BWC Catch up

I mentioned I was going to spread the news of the last couple of weeks out, but with much more news to come I think it best we play catch up now and then keep up to date going forward. So... what has happened?

A couple of weeks a go now our master stag, Albus "Dumbledeer", cast his antlers. Our young brocket still has his, which is a little late, but I imagine he will lose his over the coming weeks. Already you can see that Albus has grown a bit of his new antlers for 2013. In only another 14 weeks, he will have a complete new set ready for the rut later this year. Keep your eyes peeled over the summer to see how they grow.

Albus really is coming in to his own now, and really has taken charge of the group. It is great to see him strutting himself out around the paddock.

Also a couple of weeks a go we introduced two of our weasels together for mating. Pairing up weasels is a tricky task, and required a few weeks before hand of alternating who had access to their outside pen for them to get used to each others scent. After this, the male was slowly introduced in to the females pen over a few days, before leaving them to it.

They are now both getting on extremely well in the hedgerow weasel pens, and both share the whole run. Fingers crossed for weasel babies later in the year.

After repairs on our main otter pond, we have allowed our main pair of Emmy and Elwood to go through to their new home. Currently they still have access to the centre pond too, but over the next week we will be shutting them in to the large enclosure (where they currently spend all their time), allowing us to make a few repairs on the middle pond before using it to hopefully house cubs later in the year.

All of our otters are now of age, so between Emmy and Elwood, and Jake and Lilly, surely cubs are on the horizon once again.

And finally...

Now I know, I know... I said the adders were dancing last week, which they were, and many of you came to see them at the weekend, and they didn't... but I promise you they were.

Therefore, I am afraid to mention it, but they have been dancing again today! I am reluctant to invite you all down to see it incase they disappoint once again, but I have to mention it just so you are aware in case you want to chance a glimpse of this amazing behaviour.

If you do come to see the adders this weekend, just please, don't be disappointed if they don't dance. Their is an element of luck involved, and if last year is anything to go by they were on and off for a month, so hopefully over the next few weeks you will get a chance to see it.

I managed to get a nice little bit of video footage of the dance today, so will get that sorted for the blog next week.