Where can you photograph pine martens?

Where can you photograph pine martens? Frugaldom in southwest Scotland, that's where. We have a feeding station that is in view of the yard so you can park with a direct view of the platform. We can accommodate vehicles up to 7.5m in length and if you are fully self-sufficient, you can stay overnight or even make the Frugaldom campervan site your longer term base. It costs £15 for 1 night, £25 for 2 nights, £75 for a full week. No campervan? No problem! You can park your car or bike and hire a hut for £50 overnight.

At this time of year, we are photographing and filming at least 5 individual pine martens coming to visit the feeding platform, where we leave them fresh eggs and peanuts. If you are coming to visit, we can recommend fresh eggs, peanuts, monkey nuts and crunchy peanut butter of the 100% peanuts, unsweetened varieties. (Aldi does a reasonably priced one.)

We restock the peanut box regularly - this one is a standard squirrel feeding box and seems to work well, once the pineys worked out how to open it. This year's babies still sometimes forget and bite the lid but they soon work out the top opening hatch. We still aren't sure if there were 2 or 3 kits born here this year, it is difficult to distinguish who is who when they seldom face the camera.

This is 'Comma'. He has been coming to the feeders for quite some time. We often caught him on camera at the feeder, in the yard and on the hut deckings throughout 2024. A definite male who has been seen with one of the females.

We can identify him as 'Comma' by his bib markings - this was him about to run up the tree last night, where we have a small den box.

This is one of the kits born earlier this year. We don't know which are males and which are females yet but there appears to be at least 3 youngsters 2 are very alike but their bib markings are on opposite sides - almost mirror images of one another.

Two of the three youngsters we have identified - regular visitors to the feeding platform in the tree. The one nearest the peanut box is simply named 'Splodge' because if the big brown splodge on his bib.

Our visiting campervanners and motorhomes love parking up and watching the pine martens and badgers from their vehicles. If you don't have a camper, fear not... We have overnight parking space for cars and bikes, plus cosy huts where you can hunker down for a camp-out overnight to enjoy wildlife watching.

Frugaldom is run voluntarily as a social enterprise so all income contributes towards the project, it's animal residents (ponies, goats and barn cats) and the wildlife.

A Recycling and Repurposing Project - Garden of Oddities

The garden of Oddities is a space cleared at Frugaldom where Harvey is putting together a series of what can only be described as 'oddities'. Everything being used is junk or beach foraged debris, even the sign - which I love! 😊

If anyone can remember the tin man and his dog from some years ago, they are here, slouched on their skewiffy broken bench, along with the deep sea diver (or spaceman), the lobster creek ponies and the latest creations made from all the old Welly boots.

The feral but no-longer-feral cats were curious as to what was going on here, with one of them staying to oversee proceedings. Added to this collection of Oddities, we now have Dunlop and Wellington, the two rubber dogs, and Hunter, the horse on which cat is sat. 😆

Frugal art is economical and environmentally friendly in as much as it is keeping rubbish from being burned, buried or binned. We call it ecoarts and it has its own Facebook page - check out Ecoarts here

Thank You for Helping

Feeding all the animals that stay at, or frequent, Frugaldom would not be possible without our supporters. Our recent request for help brought enough extra pennies to cover the cost of several packs of cat food and a couple of tubs of peanut butter.

We were also donated a total of 50kg of peanuts - something we get through a lot of, especially when supplementing the diets of so many badgers, pine martens and wild birds. One kind motorhome booking sent us 2 x 12.5kg of wild bird mix while another page follower and supporter sent 150 suet balls along with peanuts.

When we put out food for the badgers, they are often accompanied by their friends, the foxes, o we also put out dog food, which is enjoyed by both. We have had a couple of bags donated over the year but also add a big bag in when supermarket shopping. As a special treat for all, there's usually a couple of kilos of chicken drumsticks thrown in. Surprisingly, these can work out better value for money than some of the sachets of wet cat or dog food.

I sometimes think our feral feline friends and frequent visiting wildlife are better fed than us! Frugal living is the only way we can keep up with the costs involved in running such a project as Frugaldom (hence the name) and without the fabulous help of funds raised from followers and members of our 'Friends of Frugaldom' support group, we would definitely not be able to support all the animals and wildlife.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPS MAKE THIS POSSIBLE.

