I have been travelling up to Hawes for several years now to film the Red Squirrels with Simon & Sarah Phillpotts. 

One of the many things that fascinate me about these little creatures is how agile they are, be it on the ground, around the pond or amongst the branches of the woodland, they run amongst the tree branches as though it is their main highway and I suppose to that extent it is, they appear to have no fear at all, their feet are tiny but so very strong they have a vice like grip that gives them the confidence to run amongst the branches, up, down and around tree trunks quite often at break neck speed without any fear at all.

One particular aspect whilst photographing the Red Squirrels that I wanted to capture was them jumping, be it from branch to branch, over obstacles or across the stone walls. 

After watching them for many hours you begin to understand their little traits, their hiding places and escape routes when threatened or their main routes through and amongst the trees. Once you know these you can set yourself up in a strategic position and wait for that critical moment when they leave the security of terra ferma and launch themselves into mid-air to get to their landing site and continue their journey. 

This from a photographers point of view raises several issues that have to be sorted before they actually make the leap, firstly, you are in the middle of a woodland, light is at a premium, due to the location it is nearly always raining so you have to ramp up the ISO to get sufficient shutter speed. To capture them in mid-flight you need a speed in excess of a 2,000th of a second, you also need to be far enough away from them so as not to disturb them so a 500mm lens is essential, thus a tripod is necessary as a 500mm lens is a heavy piece of equipment. You also need to be adept enough to pre determine if and when they are about to jump.  Lastly you need lots of patience and be prepared to wait. I thoroughly enjoy watching and working amongst the Red Squirrels, you soon learn that each and every one of them has their own personalities, which ones are patient, greedy or nervy. All of them have great characters and feel very fortunate to be able to spend some quality time with them.

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