How did the squirrel cross the road? Not the way you’d think.
A specially designed rope bridge slung between trees high over a Wester Ross road is giving red squirrels a safe crossing.
Conservation charity Trees for Life installed the bridge over a road near Shieldaig last summer, as part of its project to reintroduce red squirrels to the northwest Highlands.
And footage collected for more than a year from a camera trap has shown squirrels crossing the bridge and exploring their new homes.
This picture doesn’t quite show a squirrel on the bridge – but the red is definitely checking out the camera.
Together with nearby road signs alerting drivers to the squirrels’ presence, the bridge appears to have had an impact in reducing road deaths of the species.
Trees for Life’s Wildlife Officer Becky Priestley said: “Sadly, road traffic is a major risk for wildlife – including red squirrels. We wanted to take positive action to help the red squirrel population spread into the local woodlands as safely as possible. Thecombination of bridge and road signs definitely appears to be working well, which is great news.
“It’s safer for reds to travel in the tree canopy rather than on the ground, so it’s likely that if they have the option of using a bridge rather than crossing the road, they will take it. We also installed feeders at each end of the bridge to encourage the squirrels to use it.”
Since the bridge and road signs were introduced, there has only been one known red squirrel road death locally, with none reported so far in 2018. In the year prior to the safety measures, there were three reported road deaths of reds in the immediate area, and two others further away on another road.
The rope bridge is suspended over the A896 outside Shieldaig village, alongside the Ben Shieldaig woodland – one of Scotland’s few remaining fragments of ancient Caledonian Forest.
Local climber Chris Hingley worked with Becky to install the bridge in June 2017, with support from Highland Council. Kinloch Woodlands SCIO and Ben Shieldaig Estate, owners of the land on either side of the road, met the £300 costs.