I’m nuts about photography
THIS vain red squirrel is clearly ready for its close-up.
The increasingly rare animal revealed an unusual fascination for its own reflection.
Teenage amateur photographer Will Nicholls was out in the Northumberland countryside near Hexham when he was accosted by the normally elusive creature.
Instead of being shy, the red squirrel seemed transfixed by its reflection in the camera lens and posed for photographs.
The red squirrel has been driven to the verge of extinction in England – and is endangered in Scotland and Wales where pockets of population survive.
They were once a common sight in trees and parks across the country but have been driven back by the spread of their rapacious grey cousins.
Native to Britain, the red squirrel faces an increasingly uncertain future as the population of the American grey squirrel expands to epidemic proportions.
In total, experts believe there are now fewer than 140,000 of the native reds left in the whole of Britain.
They have been forced out of their territories by the spread of the much larger grey, which now numbers more than 2.5 million across Britain.