Red squirrel range increases 25% in Highlands following reintroduction project

So far this year, 259 red squirrels have been relocated to 13 new sites in northern Scotland.

The range of red squirrels in the Highlands has increased by more than 25% in a decade following a reintroduction project by a rewilding charity.

Surveys for the charity Trees for Life show more than 12 new populations of reds are now thriving and breeding successfully in areas where they were missing before.

Although native to the UK, the country’s red squirrel population is under threat from the spread of invasive non-native grey, which also carry the fatal squirrel pox virus.

During the reintroductions, licensed by NatureScot, Trees for Life carefully relocates small numbers of reds from healthy populations around Inverness-shire, Moray and Strathspey to suitable woods in the north and nort