Thursday 29 November 2018

WINTER COATS AND LONG EAR TUFTS.


The red squirrels feel at home here in our Underscar timeshare gardens, as we provide hazelnuts in our feeders. When they move around the gardens they watch us, they observe us, and they accept us.

The best time for photographing red squirrels is during the winter months when their winter coats and characteristic long ear tufts have developed.




           This photo was taken on November 20th 2018 as you enter the woodland walk.



This red squirrel had spotted the basket filled with nuts ready for filling up feeders.



                     It took a couple of seconds to choose a good weighted hazelnut.



            Another nut was well chosen but unfortunately this time dropped.



Late summer can also be a good time to photograph the red squirrel, and although they won't have their winter coats and long ear tufts, the Underscar timeshare gardens can make for a great back-drop to set off their reddish-brown fur.




                              This photo was taken on Derwent patio in August.




           This female chooses sunflower seeds for breakfast from the bottom log crevice.





               The male visiting cannot decide between sunflower seeds or hazelnuts.




       
He is still making up his mind. The sunflower seeds are a nutritious snack. They also have anti-inflammatory properties.




 A different female who visits is very timid and is always looking to see if anyone is walking past on the pathway below.


Red squirrels may have their problems choosing food but sometimes choices are made for them in their environment. Look what happened to the wood behind the Underscar car parks in August of this year.



This photo was taken by Claire Timmons.Thank-you Claire for letting me share it on my blog.




The hillside was harvested over several weeks by Euroforest. Locals told me that 30 years ago the hillside didn't have any trees on it at all.



The wood successfully harvested and on its way for house building and biomass burners. A few spindly trees are left on the hillside so that predators can perch. This will help to keep in check any mice which are in the thatch.





The harvester completes its job just leaving a line of deciduous trees marking the road boundary. The prey perches are left at random intervals.


In the early summer months of May, June and July before the wood had been harvested I had set up a feeding station in this area.The greatest part of a red squirrel's life is spent frantically searching for food.They cannot endure for long periods without a meal as they burn energy so quickly.



This male was quickly on the scene and searching for cob nuts I had placed behind the 
trunk.




              This female next on the scene chose a hazelnut from behind the trunk.




The male was the first to investigate the wooden box I hung on the tree by the fallen trunk. Red Squirrels are opportunists. I had tempted them with sunflower hearts, cob nuts and hazelnuts inside this box. They couldn't resist! Always and always their antics are so exciting to watch.




The female seemed keen to investigate this box from the bottom. Some dreys have an opening at the bottom. Was she wondering if this could be a summer resting drey?




              The male was back many times always going in through the top opening.




He always went out through the front opening.



                                        Patiently waiting to go into the feeder box.




The female waits her turn to go in and choose from the menu in the box.This tree still remains opposite the first small carpark but the rest of the wood behind has disappeared.


After following the Underscar reds this year I realise what adaptable creatures they are -
 still enjoying the local environment around Underscar. In fact we are seeing more of them inside the timeshare gardens.

Just behind the Underscar Manor kitchen garden runs a wall.The reds run on this to the feeders.




                                            He knows exactly where the feeder is.




                            He is pleased the feeder is plentifully stocked with hazelnuts.


I would like to thank everyone who purchases the cards at reception.We are able to provide supplementary feeding for our Underscar red squirrels throughout the year. Thanks to Helen, Jess and Ffion who as well as selling the cards have knowledge of our reds. Also thanks to Richard, Shaun, Mike and Kim who maintain the feeders.



        Looking across from Lingholm to Underscar - a perfect location for our red squirrels.

Thursday 15 February 2018

TIMESHARE with the reds.

As an Underscar timeshare owner I would like to share with you my recent experiences at the resort enjoying the local wildlife. Staying at Underscar's timeshare with an on-site health spa, pool and bistro what more could one want?
And yet,there is more, for we share this idyll with a colony of red squirrels and they visit our walled gardens every day.



To help you visualise our location straight away I would like to share with you this photo by Chris Sale, who has kindly agreed for its use. It shows our timeshare nestled under Skiddaw Little Man.

To see the stunning photos of this landscape photographer,                     please visit 
https://instagram.com/chrissalephoto
https://facebook.com/chrissalephoto
http://www.youtube.com/chrissalephoto

Wildlife photography can sometimes feel like a waiting game, but when nature comes through your patience is always rewarded. Several weeks of 2017 were spent at Underscar, in different weather conditions, using different props, in order to discover more about the day to day life of the Underscar Reds.



Red Squirrel using the wisteria as a climbing frame. 

Mike, the Underscar gardener has often told me how the Underscar reds use the many wisteria shrubs on the complex to get quickly to the feeders. Usually the wisteria is in leaf and flower. In November, as the shrub lost its leaves, I was so fortunate to observe red squirrels in acrobatic mode.



Up and down to the feeder.The outlook from the window at Manesty apartment was perfect armchair viewing. Can you spot the red squirrel on the plant? 




