Red Squirrels in the Lake District

I have only recently had the privilege of photographing these adorable creatures as they unfortunately no longer live near me. I see a lot of photos posted on social media and was very jealous that I have barely even seen them let alone photograph them. So I decided to book a hotel room and drive the four and a half hours north to the Lake District. I was recommended a location by a very helpful photographer and it was right next to the hotel, so I thought that it would be the perfect first attempt to find them as I was only going for one night. It didn’t take long to spot them, as soon as I parked in the hotel car park, I saw one scurrying along the ground in the woodland.

I was so happy to see one straight away because it already made the journey feel like a success. I had one afternoon and one morning to try and get some decent shots. As this was in late December, there was very little daylight, so it made me feel like I needed to hurry up and get out into the woods and find the best spots. However, I was worrying for nothing. As soon as I walked into the woods along the pathway, I saw them bounding about. There were a couple of other photographers already there and they had food for the squirrels, so there were quite a few cheeky squirrels around them.

This location is one of the sanctuaries for the red squirrels, which is why they give guests food for them and there were feed boxes around in the trees as well. I’m not really a fan of baiting or feeding wildlife, I prefer to have organic encounters and not disturb the natural order of things. But, in situations like this, with an endangered species like red squirrels, I don’t mind it. If it wasn’t for sanctuaries like the one I was in, there would no longer be red squirrels in England. They had a map on an information board which showed just how quickly the grey squirrel population had decimated the red squirrels, by carrying and transferring the Squirrelpox virus which is deadly to red squirrels.

That said, I decided not to give them any food or bait situations in that first afternoon. I walked on past the other photographers and left them to do their thing. One of the things I love about wildlife photography is the solitude and peace and quiet. Just me and the wildlife is my perfect environment, so I didn’t really feel like hanging around the other photographers, taking the same photos as them of the same squirrels. It didn’t take long on my walk to spot some more squirrels scuttling around the trees. That’s when I started taking photos and really enjoying my time in the woods watching them. I didn’t have the greatest conditions, it was very overcast with rain clouds in the woods, so light was low. Not that I was complaining, with slow shutter speeds and denoise technology in Lightroom, I wasn’t too concerned. So that was my afternoon, until it started getting too dark around 3:30 - 4:00, when I decided to call it a day.

The next morning I tried a slightly different approach. As the squirrels were used to being fed and didn’t see humans as a threat, they were happy to get pretty close even without food. So I tried to find the best spot for light and also with a nice environment of mossy rocks and logs, hoping the squirrels would be kind and pose for me on the moss. This method of sitting and waiting was ok, and it made it easier to get lower ISO photos with the aid of the tripod but I always prefer to be on the move. Overall it was a fantastic trip and one that I will definitely be repeating, maybe next time will be a new location as it’s always exciting to discover new areas. Below are my favourite images, I hope you see something you like.