Red Deer Rut

Our red deer are beginning to think about rutting, and the last few days has seen our master stag Albus Dumbledeer start to roar. Nothing too impressive, but signs of things to come over the coming weeks.

It could be a good rut this year, with our second stag Olivander closer in size to Albus than before and with a nice wide spread of antler. He certainly thinks he may have a chance, and has even rounded up the females for himself a few times as you can see below.

Still  not in the full flow though. A few more days and they will start bellowing out, and possibly in to next month we may see some clashing of antlers.

New Keeper: Millie

Welcome to our newest member of the keeper team... Millie.

Millie has just joined us to help with all the daily routines and looking after the many groups that come to see the animals. She has recently graduated from Plumpton College where she studied Animal Management, and is now looking forward to getting stuck in to a career working with animals.

I am sure you will all make Millie feel welcome when you see her around the Centre.

Red Squirrels to Caldey Island

We have had another successful year with our red squirrels this year, several litters of kittens born in our off display pens and at our other holders sites. As with all out kittens, we redistribute them around our breeding group, and then look at the possibility of re-introducing them out in to the wild.

This year we have several kittens that can be sent to the wild, and as with our previous releases, we are continuing with the idea of introducing them to islands where there are no grey squirrels to affect them.

Last week we sent a dozen squirrels over to Caldey Island in Pembrokeshire. These, along with a few others from previous years, we are hoping will settle and mimic the success we have had on other islands such as Tresco.

So far so good, and hopefully we will be able to share with you news of how they are doing over the winter.

Photo of the month: August 2017

"Eagle owl" by Tony Walker

August is the only month of the year that we are open to the general public every day, and it has been a busy month this year... Lot's of people coming to see us, and lots of you bringing your cameras.

It has been a real mix of animal photos that we have seen over the past month, our new weasels being arguably the most photographed, but it is this beautiful photograph or Ethel our eagle owl which we have chosen for photo of the month. Captured by Tony Walker.

Tony's photo will be in our gallery next year, and he will be in with the chance of winning a photo day here at the Centre if his pictured is picked out by our professional judge at the end of the year.

See a few more pictures below, and as always you can click on the names to see more photographs taken by these photographers.

"Weasel" by Linda Kent

"Weasel on watch" by Lillian