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We studied the impact of soft ferromagnetic permalloy (Py) on the shielding currents in a strong-pinning superconductor—YBa _2 Cu _3 O _7− _δ with Ba _2 Y(Nb/Ta)O _6 nano-precipitates—by means of scanning transmission x-ray microscopy. Typically and in particular when in the thin film limit, superconductor/ferromagnet (SC/FM) bilayers exhibit isotropic properties of the flux line ensemble at all temperatures. However, in elements with small aspect ratio a significant anisotropy in flux penetration is observed. We explain this effect by local in-plane fields arising from anisotropic magnetic stray fields originated by the ferromagnet. This leads to direction-dependent motion of magnetic vortices inside the SC/FM bilayer. Our results demonstrate that small variations of the magnetic properties can have huge impact on the superconductor.