Pine Martens peeing on food why

Territorial marking- many mammals use their urine to communicate + can indicate sex, age, fitness, etc.

The fact it's on a regular area containing food would suggest that they are staking their claim to the food location to dissuade other martens feeding on it or coming to it. They seldom come across fixed feeding sites naturally, but related species will urinate on or near large carrion if they are repeatedly coming back to it.

Same with the martens here. I assume it is scent marking as it is done all over - around the food, on the windowsill, on the edge of the water bowl, on the path.

The first time I noticed I was surprised to find that it does not smell - well not to humans (or perhaps it is not very long lasting). It is very different with foxes, for example. There is never any doubt if a fox has scented in the garden.

Dave

Agree on the sent marking - thanks, I presume it might also indicate family, as my pine martens are a mum and two kids (well they are quite big now), but always appear at the same time, Mum always goes to bowl that is away from the house, the two kids come to the patio. Their markings don't detract the badger, mum pine marten and badger feed in the same area, usually within about an hour of each other, though I do think it is the badger that makes them all run off.
Agree with fox marking - had a nightmare with them when I lived in London, had upwards of 7 passing through each night, they liked to go get the ducks at local park.

Accipiter- the fox that comes in the day is a male, but there is also one that comes after dark- a vixen, that I believe is his mate.

Once, I caught a glimpse of both of them at dusk together, (I like to think he brought her over for dinner ) and now she comes usually in the late evening. I've put their bowl up close to the house so that I could keep an eye on it. She doesn't hang about- knocks the plantpot over that I put over the bowl to deter cats, eats as fast as she can and then sometimes does a quick squat over the bowl    and vanishes. Every now and again she carries the plastic plantpot up to the other end of the garden and hides it in the hedge for me to try and find the next morning...they made off with two dog bowls before I finally got a heavy ceramic one to stop them nicking that, too... 

I have visons of an urban fox den stocked with dog bowls from all around the local area... my theory is that because the food appears as if by magic, their little foxy brains have rationalised that if they simply take the bowl home with them, then it might just start producing dinner for them on the spot.   Or then again, maybe it's simply to protect the dish from the cats.

Anyway, the vixen doesn't pee in the dish every time- and interestingly, it doesn't smell as strong as when the male does it.

Had to laugh rowanberry at your comments. Oddly it is the pine marten that go off with the feeders, they learnt how to take the fat square feeders down from where they hang under the bird feeders, they carried them off into the scrub and then took the tops off the feeders. Took me almost a year to work out what was doing the pinching and I got fed up buying new containers. They are now out of reach!