BLOG 26 Mar 2015

Red Squirrel

The Red Squirrels at Njelan Tuulen Tupa were great fun. They were only around in the morning, and boy did they start early! I was awoken by one scampering around the outside wall of our room. It then perched adjacent to our window, barely a hand's-length distant. Once we got outside, they were a bit trickier to photograph - particularly in natural habitat such as pine trees. They preferred the shady side of the lodge, meaning very low shutter speeds, and were skittish if you approached too close or stumbled in the thigh-deep snow. The animals here are notably grey in pelage, with chestnut mainly tail and ears. Not sure yet which of the 25 subspecies this makes them, but I'd hazard a guess at nominate vulgaris. They certainly look very different to British Red Squirrels.