Survey aims to see woods for the trees
A STUDY led by researchers at Inverness College UHI aims to fill gaps in knowledge about the impact of forest operations on red squirrels.
There are now fewer than 120,000 red squirrels remaining in Scotland because of competition from greys, disease and habitat loss.
The study is being led by Carrbridge-based Dr Louise de Raad, research fellow at Inverness College UHI, in partnership with Forest Enterprise Scotland. It is looking at the impact of thinning operations on the protected species.
Artificial nest boxes have been installed in woodlands by Ferness to observe red squirrel activity and drey usage during forest operations.
This is to confirm if they can be used to alleviate any potential disturbance or natural drey loss caused by the operations.
The study has also seen light-weight tracking equipment fitted to red squirrels to track their movements before and after forest operations.
Dr de Raad said that the preliminary results indicate that thinning operations during the breeding season have a very limited impact on the red squirrels.
Females continued to breed successfully, while drey use and home ranges did not appear to change in response to forest operations.
Dr de Raad said: "The pilot phase of the study took place in Glenmore and the fieldwork for this study took place near Ferness.
"The Cairngorms National Park Authority is a partner and funder in the study.
"We hope to do follow up study which may take place in the strath."
Trail cameras attached to the nest boxes have captured tens of thousands of images which show under what circumstances red squirrels used the boxes during forest operations.
As a first step in the team's data analyses, volunteers are now needed to help identify the photographs that contain red squirrels. Strathy readers can help by registering as a so-called "spotter" for the Highland Red Squirrel Project on www.mammalweb.org
Once registered, they can classify images and note what species, if any, they see in the images.
Dr de Raad said: "This is an exciting opportunity for the public to get involved with scientific research and conservation and the best thing is that people can do it from home, even if they only have limited time available. Anybody who can recognise a squirrel is able to give invaluable support to our project that will allow us to find out more about how to best protect our remaining red squirrel populations."
The study is a joint project between Inverness College UHI, Forest Enterprise Scotland, the CNPA, SNH, Wageningen and Durham universities.
