Wednesday 29 November 2017

New Keeper: Jamie


This week we welcomed the newest member to our keeping team... Jamie.

Jamie has recently finished a seasonal placement at the New Forest Wildlife Centre, following on from completing his degree in Zoology. I am sure he will settle in quickly here, and be able to build on this little bit of experience he has to develop and learn new skills, and gain a lot more experience to help him progress in his zoological career.

I am sure you will all make Jamie feel welcome here, as you always do with any new member of the team. Do say hello to him next time you visit.

Thursday 16 November 2017

Badgers on the Move


Remember the badger cubs we had earlier this year?.. Well they have been growing well and quickly off display over the last few months, all while our maintenance team have been busy expanding our outside badger enclosure.

By taking a little area of the Copse, hardly used by the squirrels, we have been able to link a new digging area to our existing outside badger enclosure via a tunnel which passes underneath the boardwalk.

An inside area provides a sleeping area for the new badgers, and having been introduced at the weekend, they now have access to the grassy area for the first time. As you can see, they are having a great time destroying all the hard work put in by doing what badgers do best.



Over the winter we will be alternating who has access to each outside area, between our new badgers and old, swapping bedding materials and allowing them to talk to each other through a divide system. Over time we are hoping we will be able to allow them all to live together. Easier said than done, but it would be nice for them all to have free roam of both enclosures!

The winter time has always been the best time of year for us to catch up on some of the bigger jobs and plans we have for the Centre, and this year is no different. Finishing the badgers is a start, and a few other things are in line which we will be able to share with you soon.

Monday 6 November 2017

Photo of the Month: October 2017

"Red Squirrel" By Brett Watson

We are now entering our quieter time of year, with the evenings drawing in and the temperature dropping. For a lot of our animals this means they will be a little less active, but on the plus I think that most of them are far more photogenic. Nice thick winter coats, bushy tails and vibrant colours.

Last month the photographs seemed to cover a real range of our animals, with more being shared of our animals in the "Barn and Hedgerow" section which was great to see. We did see quite a few wide angle photographs too, and it was the photo above taken by Brett Watson of one of our friendly red squirrels which we chose to be in our coffee shop gallery next year.

As with the others, Brett's photo will be in with a chance of being selected to win him a photo day here at the wildlife centre.

Here are a couple of other photos that were shared by our visitors last month.


"House Mouse" by Zena Saunders


"Stealth Otter" by Jeni Bell



"Red Squirrel" by Gary Chisholm


As always, click on the link in the names above to see more of their photographs.