Happy New Year!

On behalf of the Centre and all the staff, let me just wish you all a very Happy New Year! Hope 2015 is a happy and healthy one for you all.

The turn of the year here has been business as usual. The animals still need to be fed and looked after over the Christmas period, but personally there is nothing else I'd rather do... after all it is the time of year to spend with your family, and yes... I did go and see my "human" family, but I am lucky enough to have an extended furry and feathery family too!

This past week we have been open to the public, and three of the days has seen our otter ponds ice over. Unfortunately it has all melted now, but for the three days the otters had great fun playing in, on and around the ice.

You can see from the above two photos that Elwood and Emmy are perfectly used to it all. Elwood in particular was crashing around, breaking the ice, scratching on top of it... all great fun to see.

Even Buster came out for a bit of fun... well, I say fun... he was very wary of the ice. It took him a while to be happy to walk on it. Buster has been doing well this week though. It seems his confidence has grown quickly, and he has been out most days. I even had him on the bank with the other two for one of my talks!.. Although when he realised he swam off... but he is getting there, it won't be long.

I have said many times in the past that our otters love chasing each other through the ice when the ponds freeze over, and finally have a photo to show you. In this picture above the bottom otter isn;t Emmy's reflection, it is Elwood swimming under the ice. They chase each other like this until the one on top falls through, to the one below comes up for air. Brilliant to watch.

Of all the animals, many do quieten down this time of year, but the otters become more active. They seem to love the colder weather, and always seem to thoroughly enjoy playing when the ponds have iced over.