Last updated 20:10, Thursday, 09 October 2008

RED squirrels will be in the spotlight from today as four new red squirrel cameras are set up at the Forestry Commission’s Whinlatter Forest near Keswick.

Live pictures of the squirrels will be shown on a large screen at the forest’s visitorcentre.

The Forestry Commission and Save Our Squirrels have teamed up with Studsvik UK to introduce the new ‘squirrel-cams’.

The cameras will be unveiled by children from St Herbert’s School in Keswick who won a competition to write a story about red squirrels in Whinlatter Forest.

The technology was made possible with support from Studsvik UK, which is building a new site at Lillyhall, Workington.

Mark Lyons, president of Studsvik UK, said: “We are committed to conservation and education. The red squirrel is an extremely charismatic animal and the Cumbrian countryside would be much poorer without it.”

Whinlatter is one of the few places in England that still has a good population of red squirrels.