Woodland Hide

Photograph Red Squirrels from England’s only purpose-built Squirrel photography hides located in the Yorkshire Dales. The reflection pool hide can accommodate up to two people and offers a fantastic opportunity to see and photograph Red Squirrels feeding, drinking and even playing in the water. In still conditions you will be able to obtain perfect reflections against a clean woodland floor backdrop.

The hide is located near Hawes in North Yorkshire, less than an hour from the A1 to the east and the M6 to the west. The session lasts for approximately five hours (meeting at Hawes at 8.30am and ending at approximately 2pm with return to Hawes for 2.30pm). Recommended accommodation (if required) can be found in the ‘Links’ section of the website.

The hide is available at a cost of £95 per person per session (maximum two people) and you should be prepared to spend up to five hours in the hide. I will be present to set you up in the hide and then will return frequently to ensure that there is sufficient feed for the Squirrels and birds throughout the session.  I won’t just get you there and then abandon you as some might!

A 300mm lens on a full frame body is perfect for Squirrels at the hide and extenders add versatility for portrait shots and for the small birds that visit. Crop camera bodies also work well with 70-300mm or 70-200mm zoom lenses.

The hide has been purposely designed to enable comfortable photography with a single wide window flap offering a view of the end of the pool and adjacent trees and perches. You can place your lenses so you can shoot from a level of just an inch above the water to create the best reflection images.

The Squirrels at the hide are very reliable and generally there are several in the area at any one time, thus ensuring a regular flow of ‘visitors’ to the pool. However, these are wild animals and as such they cannot be guaranteed (due to adverse weather conditions for example). That said, there hasn’t been anything like a blank session in over six years of running hide sessions and workshops from the site and this is one of the best places in the UK to see Red Squirrels up-close and in numbers.

Other animals you could see are Roe Deer, Rabbits, woodland birds from Great Spotted Woodpeckers to Pheasants, Siskins, Stock Doves, Tits and Finches and occasionally more elusive creatures like Sparrowhawks and Owls. In the winter months Crossbills can be seen and heard in the surrounding trees, and may come down to the reflection pool to drink. To maximise the chance of this and other shy species such as Goldcrests visiting the pool, there is a mesh screen that can be pulled down and lenses poked through in order to obtain those more elusive shots.

Please download the Frequently Asked Questions document HERE for more information.

Reflection Pool Hide Hire £95 per person (max. two people). The cost is for hide rental only.