Cumbria & North Yorkshire news
Steamboats and Squirrels
For the second year in a row Cumbrian based company, Ullswater Steamers, have kindly lent us one of their beautiful steamboats for a day of special cruises to raise money for SoS. Visitors were treated to an hour’s boat ride around Wordsworth’s favourite lake, Ullswater, with an on board red squirrel talk. They then had exclusive access to the activity tent, where crafts, games and refreshments were laid on.
There was an extra dimension to the day too, as the local volunteer group, Penrith and District Red Squirrel Group, also had a stall with all sorts of goodies. Ullswater Steamers’ very own Sammy squirrel also paid us a visit; waving off the boat and posing with his fans for a photograph! A great day was had by all and some lovely money was raised to help the cause, too.
Don’t forget you still have time to enter Ullswater Steamers photograph competition. Closing date 31st August 2009 - extended. You now have until November 14th 09. £1 per entry with money raised coming back to SoS!
Photo competition launched "Boots and Boats"  February 2009
Get snapping this year and enter our new photography competition
Following last year's successful photography competition, 'Ullswater Through the Seasons', Ullswater Steamers, in partnership with Save Our Squirrels, have launched another photo competition: Boots & Boats. The subject can be anything from landscape to fauna, squirrels to steamers and anyone can enter. There are three age group categories with top prizes for the winner from each: under 12 years, 12 - 18 years, over 18 years. Closing date for entries is 31 August 2009. Download a competition entry form and get going! Visit the archive news pages to see last year's winning photographs.
Local organisations donate £36,000
Two local organisations, Tourism and Conservation Partnership (T&CP) and Furness Building Society have given a generous £36,000 to Save Our Squirrels. A presentation ceremony on the 27 April saw Sue Savege, Director T&CP and Rob Cairns, chief executive of the Furness Building Society, presented cheques to Lord Inglewood, patron of Save our Squirrels. These funds will go towards designated red squirrel reserves and their 5km buffer zones, the control of grey squirrels, supporting volunteer surveyors and increasing the awareness of the plight of the reds amongst local schools and the wider community.
Sue Savege said: "The Tourism and Conservation Partnership and its members have raised over £19,200 this year and, since 2000, we have raised in excess of £96,000 for this iconic woodland mammal. It is incredibly heartening to see how much people value endangered creatures, like the red squirrel, and how much they are prepared to give to ensure their survival. So many of our members tells us how much visitors enjoy seeing red squirrels; we hope that the inspiring efforts of all concerned will give future generations the opportunity to see this increasingly rare creature."
Charlotte Widgery, People and Wildlife Officer for Save Our Squirrels, said: "The ongoing support of local businesses and their customers is very heartening and we would like to say a huge thank you to them. The money raised is a significant amount and will make a valuable addition to the work we do in Cumbria and will allow the project to continue on into the future."
Find out about opening an account with Furness Building Society and raising money for red squirrels.
Squirrelcams at Whinlatter flagship red squirrel reserve! October 2008
Twelve children from St. Herberts Primary School, Keswick, arrived at our Cumbrian flagship reserve, on 10 October 2008 to do the official 'switch on' of the new squirrel cameras that have been installed. These cameras are in a secret location in the forest, so that no-one disturbs the red squirrels as they sit at the feeders. These images are then beamed back live into the visitor centre, where members of the public can watch their every move! There's a fair bit of competition, though, as the local bird population has also noticed the new feeders! Whinlatter's red squirrels have to get their fast, before the greedy chaffinches and great tits eat the lot!
All this would not be possible without the help of Studsvik UK, who have kindly paid for the upgrade of this camera system, so that we can all enjoy top quality, fast images of our favourite animal! A huge thank you from us all at Save Our Squirrels goes to Studsvik!
Keep scrolling down for more video footage!
Please note: Occasionally, due to the remote location of the equipment, an image may not be uploaded on time. Don't forget that it gets dark here from about 7.30pm (GMT), so if you log on after that you'll just see black screens until the morning - its not a fault!
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Squirrelcam - What am I looking at?
Hopefully you'll be seeing red squirrels, however, there other visitors to the squirrel feeder. The birds you will probably see here are;
Chaffinches (pink coloured)
Blue tits ( Yellow front, blue "cap" on head)
Great tits (Yellow front, black "cap" on head)
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Due to the remote nature of the camera installation the movie updates roughly every 40 minutes (daylight hours).
Check the clock time, top left of the screen, for when the movie was grabbed.
If a banner is showing loading or the movie doesn't show almost instantly
then a new movie is being uploaded.
Please check back in 10 minutes time
As with the 'still image' web cameras, the installation is fragile and relies on satellites and quite a bit of damp string.
As always we are working on solutions to improve the update rate and reliability.
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