Climate change is changing Britain’s elemental mountain winters. Both wildlife, and winter sports, are under threat. Precious creatures such as mountain hares face an uncertain future. For wildlife watchers, ice climbers, skiers and winter mountaineers, too, unpredictable winter conditions are a sad reminder of our warming world.
Yvonne Reddick hikes across the Cairngorm Plateau in the depths of the Scottish winter, hoping to catch a glimpse of a mountain hare in its white winter coat. Filmed in rich colour, the film captures Yvonne’s quest to understand the struggles faced by wildlife and outdoor communities as their world warms.
Yvonne meets a mountain hare expert, a winter climbing instructor and the head of the Scottish Avalanche Information Service, to find out more about how winter conditions are becoming dangerously unpredictable.
"For six years I followed their trails crisscrossing the moors, and photographed their footprints on short winter days when thin snow settled."
— Yvonne Reddick, Searching for Snow Hares
The film features dramatic footage of mountain hares, golden eagles, snow bunting, and the skiers, hikers and climbers who share their habitats. Mountain hares and mountain winters are under threat – so what can we do to protect them?
The film is written and presented by Yvonne Reddick, a Reader in English Literature and Creative Writing at UCLan. Director and producer Aleks Domanski put many painstaking hours into filming hares in sub-zero conditions, and getting the colours and music just right. As a member of the International League of Conservation Photographers, and a neuroscientist specialising in adaptive animal behaviours, Aleks is the ideal person to shoot, edit and produce the film.
Premiering in Autumn 2023, more information to follow.
