Eskdale Green, The Lake District
Click Here to go to the Forest How Flickr site and view all our photos, or just click the play button below to start a slide show of the wildlife images
In a world full of noise and movement we rarely stand still long enough to truly appreciate the wonders of the natural world. In Eskdale may you find the place and moments of peace to capture in your mind the living world as it should be.
Stand or sit still long enough and mother nature will start to show her wonders, red squirrels hunt in the trees, birds of prey scour the skies, buzzards circle waiting for the fallen and the deer skitter though the forest with only a bark to warn of their departure.
Otters have been spied by the river poaching more effectively than any farm hand, while the Grey Wagtails and Dippers watch on like powerless water bailiffs, bobbing from rock to rock.
Go out at night to find the badgers patrolling the quiet woods, scraping out their next meal from the detritus of the forest floor. Meanwhile bats swoop overhead stealing away any winged insect that the squadron of swallows have missed during the day.
The fox is ever present lurking in the dying bracken, sudden death raining down on the farmers hens, the fox is ubiquitous but hard to spot, he will be in his peaceful place watching us journey through our busy lives.
Here at Forest How we are lucky enough to see red squirrels on a daily basis. The red squirrel is native to Europe but, here in the UK, their numbers have reduced significantly and they are now rarely seen outside of Scotland, Cumbria and Northumberland.
Their decline is due to the introduction of grey squirrels from America back in 1876. The grey squirrel is not only much larger than the red, and is therefore first in the hunt for food, but many also carry the highly infectious Squirrel pox virus which is fatal to red squirrels.
Red squirrels can range in colour from a warm reddish-brown in summer, to a deep brown with grey in winter. The colour may be very variable, from very dark to very light, but their underside is always cream. They have a bushy tail and ear tufts. We have seen many variations of colours here in the garden with one of this year's youngsters having a tail that you would almost describe as black!
Red squirrels eat spruce and pine seeds, acorns, berries, fungi, bark and sap tissue. Although you will very often see them nibbling on food sat on the garden wall, they also like to store surplus food, just in case, and you may spot them burying, or digging up, nuts out on the lawn.
Red Squirrels do not hibernate so no matter what time of year you visit, you will hopefully be lucky enough to spot one or two. However, when the weather conditions are bad they can remain in their dreys for several days at a time.
For more information on Red Squirrels, please go to one of the following websites, full of fascinating facts and wonderful pictures:
www.rsst.org.uk www.saveoursquirrels.org www.northernredsquirrels.org.uk