After receiving feedback on my photo of the poorly squirrel at Formby Point and confirming suspicions by speaking with someone at Save Our Squirrels (SoS), it appears the squirrel is actually infected with the squirrel pox virus (SQPV) that’s spreading throughout and threatening the entire UK red squirrel population.

I wasn’t aware of the problem when I took the photo and so didn’t report it, but I’ve since passed on details of my sighting to SoS. Hopefully, it will be of some use and hopefully this post will help to raise awareness of this deadly disease.

If you spot any red squirrels that look like they could be infected with SQPV, please report it as soon as possible so there’s a chance they can be treated and the risk of infection to healthy red squirrels is reduced.

My wife and I took a trip to a local National Trust site called Formby Point today. It’s well known as a habitat for red squirrels so I naturally took my EOS 40D along with me. It had rained in the morning, but by midday the weather was cloudy and bright. It was a bit chilly, but that wasn’t a problem as we were just happy it wasn’t raining.

Apart from red squirrels, Formby Point also features a wide variety of wild photographic interest. The squirrels’ area is mostly wooded so you can also find a mixture of birds and plant life, but my main aim was to get some sharp, frame-filled photographs of the squirrels. The squirrels at Formby Point are known to get quite close to humans so with a little patience I was able to get some of the shots I’d wanted.

The light levels were such that I was able to get away with hand holding my Canon 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM lens ISO 400-800 in order to keep noise levels to a minimum and allow the squirrel fur to be clearly seen. Most of the shots I took were at the 200mm end and around 1/200 second so subject movement was more of a risk than camera shake, but I was glad to have the 4-stop image stabilisation for the more shaded areas.

TIP: If you’re doing a similar shoot, take some squirrel food with you to encourage them to stay still long enough for you to get your shot!

Here are a selection of shots from the day: