New Weasel and Pool Frogs

Some of you may have noticed our new weasel on members evening this past Saturday. This is our new male weasel, tentatively named "Goliath" by the keepers. Goliath came from a friend of the Centre, Andrew Gray, who runs the Mustelid Rescue UK up in Manchester.

Andrew has a network of students over the whole of England which help him to rescue any injured or abandoned stoats and weasels. We got to know each other a couple of years ago, and have recently helped with a couple of his calls from down south... including one of our new stoats Dorris.

Goliath was reared by Andrew, but it was soon evident that he was too tame to be released back in to the wild. Knowing that we had just reared our own female weasel, Eva, Andrew thought that we may be able to offer him a permanent home here at the Centre.

Of course I jumped at the chance. As most of you are aware, weasels are one of my favourites, and a tame male would be perfect to eventually pair up with Eva for the hope of young weasel kits in the future.

If you haven't met Goliath yet, you are in for a treat... He is a stunning young weasel, and arguably the biggest weasel I have ever seen! Hence the name. Although I am sure he will be a gentle giant, and treat Eva well. They a have already been talking to each other through the wire, and I don't think it will be long until we can try and run them together.

Also on his trip down to see the Centre Andy brought with him some young Pool Frogs. You may remember from one of my previous posts that Andrew Gray is a Herpotoligist that works at the Manchester Museum, part of the University of Manchester. He is an expert in all amphibian matters, and works extensively in the husbandry, research, fieldwork, education and conservation of these often miss-understood and overlooked animal groups.

To get a better understanding of what Andy does, his work with amphibians, and the occasional bit of mustelid news, check out his blog at "Frog Blog Manchester" It is a great read, and you will certainly learn a lot about all herptiles, British and exotic.

The pool frog is a welcome new addition to our collection. I am hoping to branch out our herptile section to include all native reptiles and amphibians, and am working hard to get the necessary licences to do so, and the pool frog is a fantastic way to start with its great conservation story.

Pool frogs were a native British frog, presumed extinct in this country by 1995, but have since been re-introduced to a single site in East Anglia.
These frogs can grow up to around 9cm, however the males are usually a lot smaller. These little ones I have now are not even 2 cm yet, still youngsters, but they are eating like anything and I don't think it will take them long to grow.

I currently have them set up in our fish tank in our Hedgerow section, next to our hedgerow pond, and they were beautifully out on display this past weekend so why not come and see what they look like. Once grown on, I am hoping to place them in the main hedgerow pond.

Members Day Success

A big thank you to everyone who came yesterday to our members evening, and made it such a huge success!

The evening started with the traditional welcome and Centre update from owner David Mills, before the members were let loose around the Centre to see the animals and what they get up to in the evening.

The first talk of the night was on British Snakes, with a focus on the grass snake. Four of the keepers had a grass snake each, and were spread out around the Dell to allow visitors to go up close and see this miss-understood reptile for all its glory. Some members stayed a little further away from our scaly friends, sitting on the benches, but hopefully gained a little insight in to the life of the largest British reptile. Of course, a little photographic opportunity was available at the end of the talk before the snakes were carefully place back in their home.

The second talk of the evening was by far the most popular, where we called out our stoats and weasels for all to see. For many years we have been trying to build up our collection, since the loss of many of our animals due to a mystery virus 4 years ago. This year has seen us get back to where we were in terms of numbers, and all but one made an appearance for the talk up by the outside pens.

Following on from this, our newest small weasel members, Sybil and Dorris the stoats and Golliath and Eva the weasels were on view in our Hedgerow section.

The talks were interspersed with some animal feeds to keep the evening moving, and to offer a sight and update of some of our more popular animals.

And of course we had some of our newest members of the team on view to show their progress.

Once again a big thank you to all members who came... thanks for your continuing support, and see you all soon! Keep your eyes open over the Autumn and Winter for news on when our Winter Members Day will be.

Members Evening: Tonight!

And so it is that time of year again when we open our doors to our members of "Friends of the British Wildlife Centre" for an extra few hours in the evening.

If you are a member, or sign up for membership today, then you can stay today until 8pm to enjoy the animals and wildlife in the evening light. Of course, we will also be on hand to show off some of our newest animal friends.

The evening will follow straight on from our normal opening times, and officially start with a BWC Centre update and welcome form owner David Mills. There will then be a couple of new talks plus some animals feeds to keep you busy until we close the doors at 8pm.

These photographs may offer some clues as to what will be happening tonight, but until then why not come and enjoy the day here first before seeing what is on offer tonight.

Look forward to seeing many of you here, hope it is a fun evening for all to enjoy and that the forecast showers don't put any of you off.