Over the coming autumn and winter, in partnership with Sutherland Estates, red squirrels will be released into the woodlands around Ben Bhraggie and Dunrobin near Golspie.

The red squirrel is one of our best-loved mammals – an iconic inhabitant of the woodlands that it helps to propagate as it goes about its business of collecting nuts and seeds.

A threatened species

Sadly, despite once being present across most of Britain, reds have been devastated by habitat loss and the introduction of the non-native grey squirrel. Grey squirrels have wiped out reds across most of England and Wales and Scotland is now the reds’ last remaining stronghold. However, despite there being good numbers across southern and central Scotland, reds have been missing from the northwest for several decades.

Returning them to long-lost homes

In 2016, Trees for Life began a project to reintroduce red squirrels to the northwest Highlands, where there is an abundance of wonderful squirrel habitat. Critically, the region is free from grey squirrels, so these new populations are able to flourish without the threat of disease or competition.

We capture small numbers of squirrels from woodlands around Inverness-shire and Moray, where there are healthy populations, and carefully relocate them to suitable forests in the northwest. We only take one or two squirrels from each area to make sure that we don’t harm existing populations in any way. All the squirrels are given a health check and then are placed into specially-built nest boxes, lined with hay for warmth and provisioned with peanuts and a slice of apple. Once at the release site, the boxes are secured to trees and a piece of moss is placed in the exit hole. The squirrels then leave in their own time and begin exploring their new habitat.

A successful project!

So far we have created nine new populations.

The releases have all been a huge success – all of the populations are breeding and the squirrels are expanding throughout the available habitat and are beginning to colonise new woodlands. We now want to help reds return as far north as possible and Golspie is the perfect location to begin this.

Sutherland Estates are keen to help bring red squirrels back to the area and the diverse woodland environment on the estate offers ideal habitat for them.

How many squirrels will be released?

We plan to release 20 squirrels throughout November 2020 and February 2021. We would expect them to breed in the spring, so by summer 2021 the first generation of young squirrels should be born into the Golspie woodlands for many years!

Where will the squirrels be released?

The squirrels will be released into the extensive woodlands around Ben Bhraggie and Dunrobin where there is a wonderful mix of habitat for them. In time we would also expect them to be seen in the Big Burn woodlands, the grounds of Dunrobin Castle and around Loch Fleet.