November Update

Well, my October update was short lived... not long after posting it, and inviting pre booked visits and our new Winter photographic days, we get plunged in to a second lockdown for four weeks! Hey ho, it's all about the red squirrels though, and our red squirrels are doing great :-)

Usually the "quieter" Winter months when we have a few less bookings than usual are when we utilise that extra time to get on top of some of the jobs that would be trickier to do when we are busy, or have more people visiting. These tend to be the jobs such as trimming back the trees, any major repairs and just generally freshening up the enclosures. 

Second lockdown has meant reduced staff for us to keep funds down and ensure we are still here at the end of it, but unlike the first lockdown when it was just myself and one other each day... the shorter days and extra tasks this time around allowed us to keep all keeping staff on board, albeit on reduced hours. Boy have we been busy!

Lots of tidying has been done all around the Centre, but it is the main enclosures that will be noticed the most. Branches and trees cleared from the otters, to carry on with rush removal of earlier in the Autumn. More recently we finished a bit of a change with the pine martens, including new branches and bark chip for them to explore. 

Just today we made a start on our wildcats hopefully to be finished, or at least nearly there, by our weekend opening. Still much more to do before the year end and over the first month or so of next year, but we usually manage it before the days begin to pack out February onward with groups and tours. 

On the animal front, the biggest news is perhaps our Roe buck casting his antlers. Unlike our other native deer, the red deer, who cast theirs in the Spring. Roe deer cast and regrow theirs over the Winter months. We have also had a late litter of water vole pups. All fit and healthy, but not the best time of year for a release. We will keep them over winter until better weather, and more pups are about, for a better chance of a more successful release next year. 

Let's try again shall we!.. Coming out of lockdown this week, we will be open to the public again from the weekend. Pre-booked online only, so take a look on our website to see how to do that. Tours and groups scheduled will still be taking place, and any that had to be cancelled I am sure the office have already... or will be shortly... contacting you about re booking. 

Take care and stay safe everyone. 

October Update

Our otter cubs born a year a go have now both moved on to new adventures. Last year Dave and Nicole where born here at the end of the October half term to mum Emmy. They have stayed with mum and dad in our main enclosure until about two weeks ago where we caught them up and sent them off to their new homes. 

Dave, now named Maxwell, has gone to the UK Wild Otter Trust based in the South West to a luxurious enclosure to help promote the great work they do there for otter conservation and education. His sister won't be too far away, Nicole has moved to the West Country Wildlife Photographic Centre.

At the beginning of the month our polecat kits born here this year were collected by Ferret Rescue Surrey for release. They had been a lot of fun on display, and after a short period off display to get them used to looking after themselves they have now all gone off to be released. 

This gave us space to move one of our breeding pairs back on to display. We thought we would try our newer young breeding pair out there to see how they settle on view. So far they have been great, so you can now see Paul(cat) and Paula(cat) at the other end of the Centre next to our mink. 

A dormouse check and count confirmed we were as successful as we thought we where this year, with 19 pups born from two pairs... two litters each. These won't be going for release just yet with Winter now creeping up fast, but will be ready for release next year as part of the joint conservation programme with the Common Dormouse Captive Breeders Group and the Peoples Trust for Endangered Species. 

Unfortunately, with covid restrictions in place, we haven't been able to open our nocturnal house for you over the summer to see our dormice and bats. But we would of been closing it this time of year anyway. They have now all gone in to hibernation. Hopefully when they wake next year we will be able to open the nocturnal house too for you all to see them. 

Our other hibernating mammal is the hedgehog, and they too have begun to think about sleeping for the winter. Around half of ours are already and I am sure it won't be long till the others are too. With this in mind, as in previous years, our keeper talks change slightly. Hedgehogs will no longer feature as a talk until they wake again next spring. 

The shorter days and darker afternoons means we close a little earlier too. After tomorrow our last talk will be the owl display at 3pm, before closing at 4pm for our winter season.

With all these animal going or hiding away, it's nice to know we have some that are new. Currently off display is a new weasel, Woodrow, who came to us from a rescue centre too tame to be released. Hopefully soon we will have him on display, and you will certainly know about it. He is very vocal!

New for this year, for the quieter months with shorter days, the Centre is offering "Winter Photographic Days" These days will only be an hour shorter than our usual days, but for a much reduced price. Hedgehogs and badgers won't be on the schedule, but all the others will be as per a normal photo day and the same access to enclosures etc will be there.

The day will be an hour shorter due to the daylight hours, and cheaper due to the less reliable weather. But I can say that our animals will be just as reliable, no matter the weather, and with them all being in their winter coats, looking at their best. The softer even light and smaller group size may even appeal to many of you.

Remember, if you want to come and see us, we are currently pre-booking only via our website. You can also find out more about our winter photo days there and private "bubble" tours if you are looking for something a little more exclusive over December and January. 

September Update

 

This past month we have been adapting the way in which we work to allow groups to still come and visit us. Our photographic days have been extremely popular, and we have even had a couple of schools and private groups come to see us all in line with our restrictions and the regulations, and of course we are still open to the public at weekends to pre booked online tickets.

Before lockdown earlier in the year, we had just had two new pine marten enclosures built. They remained vacant for most of the summer while we were short staffed and still catching up with things, but this past month we finally managed to move our new martens on to display. An older male called Columbo is in one, and a young spritely female called Lyra in the other. Both are in the Dell, and almost certainly if you see one it will be Lyra. 

She is pictured in the above two photographs and is settling in extremely well.

Our red squirrels have been very active recently, and are beginning to grow through their ear tufts for the winter. 

It's that time of year once again when we need to use the extra time we have with less groups to do any of the bigger enclosure tidying jobs. The main thing with the squirrels is to keep the tree line back from the surrounding fence, and we have made a start on this.

As well as our two mothers and kittens on display, we have another pair in the end enclosure. They are both extremely shy, but do occasionally come out at the end of the day for a few late stragglers to see. They are stunning cats though, so we thought we best introduce them to those who haven't seen them yet. 

Above is Atticus. He is a very handsome cat who came to us from the West Country Wildlife Photographic Centre. Very rarely seen, but when he is it is usually in the back right corner of the enclosure where he tends to venture out later int he afternoon... waiting until it is quieter to come down to find his food. 

And this stunning cat is Agnes... Beautiful! She has the greenest eyes I have ever seen on a wildcat! Another shy one, but she is slowly getting bolder and usually spotted on the platform in the centre of the pen or one of the logs at the front. 

Agnes is beginning to come out for food when the keepers are in with them now, and building her confidence. We hope that she and Atticus may well breed next year for more kittens.

Talking of kittens, I guess you can never have too many updates on them! There is no doubt that they have been the most popular thing at the Centre over the summer, and they continue to be a draw despite how fast they are growing. 

Above is one of Kendra's kittens, while below is one of Hilda's.