A £17,000 house is being built next to the new Dobwalls Bypass – for bats.
The new 'bat building' is being paid for out of the multi-million-pound bypass project budget.
A spokesperson for the Highways Agency said: 'The building is of a traditional construction using blockwork and will have a slate roof. There are other structures like this across the country that have been built to accommodate bats, because new developments have caused the loss of their original sites.
'As bats are a protected species, developers are obliged by law to mitigate the effects of any disruption to habitats.'
The house is the most recent project to protect the habitats of animals on the bypass, with a bat bridge installed in April, which was built to help the creatures find their way across the road.
Badger tunnels and fish passes have also been incorporated into the design of the bypass to reduce its environmental impact.
It is anticipated that trained ecologists and bat handlers will be allowed into the structure to observe the creatures when they have moved in.