My Journey Finding The British Red Squirrel - Lake District, England

Last year we found ourselves in a very strange situation. We were told to stay at home and not travel. And a few days before the world went into lockdown, I travelled to Sweden. And I found myself stuck there, isolated. And then I met the red squirrels. It was the first time I'd really seen red squirrels. And I soon discovered that they were utterly adorable and very charismatic. When I returned to the UK, I discovered they're quite difficult to find. Grey squirrels were introduced from America over 100 years ago and rapidly spread. Red squirrels started to disappear and there's only a few places that they can be found. As a new ambassador for the Red Squirrel Survival Trust, they've sent me on a journey to help tell the story of the British red squirrel. To begin my journey, I've come to Forest Howe Guesthouse. This is where I'll be staying for a week, filming the red squirrels. Forest Howe is a Victorian house dating back to the 1870s. It is located in the Eskdale Valley in the Cumbrian Mountains in the north of England. The decorations around the house hint that it might be a good place for red squirrels. And after this morning's success, it's safe to say that it's a very good place for red squirrels. They even come up to the window. This morning I'm heading to the woodland to film them in their natural habitat. Red squirrels prefer mixed woodlands where there is a variety of tree species for them to forage from. In the area, oak, conifer, beech and hazel can be found, so this is the perfect place for them. I place whole hazelnuts, their favourite food, on this fallen tree and I wait. And it doesn't take long for the first squirrel to appear. They effortlessly dart around the forest, disappearing for several minutes and then reappearing from nowhere next to you, like little forest elves. It feels so special to be so close to this endangered animal. They don't sit for long, taking the food into the forest to cache and hide for winter. But then they take a hazelnut and look at you, almost to say, this will be my last for today. And they disappear. For the past few days I've been getting to know the local red squirrels. But there is no one else who knows these squirrels better than Peter Trimming and today he's taking me to a very special place. When she calls when she calls burning down the city We've just arrived into Peter's forest and as we walked in a red squirrel ran in, so we definitely know there are red squirrels here and it's really cool because Peter hasn't actually seen a red squirrel here for a couple of months and I believe there's a red squirrel behind me so we're going to go and try and get some footage of the red squirrel. As the little squirrel ran around us I asked Peter why this woodland is so special to him. This is my wood in West Cumbria. When I first bought it I didn't know there were squirrels here and it wasn't until about eight or nine months later I had my first sighting. As you can imagine that was exciting. Amazingly from that time on I was getting regular squirrel sightings and the one we saw, in fact she's just arrived now as we're talking, this one is Izzy, named by Danny today. This one's a female. We had a family get together and Dad suddenly said oh look a red squirrel and I have to say that I didn't see the red squirrel but I did see the movement in the tree and then you fast forward to 2010 and I actually found myself in Poole in Dorset. I found that they did day trips to Brownsea Island. It advertised red squirrels. I was absolutely addicted seeing two squirrels chasing each other around the pine tree. That was wonderful and I discovered Forest Howe. I thought that sounds good. Squirrels visiting the garden, I ought to book a trip and what appealed to me was the fact that I was living somewhere where I could actually be up and outside before the squirrels arrived so I could see where they came from, how they interacted, where they disappeared off to. That first trip turned out to be the first of very many. When I came up to Forest Howe it seemed a lot easier to actually use names and if you can identify an individual squirrel, give him or her a name and then you start to look at physical attributes. We had two males. We had Bill and Ben. When I arrived at Forest Howe I said well sorry it's not Bill and Ben, it had to be Bill and Belinda because I could see one was clearly female. She became very trusting. It was a joy with her. I mean I've there have been other special squirrels but Belinda always sticks in my mind. Baby Pear is obviously the most famous squirrel in Sweden, possibly the most famous in the world but Belinda is certainly the most famous red squirrel in England and she appears on the cover of two books so a very special squirrel. I bought the woodland in 2015 and it really was with a view to hopefully conserving red squirrels. As soon as I bought the wood I thought what's going to happen when I die which is hopefully a few years away but it's nice to think that far forward and I'd read about the Red Squirrel Survival Trust. I could see their stated aims is obviously to conserve not only the red squirrel species but also the habitat and I thought great that's what I'm trying to do in the wood and it just seemed the logical thing when I eventually die for the wood to pass to the Red Squirrel Survival Trust in terms of ownership. I think it's safe to say that the trustees were delighted. That would be what I would really like here for it to thrive and the squirrels still to be here for generations to come. It's my last day today and I've headed to a woodland that was selectively cleared several years ago. The red squirrels had relocated but they've moved back suggesting the remaining trees are able to provide enough food to sustain them. This is my last chance to see them and I've been told there's a very unique red squirrel with a blonde tail that I hope to see. I'm currently sat in a woodland waiting for some red squirrels to appear but I thought I'd take this opportunity to answer a question I get all the time which is what do I feed to my red squirrels and I've got a couple of things but the most favourite that I've found that these squirrels like is whole hazelnuts and they love these because they cache them into the ground so they take these and bury them into the ground and the idea is that they can find them again when food is scarce like in winter however most of the time they can't remember where they put the food but the other thing I have been giving them is actually chopped hazelnuts and this is much better for photography because they will actually sit in front of the camera you can get several chances to get some photos but the whole hazelnuts they actually run off with the nut and you don't get many photos. The other thing I've got is some walnuts they love these again the smaller the piece the more likely they're going to sit in front of the camera and eat it rather than take it away but I've also fed my squirrels in Sweden sunflower seeds and chopped up peanuts and that's great for if you just want the squirrel to sit in front of the camera for half an hour but these squirrels are preparing for winter and most of the food they're actually caching and they're not eating it but in winter when it's covered in snow in northern Sweden they actually try and eat as much as they can and they're not too bothered about caching it but for now I'm waiting for the red squirrels I've got several hazelnuts dotted around so hopefully they turn up soon and I can get some photos. This is the part of wildlife photography you don't see, the waiting. After six hours of no squirrel sightings I was wondering whether to give up for the day but my patience was soon rewarded. What an incredible week it has been to find the British red squirrel. I have learned a lot about the pressures these animals face but it feels so special to watch these wonderful animals. I'm excited to make more films so join me on my journey as I delve deeper into the conservation effort through the organisations and science and dedicated volunteers as I tell the story of the British red squirrel. It has been an incredible week following these red squirrels but sadly my trip has come to an end. Thank you to the Red Squirrel Survival Trust, if you want to find out more information about red squirrel conservation head over to their website and thank you for watching. If you want to see photos from this trip you can head to my Patreon where I've made a public post of all the photos but for now thank you and I'll see you in the next video. I can hear you!