New Mink

Last week we had a new arrival to the Centre. A young female mink, who we have called "Mindy"... or Mindy 2 for those that have been following us for a while.

Our old female mink died of old age at the end of last year. Having originally been caught in the wild, we offered her a safe home rather than the alternative... of course when from the wild it is difficult to know the age of the animal.

Our new Mindy, above, was captive bred by the Westcountry Wildlife Photography Centre. Isn't she beautiful? This stunning photo of her above was taken by Sean Weekly, and I have linked his flickr photo stream to the image and his name. If you have time, check it out for some more incredible photos of our animals!

Mindy is still settling in, and currently mainly active in the evenings. But I am sure it will not be long until she is out waiting in the afternoon for her food along with Mork.

Just to pre-empt the question... No we do not breed our mink. Mork has been neutered. The reason why we keep our mink here on display is to educate the public and school groups who visit about their destructive and invasive behaviour, and why it is so important to control them in the wild.

You have to admit though, she is a beauty!

Red Kite

Red Kite - Ray Braim

Last week we hosted a special afternoon and evening for members of Foto-Buzz, a fairly new online photographic group run by Andy Rouse. They spent some time photographing both our mammals and owls, but the highlight for me happened at around 5pm...

Whilst moving on from one area of the reserve, we spotted this red kite above flying very low. Red kite sightings are still quite rare in this area, and I normally see perhaps one or two every year.

This year however I have seen one, possibly the same one, half a dozen times already.

Red Kite - Ray Braim

Last week this red kite put on an awesome display. For a good fifteen minutes he was flying very low over the reserve in front of the second car park. He was giving the herons a bit of grief, and getting a bit of grief from the crows, but the best thing was watching him pick up fish that we put out for the herons on the fly, eating it whilst in the air, and then going back for more!

I didn't have my camera with me, and refused to run back to get it... there was no way I was going to miss seeing this. Luckily foot-buzz member, and friend of the Centre Ray Braim was on hand and managed to get these great shots in very difficult conditions.

I will keep my eyes open for if the kite returns, regular feeds for the herons may well attract him back in, and who knows... in a few years we may have very regular visitors or even a resident on the reserve.

New Aviaries

Our new display aviaries are finally done... there is a little bit of tidying up to do in the centre island, and we still have to build our off display pens around the back, but the owls have their new homes, and have been moved in ready for Bank holiday tomorrow and the following week.

 

These new aviaries really do make that corner of the Centre look smart. The design of the pens was thought out with consultation with a few bird of prey/falconer experts. In particular, Julian Ford of Huxleys Bird of Prey Centre in Horsham gave us a huge amount of time and advice in planning out the owls new homes.

Once the simple design was done, we did what we always do, and built on it to come up with something a bit more special. All the pens have been furnished to mimic similar wild habitats. Owner David Mills took control with this, and put his artistic flair to good use to really create something.

Over the last couple of days we have moved the owls in. It will take a little time for them to settle, and for us to get in to new routines of them now being on display, but even today they seemed comfortable in these aviaries.

Some of our flying owls are on display now too, so you can see them even before they come out to perform. Here you can see Hedwig in his tundra themed pen, looking cool!.. get it, "cool"... arctic tundra... arctic... where its cold... oh dear

Archimedes above and Ethel below seemed have found a favoured perch already, and seemed to enjoy looking out at the people coming and going.

Have a good look next time you are here. The new aviaries really show off our owls well, it is now easier to see them, more comfortable and better for the owls and hopefully a little easier for us to manage too.