By Liz Fowler

THE RED squirrel has emerged as a prominent player in the protest against a plan for an Angus windfarm.

The presence of the protected species appears to have been entirely ignored by developers behind the plan for 19 giant turbines in Montreathmont Forest, between Montrose and Brechin, angering the Friends of the Forest opponents of the wind farm.

“An environmental statement produced by Wind Prospect, developer behind the plan, stating no evidence of the red squirrel could be found in the forest has us completely baffled,” said a Friends spokesman.

“Everyone who knows the forest is aware it has a strong red squirrel population. The researchers clearly didn’t look very hard.”

The developer claims a specific survey for red squirrels was carried out at the time when red squirrels were most active and in the most suitable, open plantation.

However, the survey failed to find any evidence of red squirrels or indeed any signs of recent activity by the animals in the survey area, although it is acknowledged the forest did contain a suitable habitat for red squirrel and that the species had been observed by volunteers outside the survey area.

Backing the protesters in taking issue with the report is Angus wildlife photographer Niall Benvie, co-author of a book on the creatures. The book is illustrated with photographs of red squirrels, many of them taken in Montreathmont, and Mr Benvie confirmed that the forest was a stronghold for the species in east central Scotland.

He said he found it difficult to believe any survey could possibly fail to find evidence of their existence.

Montreathmont was a particularly important habitat for the red squirrel, he said, because it did not have to compete for food with the larger, more aggressive grey squirrel, for which the area was generally unsuitable.

He said, “Those of us who have spent many hours in the forest over the years know that Montreathmont remains a stronghold for the red squirrel.

“In light of the increasingly precarious status of this native in the UK as a whole, any activities which further erode suitable habitat deserve very close scrutiny of a sort which is currently lacking in respect of this application.”

He also warned that, even if trees which include squirrel dreys were left standing, clearing away others would leave the animals isolated and cause them to abandon their homes.

As well as the loss of dreys, there were other issues regarding the loss of trees.

The red squirrels preferred to remain in trees as much as possible, as a descent to the ground, perhaps because an aerial route had been broken after trees had been felled, rendered them more vulnerable to predators and also increased the risk, in some locations, of being killed on the road.

Meanwhile Scottish Natural Heritage, has also lodged objection to the wind farm plan on the grounds of inappropriate design and adverse landscape and visual impact, and also because the environment statement provides insufficient information relating to the possible impact on the populations of greylag and pink-footed geese wintering at Montrose Basin.

“We consider the current design and layout would have unacceptably adverse landscape and visual impacts,” said SNH operational manager Neale Taylor.

“The current layout of the proposal leads to a cluttered composition with an overly dense confused appearance and frequent overlapping of turbines.

“We suggest that roughly a third of turbines may need to be removed.

“The current scale of the proposal does not relate well to the scale of the surrounding landscape.”

Arguing that insufficient observation had been undertaken to gauge likely impact on the populations of wild geese flying over Monthreathmont between roosting and feeding sites, she has also called for further surveys and results to be presented in a transparent manner.