Otter cubs moving on

Today's the day I have to try and catch up our three otter cubs Stirling and Thistle successfully reared last year. They have been a huge success with our visitors and members but unfortunately limited space meant we had to find them a new home. This does of course mean though that there is now space for our breeding pair to have another litter this year, which i am sure they will.

The 2 female otters are going down to a centre in Cornwall where they will be housed on a large lake similar to what they are used to here.

The male cub is going to an otter sanctuary in Cornwall to help with their breeding programme. In exchange for him we will be bringing back an older male which will be paired up with Lilly in our middle pond.

All in the same journey we are also saying goodbye to our fox cub Luna and wildcat Heather (pictured above.) They are both going to the same Centre as the two female otter cubs where they will be doing what they do best. Being photographic subjects for workshops, very much like they did here.

Luna did not mix in well with our original fox family, and Heather has been moved on to create space for our new kittens which we hope will breed next, if not this year.

While in Cornwall we are collecting a pair of Long-Eared Owls. Not many Centres display this British owl, and I will bring you more news of them during the middle of next week.

Slow worm relocation

A couple of summers ago our Weltalands Nature Reserve was selected as a relocation site for reptiles, including slow worms. Over the Summer of 2008 over 100 of these legless lizards were refered to us for re-homing on our reserve. They seem to be doing well, and occasionally over the end of last Summer we saw one or two out basking in the sun.

Today a few more were bought to us to be released so keep your eyes open for these, and the slightly larger older ones, around our boardwalk next time you are here.

As a side note...

Jack the Peregrine took his first flight today, 2m to the lure, may not sound much but is a great start.

Foxes Frodo and Flo were found tied two mornings ago, and Lex and Kendra have been mating for the last few days. Watch out for FOx cubs and Wildcat kittens later in the year!

Rain, rain, go away

Heavy rain at the Centre the last few days has made things that little bit trickier to deal with. Some schools and photographers have braved the weather to visit us but the animals seem to be coping far better than us. Believe it or not some of our animals are probably more active in the wet weather.

The rain seems set in for a couple more days yet as well, hopefully some drier weather will arrive soon.