The fine spell of settled September weather continued on Wednesday and Thursday.
On Thursday we visited the National Trust property at Formby in Lancashire. Visiting our local RSPB reserves we normally end up photographing grey squirrels as these photogenic little creatures make the most of the free food on offer. Formby has the much rarer red squirrels and we decided on a visit to see if we could spot some.
The squirrels have their own walk “Formby Red Squirrel Walk” but the property has walks through the woodland and sand dunes down to the sea. Our walk took us through the pine woodlands planted up in the 1800’s and past small fields where asparagus was once cultivated. The woods turn from pine to deciduous woodland known as Nicotine Wood. In the 1950’s and 1960’s thousands of tonnes of tobacco leaf waste were dumped here.
The woodlands give way to more open ground before reaching the sand dunes and eventually views of the beach and the Irish Sea.
After a walk along the beach we headed back to the main “Red Squirrel Walk”. There were lots of reds about but they don’t sit still for long and you have to be very quick on the shutter release button if you don’t want a blur of red fur as you chosen subject heads up the nearest pine tree.
We did manage one or two shots that didn't come out too badly. I’ll post a link to more photographs once I've finished sorting them out.
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Last picture absolutely Fab second picture down a classic woodland scene, who do I award my admiration too now Martyn or Sue?
ReplyDeleteThanks David - Sue is still sorting her pictures out.
DeleteWell done then Martyn seems I need to go to "gods own country " for the best photo subjects
ReplyDeleteSome good spots in Lancashire too David.
DeleteHow lovely that you saw plenty of reds, their numbers dropped drastically over the last ten years due to the virus. Happily they are making a come back. Lovely pics.xxx
ReplyDeleteRead on the NT web site for Formby how the reds had suffered but that they were making a good recovery. Lets hope it continues.
DeleteThat last photo is wonderful, what a beautiful creature. I've never seen a red squirrel.
ReplyDeleteI guess that there are only a few places left now where red squirrels can be seen in the wild.
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