Anyone is welcome to come along and see what we do here. We have space for up to 5 campervans or 3 motorhomes, with our yard fully certified by the Caledonian Touring Club and insured for use throughout the year. This allows us to offer overnight stops as well as longer stays, offering discounts to make longer stays more affordable to all. We also have off-grid cabins for wildlife watchers. Non-members can park their vehicles overnight in the yard and hire a hut for £50 but these are not holiday lodges or cabins, there are no services provided. It is very much a case of bring everything you need, as though camping, and leave no trace. No smoking or vaping and no pets in the huts. Friends of Frugaldom wildlife watchers have access to the huts while visiting Frugaldom.

If you have visited Frugaldom, please consider leaving us a review on any of the following:

Searchforsires (Frugaldom)

Park4Night (Frugaldom)

Google page (Frugaldom, Kirkcowan)

Facebook (@Frugaldom)

For 2026, I hope to link Frugaldom to TripAdvisor

Autumn in the Aire

Autumn is certainly in the air, with our park-up area looking a little sparse around the edges. The trees are casting their leaves in rustling showers and the colour palette of Frugaldom has become one of bronze, yellows, reds and golds. There is still a little bit of green to be seen but most of the flowers have gone.

The scarlet dogwoods add a splash of colour by the edge of the paddock and by the side of the drive so we will soon be cutting these back to replant those red stems elsewhere. Come along and help, if you can.

The willows have become wispy, waving in the wind and ready to be cut down for replanting elsewhere. Willows and dogwoods are fantastic for this very reason - harvesting their stems, or coppicing them, produces an abundance of new planting material every year.

The beech tree is turning golden and is currently the location of many bird visits as the goldcrests and other small birds pick at the bugs and buds. The hazel and oak trees are frequented by the jays who come to feast on the nuts and acorns.

The ground beneath the trees is carpeted in crispy leaves, often disturbed by scratching birds and snuggling badgers. You can tell the year is winding down, which means we need to step up the feeding to supplement the diets of all the creatures who live here. We now have regular badger buffets and tree picnics for the pine martens. The most fantastic thing about nature is that it surrounds us and can be enjoyed by all for free. Catching glimpses of badgers and pine martens or the occasional red squirrel is a gift to be enjoyed by all. Feed them and they will come.

If you would like to help us feed the animal inhabitants of Frugaldom then you can simply contribute a few pounds via PayPal to frugaldom@gmail.com 

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Who Needs Therapy When There's Wildlife to Watch

We have had several great nights of wildlife watching and a 100% success rate, so far, with our visitors seeing the badgers. I like to think of our wildlife watching as frugal fun. Getting out into nature and observing wildlife can be free, if you take the time to learn a little about the environment and the habitats in which the wild birds and animals live.

It may surprise many to know that foxes and badgers can happily co-exist within the same area, feeding together and even sharing the same sett and den locations. Often, the badgers arrive along with the foxes and share the dog biscuits and peanuts we put out to supplement their diets.

Here at Frugaldom, we have regular visits prom the pine martens, who are always wary of the foxes and badgers but will often stand their ground, watching from the safety of their favourite tree. Their tree has a feeding platform that sees an assortment of birds and even mice visiting for snacks.

One if the more colourful visitors is the greater spotted Woodpecker. Seen here is a male bird, easily identified by his bright red patch behind his head. Everything loves peanuts, even the fox eats them. So, too, will the goats and ponies, given half the chance of finding them. 😆

Nature can be all the therapy you need. Fresh air, a little bit of comfort and some time to relax, unwind, de-stress and recharge can reap huge health benefits. Simple living, simple pleasures, simple solutions... It costs from as little as £5 per month to join 'Friends of Frugaldom' and enjoy access anytime to what we consider to be a wildlife wonderland. Overnight parking costs £15 for campervans or motorhomes up to 7.5m

Check out our other pages for more photos and updates by searching for @Frugaldom

We are located in southwest Scotland, between Newton Stewart and Stranraer, just 5 miles off the main A75 near Kirkcowan. Email frugaldom@gmail.com for further details or to book a wildlife watch.