Exploring Yorkshire - Snaizeholme Squirrels

 Since completing the Wainwrights, I've noticed that during the autumn & winter months, as the weather becomes more unpredictable, that I've been moving more towards wildlife photography - still getting into the outdoors, but staying lower down in woodland & in the valleys.

One creature I had yet to see, due it it being endangered in England & Wales, is the beloved Red Squirrel.

This is the UK's only native squirrel species, which, unfortunately since the introduction of the Grey Squirrel from America in the 1870's has led to the Red's decline. Prior to the Grey's introduction, there was estimated to be 3.5 million Red Squirrels across the British Isles, whereas today that has dropped significantly to somewhere in the region of 140,000, with three quarters of the population living in Scotland. The Grey's are larger than the Reds, and out-compete the Reds for food. Additionally the Grey's carry the Squirrel Pox virus, which if contracted by a Red squirrel is often fatal.

Northern England, however, has its 'strongholds', areas of coniferous woodland where our beloved Red Squirrels still survive.

The Lake District is one of the largest strongholds, and was made famous by Beatrix Potter's character of Squirrel Nutkin who lived by the side of Derwentwater. Although throughout my years of visiting, I have yet to see one. (Although maybe I wasn't visiting the right areas - as you don't really find Red Squirrels on mountain-tops).

More local to home, around an hour away, is Formby Point, on the coastline just north of Liverpool. This is a National Trust property, which meant parking is free for members.

The grounds consists of pine woodland, sand dunes, and Formby beach. Although I managed to spot some wildlife, including a couple of rabbits, Ravens, lots of small birds & even a bird of prey perched on a tree in the dunes, unfortunately there was no sign of the Red Squirrels in the woodland.

After further research, I found a location hidden off the beaten track around 90 minutes drive away in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, deep in the valley of Snaizeholme located between Ribblehead Viaduct and Hawes.

Parking up in a lay-by its about an hours walk along the valley to reach the pine forests and its resident Reds.

It was a dry but cloudy day for my first visit, and low cloud was rolling along the valley, obscuring the hilltops. The path along the bottom of the valley was quite muddy in parts, especially as it made its way past a farmyard, and along the bank of a stream into fields, where the ground had been churned by the hooves of cattle.

But as I headed deeper into the valley, the muted autumnal tones, lingering mist and pine forests reminded me of Scotland. At the edge of the forest were signs regarding active logging in the area - and advising that it is part of the conservation efforts in place for the Red Squirrels. I entered the pine forest through a gate and the path lead me past a large section of felled pine trees. I began to keep my eyes open for movement, scanning the area for a fleeting glimpse of red fur.

Following the footpath signs marking the 'Red Squirrel Trail', the path head past some cottages and small holdings before heading over a stone pitched path over a particularly boggy section before finally reaching the Red Squirrel Viewpoint.

The viewpoint itself is a small clearing in the pine forest. A rough wall made from sticks and twig encloses the viewpoint, which contains a couple of information boards. Across the hedge-wall is a metal feeder attached to a tree trunk with some large branches which have been put up to form 'bridges' to help the squirrels run across to the feeder.

However, the squirrel activity was not over towards the feeder, but instead was actually inside the public viewing area. A pair of photographers were sat on the edge of the path, camera pointing into the woodland and specifically concentrating on a couple of tree stumps.

I sat myself down not to far away, and patiently waited. It wasn't too long before I saw my first red squirrel, and it was alot closer than I expected, as it popped its head around the tree nearest to me. They're very inquisitive little creatures, and I was especially surprised how tame it was.

However, I did find it quite challenging to photograph them. The light was quite low in the woodland, so it was tricky to try and balance my shutter speed, aperture & ISO camera settings so that the images were sharp and not under-exposed.

On top of that, I found the Red Squirrels were quick little creatures, so I was waving my camera every which way trying to track them and hope for the best when it paused to nibble on some foraged nuts.

This meant quite a few of my initial shots were out of focus, or had just caught the back end or tail of the squirrel as it bounded out of shot.

I found the key was to be as quiet as possible, and the squirrels, with their inquisitive nature, will happily come right up to you to try and 'suss' you out.

Another technique, which I spotted some of the other photographers doing, was to attract the squirrel to a certain spot by placing a nut on one of the tree trunks in the clearing, and then aiming the camera at that location, patiently waiting for the squirrel to take the bait.

This did work, and I managed to get a few shots of squirrels that I was quite happy with, although I did have to lighten them when processing them on the computer.

I returned to Snaizeholme a month later on a slightly brighter day, and this also helped me capture some more photographs that I am quite pleased with. I will definitely be returning to both Snaizeholme and Formby in the not to distant future, as there are a few shots I have in mind that I'd like to try an capture.