Ministry of Defence joins fight for red squirrels at Kirkcudbright

The land is usually used for military training operations

The Ministry of Defence has stepped in to help red squirrels survive in southern Scotland.

It hopes to encourage them to return to its Kirkcudbright Training Centre - often used as a site for infantry training with live firing.

Staff from its Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) plan to put in boxes on the land to attract pine martens.

Research has suggested that they could help red squirrels to flourish by removing greys.

Boxes hope to encourage pine martens to make permanent homes in the area

The south of Scotland is seen as the front line in the battle to save the country's red squirrels.

Efforts are ongoing to reduce grey squirrel numbers as they compete with reds for food and space and can also carry squirrelpox, which is deadly only to reds.

Working with the Dumfries and Galloway Pine Marten Group, den boxes will be put into the military training area.

It currently has a population of grey squirrels which have displaced the native reds.

However, there is evidence of migratory pine marten activity on the land with the DIO hoping to encourage a permanent population.

Public access is allowed to much of the range except when live firing is taking place

Warrant Officer Scott Maclean, who is leading the initiative, said: "Looking after our land and wildlife is extremely important to DIO.

"We're hopeful this will make a real difference to the ecology of the area by encouraging the return of native red squirrels.

"We'll be monitoring the pine marten den boxes using trail cameras and if this initiative is successful, we'd like to expand it to more of Kirkcudbright Training Area."

Dr Stephanie Johnstone, who chairs the region's pine marten group, said it was delighted to be working with the MoD.

The project hopes to help red squirrels flourish across the area

"The installation of den boxes at the Kirkcudbright range will benefit pine martens by providing them with a safe place to overwinter and breed, replicating the scarce natural resource of large tree cavities within the landscape," she said.

"Pine martens suppress invasive non-native grey squirrels at the landscape scale.

"The establishment of a pine marten population on the range will help support the existing on-site efforts to remove grey squirrels for the protection of the local native red squirrel population."

It is all part of wider plans to rejuvenate the Balmae Lake area of the training centre.

Non-native plant species have been removed and replaced with Scottish wildflowers and other work has been carried out.

The training area itself covers about 1,900 hectares (4,700) acres and is mainly used for infantry training.

Public access is permitted to the majority of the land when live firing is not taking place.