Marmots in Valais

The Animal

The alpine marmot is a large ground squirrel, up to eight kilos by the end of summer, that lives in family colonies on meadows between about 1,500 and 3,000 metres. It spends six months of the year underground in hibernation, so the summer is busy: feeding hard, raising the year’s young, and keeping watch for eagles.

Colonies that see walkers every day lose their fear, which is what makes the pictures possible. The whistle is an alarm, not a greeting, and the nose-to-nose touch between family members is the shot everyone wants.

The Morning

We meet early and are on the meadow by the time the colony comes up to feed. We choose a spot downwind, settle low and let the animals come to us. Most of the half day is spent within twenty metres of the burrows, moving rarely and slowly.

By late morning the marmots retreat from the heat and so do we, with the option of a mountain restaurant on the way down.

The Photography

Ground-level work. We cover getting the camera down to eye level, isolating an animal against the out-of-focus meadow, catching the greeting and the wrestling, and using the peaks as a backdrop with a wider lens.

A 300mm or 400mm lens is ideal, but a 100–400mm zoom covers everything from portraits to animals in the landscape. A beanbag is more useful than a tripod.

How We Work Around Them

We never feed the animals, however tame they seem, and we keep off the burrow mounds. If the colony stays on alert, we back off and try another group. The meadow is their home for a short season; we are visitors.