By using several open feeders positioned on the wisteria shrubs I started to try and bring the squirrels to me. Food was clearly the answer. All I had to do was sit patiently to lure the squirrels to these spots. If you look just to the right of the feeder you should spot part of a deer antler. Mineral rich deer antlers provide an extra source of calcium and phosphorus for squirrels, as well as helping them to sharpen and trim their incisors.
    


Out of the corner of my eye I see a flash of red at the top of the wisteria. It was right in front of my camera as it stopped to watch me. I hardly dared breathe. Fortunately the squirrel started to relax in my presence as it made its way to the feeder.


This squirrel has double-jointed ankles that allow it to climb down branches head-first.



On its way back from the feeder the squirrel decides to enjoy sitting on the wisteria to eat the hazelnut. Red squirrels can recognise nutritious food by smell.

I would hope that in the spring/summer months visitors to Underscar will still spot the red squirrels making their way to the feeders. The wisteria will look very different in flower.


Whatever season of the year we visit Underscar I try to find the best backgrounds before I compose my shots. Sometimes I am really lucky and a natural prop will work for me. Staying in Stonethwaite apartment in November 2017,
 I noticed at the top of the column step pillar an empty bird's nest. Could I get the red squirrels to come to me if I left hazelnuts in the empty nest?



Again I was lucky that a wisteria bush was twining itself 
around this pillar.So a perfect climbing frame for the red to use. 

At first the red squirrels would just come and take a nut and disappear straight down their wisteria climbing frame. After 3 days they started to stay and eat their nut.




This squirrel seemed very content to perch for up to 5 minutes and watch the comings and goings of visitors as they came up the many steps.The squirrel's thick fur isn't just for keeping warm either. A lifetime of rushing about tree tops is a prescription for bumps and bruises, so the fur protects them from brushes with thorns and twigs.Squirrels have excellent vision to judge distances in three dimensions.



Visitors in the summer months will see these wisteria branches holding beautiful flowers. I wonder how many of you will spot a red squirrel on the branches then? Thank you to Barbara Hedley for the use of the wisteria flower photographs.



Often the only sign of red squirrels in winter is their prints in the snow. On the ground they move in jumps like a rabbit, placing their front feet first, and then the hind feet in front of them. Pawprints are 3-4 cm long, and about 2cm wide.



This pawprint photo was taken by Kim Wright, our Underscar housekeeper. It shows the red squirrels making their way to the feeder near Derwent apartment.

Thank-you Kim for sending me photos of your Underscar winter.



In the month of November 2017 some mornings felt almost too cold to be squirrel watching. On a couple of mornings my camera malfunctioned with the cold.

One early morning I was rewarded with a magnificent sight to behold in the wild. I was aware that something was watching me eye to eye.




Winter meant that this red deer had grown a thicker coat to account for the colder weather.These coats are often brown or grey in colour, as the lighter coat blends more with the harsher seasonal environment.

After a few moments of staring at me this deer bounded back to its cover.


This coat will be shed again by the time summer comes, usually as a result of rubbing against trees and leaving large clumps throughout the forest.

Feeding hazelnuts in the November months makes sure red squirrels are in tip top condition when they breed. When the young are born in March there are many buds and catkins around to provide nutritious food.

At the beginning of this blog post I mentioned that I often employ props to attract the red squirrels. At Underscar in November 2017 this red squirrel nest was an instant attraction. It was made by "Cuddly-and-Thrilling" in Germany using real wool. In November each morning I would fill this with hazelnuts.



The red squirrel would go head first in the nest searching for its preferred nut.



Squirrel gymnastics are at their most impressive when launching themselves from dry stone walls onto tree branches.This red squirrel chose the same spot every morning to leap onto the woollen nest.



Leaping is an important trick, saving a squirrel from bounding across open ground and risking exposure to predators.




Leaping back to safety the long, bushy tail can act like a rudder for last second steering in mid-leap, and squirrels have whisker like receptor hairs on their forefeet to help them sense the right landing.

These adaptations are critical,because tree branches are rarely still. In autumn and winter when the wind howls, the twiggy canopy will turn into an obstacle of moving trapezes.

I was asked by another owner which was my favourite shot of the year. My answer was that it was a series of shots I took early morning in August 2017.













Emotion and habitat is what I like to capture in an image.  Spending time early morning, after stocking up the coconut tree feeder with hazelnuts, this is what I found happened. The reds became more interested and excited in my wooden box of nuts I had left on the wall. Placing it on the ground their curiosity got the better of them as they chose carefully nuts by their smell for freshness. They couldn't believe their good fortune in finding such a stash of hazelnuts.The fir cones contained pine nuts which I had carefully placed with tweezers in between the layers of the cones. A bank vole also joined in to pick up any hazelnut crumbs.They kept eating a nut and then going off to bury one.There always seemed to be the same squirrel on the wall watching the others. So some of the squirrels engaged in phantom nut burying to confuse him!


        Photo cropped from the original taken by Chris Sale.

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Here we see the timeshare property surrounded by woodland which is home to the Underscar red squirrel colony.