'Queen of the Squirrels' is a title not many people can lay claim to – it takes years of loving and respecting these gentle creatures, to be able to gain their trust – but wildlife photographer and vlogger Dani Connor has honed her craft while immersing herself in the lives of these fascinating animals.

Dani was born in Warwick, UK, but spent her childhood in southwest London and developed a love of animals and photography as a teenager. "I wanted to take nice photos of my dog," she recalls. "I lived in the city, so I didn't have much access to wildlife, but I was always fascinated by animals. While photographing my dog in the woods, I started to notice details in nature – interesting leaf patterns, colours, light – and my focus shifted."

When the Covid-19 pandemic began Dani lost her PhD funding, which proved to be a blessing in disguise because, while she was in Sweden in 2020, one of her Twitter posts about a family of orphaned red squirrel kits went viral. "That was the turning point," she says. "I thought, 'I've got an audience now, I've got the tools, I might as well try to take it further and see if I can make this my full-time job' – and here I am."

Dani developed her skills while in Sweden, moving from photography to vlogging and, today, she has 126K followers on Instagram and another 123K on YouTube. What does her audience like to see? Red squirrels, Dani's favourite animal.

It's the way Dani tells their stories that sets her apart. "People were interested in how I set up shots, how I named the squirrels," she says. "Red squirrels are everywhere in Sweden and they're quite accessible because the community in my village has been feeding them for 100 years. The squirrels come into the village to get food when the weather gets cold, so I started focusing on them – going to the forest and setting up camera traps. I was amazed at how easy they were to photograph."

Dani's aesthetically pleasing work strives to deliver a powerful message: that of hope. "I don't want to share conservation stories in a pessimistic way," she says. "I always try to share stories of hope. I think if people are optimistic about what others are doing to help nature, it can really inspire them to make a difference. Rather than just saying, 'This species has been declining by X amount and there's nothing we can do', I always try to end on a positive note, so that people feel good."

While freelancing full-time hasn't been easy and "every week is tough", Dani is pleased with what she has achieved, and hopes to continue raising awareness, spending time with the animals she loves most and striving to make a difference.

What are some of the names you've come up with for squirrels?

"Baby Pear because he liked to eat pears. There was a squirrel called Ghost who was quite unusual. She was very comfortable with me but very quiet, and she would just appear out of nowhere. I realised later that she made tunnels under the snow which she would pop up from. It always confused me! Other squirrels would do an alarm call to say, 'I know you're there but don't come closer', but she never did. She was very chilled, very quiet like a ghost."

What does a day in the field look like?

"It depends on the species and where I'm going. If it's somewhere accessible, where I know the animals, it's about preparing for the conditions or a long day – maybe logistics, such as getting to the island. If it's a case of finding an animal in a forest, I'll be looking for tracks – droppings, footprints, hair. Once I know roughly the area where the animal might be, I'll set up a trail camera. It's an all-in-one system with a camera, sensor and infrared light. Sometimes it can take months to find something. Understanding the ecology, the habitat and the animal's behaviour really helps."

What's your post-production process like for photos?

"I'm quite harsh – I delete about 95% of the photos I take. Wildlife photographers take thousands of photos, so even when you cut that much, you're still left with a few hundred. At that point, I go through and assign a five-star rating to my top shots. Then, I'll do some basic edits – up the shadows and brightness. I'll spend hours on one image trying to get it right. I edit photos for two outputs – YouTube and Instagram. I do a 16x9 edit for YouTube first, so it fits the letterbox style that I really like, and then portraits for Instagram. It takes quite a while!"

And how long does it take to edit a video?

"Up to five or six days. It's a lot of work: organising the footage, creating a storyline that includes vlogs as well as voiceover. YouTube is very competitive. People watch the first 45 seconds of a video and if it doesn't tick their boxes, they'll move on to the next, so the first minute is the most vital and that's where I often put the best clips and try and have some captivating storylines that get people interested. That's the tricky part when nature is quite relaxed and often slow-moving."

What's been your most memorable wildlife experience?

"I didn't have a camera with me at the time, but I was sitting on a tree having lunch in the rainforest in Costa Rica. Suddenly, I heard growling and could see the foliage moving, and out came two male pumas. Clearly it was a territorial dispute – an older puma chasing a younger one – and they ran past about five metres to my left. Maybe they didn't even see me. It was scary but also quite cool. Another time, we had trail cameras on the paths to monitor wildlife, and we discovered that a puma had been following me for an hour. I never saw it – they're just curious animals. Two quite memorable instances."

"Showcase your style in your vlogging, but also share your story. I think a lot of people follow me for my stories rather than my photos. There are probably thousands of excellent squirrel photographers out there taking great photos, but it's the fact that I focus on certain individuals and share their stories that viewers tend to get attached to. People still ask me, 'How's Baby Pear?' I believe each animal has its own personality and that's what I try to show in my videos. Don't be afraid to experiment until you find your own style – find your niche and build on it."

Instagram: @daniconnorwild

Twitter/X: @daniconnorwild

YouTube: Dani Connor Wild

Website: www.daniconnorwild.com