,general rule of thumb with mice is if the skull will fit in a hole or gap the rest of the body will,rural properties with stone walls or textured render are ideal for mice as they can and will climb up to roof height and walk under tiles/slates,also they do dribble urine as they go making it easy for the next mouse to find the same entrance route,feeding the birds near the property will always attract rodents and they will want to live near the food supply as to lessen the chance of being eaten by a predator en route,on a good high protein diet a female mouse can rear a litter every 21 days,sleep well folks 