The Yorkshire Dales village where wildlife photography was born

The tranquil village of Thwaite in the Yorkshire Dales is an unsurprisingly popular spot with walkers, given that it is on the routes of the Coast to Coast, Pennine Way and Herriot Way walks.

But Thwaite has another claim to fame as the birthplace of brothers Richard and Cherry Kearton, who Sir David Attenborough has credited with “virtually inventing natural history photography” during the late 19th Century. Sir David credits them with inspiring his own career.

The pair of farmer’s sons developed all kinds of techniques to photograph animals in the wild, such as Cherry standing on Richard’s shoulders to picture birds’ nests, and in 1895 published the first natural history book entirely illustrated by wild photographs.

Clive Aslet’s book Villages of Britain explains the ingenious steps the pair were willing to take to in order to take pictures of animals in their natural habitat with the rudimentary camera equipment of the day.

“The lengths they would go were demonstrated by the Stuffed Ox – a hide in the form of an artificial cow, into which one or other of the brothers would insert himself to capture images of ring doves and turtle doves,” it says. “Other habitats required other disguises: the stuffed sheep on moorland for sand piper and wheatear; artificial rock for ouzel and dipper; a sod house on the peat land of the golden plover; a stone house for the oystercatcher’s rocky shoreline.”

As their success grew, Richard continued to focus on his wildlife research but Cherry became one of the first makers of wildlife documentary films. One of his most notable was Roosevelt in Africa, which followed former US president Theodore Roosevelt’s safari into Africa. Landing in Mombasa in 1909, Roosevelt – accompanied by Cherry – spent months in the wilds of East Africa hunting big game.

Cherry’s ongoing influence to this day is highlighted by the Royal Geographical Society’s annual Cherry Kearton Medal and Award. The brothers’ name lives on in the village as well through the Kearton Country Hotel.

Technical information: Nikon D3s camera, 28mm lens, 1/640th second at f6.3, ISO 400.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor