A CONSERVATION charity in Scotland has launched an £8 million public appeal to buy an estate which could become a red squirrel “superhighway.”

Woodland Trust Scotland hopes to raise the funds to purchase the 4,500-acre Couldoran Estate in Wester Ross, which neighbours its existing site at Ben Shieldaig.

The two estates would be managed jointly and the charity wants to create a “mosaic of habitats” for creatures including pine martens, badgers, red squirrels, mountain hares, golden eagles and peregrines, while it is hoped wildcats may one day return.

Only a few trees cling on in crags and ravines on the largely bare Couldoran estate, but the charity aims to revive the land to become a “squirrel superhighway” allowing a range of species to move freely between woods across the wider area.

Trust director Alastair Seaman said: “Once restoration is under way, we hope many of the iconic species we have at Ben Shieldaig will flood back in.

“Securing Couldoran will double the area under our management at Shieldaig, increasing potential to bring back more of the native woods that once featured across the wider landscape.”