Image caption One of the squirrels gets a little loving attention

It is not an obvious place to release a protected species.

But the firing ranges at Ballykinler army base, County Down, are now home for one of our best loved mammals.

In co-operation with Belfast Zoo, red squirrels are being released into long stands of trees that act as buffer zones, separating the dozen or so firing ranges in the camp.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The squirrels are under no danger in their new home, as Conor Macauley reports

They are out of bounds to military personnel to stop them moving across the ranges and into the line of fire.

It is all being done with the blessing of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency which is overseeing the project.

The reds are bred in the zoo under licence.

They are then health checked and chipped before being taken to the military base. The first two were set free last week.

The area was picked because it has no grey squirrels. These carry a disease that kills reds. There are also no pine martens which eat the squirrels.

Image caption The soft pen enables the squirrels to get used to their home in the trees

The Ministry of Defence has built a soft release pen.

The squirrels are placed in the pen and after a week, they are encouraged to venture out permanently into the woods.

Tony Canniford, estate manager at Ballykinler, said it is a safe place to release the squirrels.

Image caption Tony Canniford said the squirrels were in no danger

"We're stood on the range at the moment which is where the firing would take place. But to the right and left of the ranges you can see the wood lines and those are what we call our safety buffers," he said.

"So the squirrels are being released into the safety buffers."

As all the firing takes place down the length of the ranges, he said the reds were in no danger and, on the days, when the ranges are not in use, it is "an idyllic environment for them".

Image caption Alyn Cairns has introduced the squirrels to a diet of pine cones

Zoo employee Alyn Cairns looks after the squirrels. He brought them to the base and is delighted with the release pen and the environment.

"Within seven to 10 days, we should be letting these two squirrels out into this great bank of woodland," he said.

Image caption A squirrel gets veterinary attention before release

Alyn has already changed the squirrels' diet from the kind of food they get in the zoo, to what they will find in the wild, mostly pine cones.

And he said they would not be long in acclimatising to the sound of gunfire from the ranges.

The squirrels will spend a year getting accustomed to the environment, before being recaptured and re-released into the woodlands of Northern Ireland.