Farewell Leonie

Yesterday was Leonie's last day as a keeper at the BWC. She has always thought of going travelling, and with the temptation and lure of a certain "Richy Bear" the other side of the world, she has decided to go to Australia!

Leonie has been at the Centre for the past three years, and has really grown as a person and a keeper in that time. She has enjoyed all aspects of the work and truly has been an asset  to my team... something I think we are all unanimous on here.

I would like to thank Leonie for all her hard work over the years, her dedication to the Centre and to the education and conservation work we carry out. She will be missed by us all and the animals alike.

Good luck on your travels, have fun and don't forget to stay in touch. I will send you pics of Kevin over the summer... Pinky promise.

2014 Photo Comp Judge

To finish our launch of our annual photographic competition, I would like to announce our professional judge for 2014 is David Lloyd.

David Lloyd is a professional wildlife photographer, who has traveled over the world capturing some of the finest images you will see and winning many awards. David specialises in fine art photography, and has a preference for black and white... I really do urge you to have a look at his website which I will link below, as honestly some of his images are breath taking!

It is not just exotic wildlife he photographs though, David also enjoys capturing British wildlife, and has some beautiful images of red deer taken at his local park... and even some images of our very own residents here, such as Frodo above.

To see more of his art work, follow these links to his website and facebook page.

David Lloyd Photography

David Lloyd Facebook

For information on our competition, and how to enter, have a look at the tab at the top of this page "Photo Competition", or head over to our main website also linked at the top.

Good luck!!!

BWC Photographic Competition 2014

Taken by Izzy's-Photos - flickr

It is time to announce he launch of our 4th annual BWC Photographic competition. Last years was a huge success, and even found national fame with being publicised in the Times newspaper and Daily Mail online, and TV stardom with a spot on BBC South East news!

To find out full details on the categories and how to enter, either follow this link to the official BWC website or have a look under the Photo Competition tab at the top of this page. But in brief...

The competition opens today, Saturday the 1st of March. The closing date for entries is Friday the 14th of November, 2014. 

Photographs must have been taken at the Centre during this year. You can enter your photographs be either putting them in to the relevant discussion category in out BWC Flickr group, or by emailing them to us at competition@britishwildlifecentre.co.uk 

The competition will be judged by our judging panel of Owner David Mills, Head Keeper and Photographer Matt Binstead and headed by a professional wildlife photographer who will pick the winning images.

As before, winners and runners-up of each category will be displayed for the following year in our gallery in the coffee shop. Winners of each category will receive a membership to the Centre for a year, and over all winner of the competition will win an exclusive photographic day here at the Centre with the Head Keeper.

You are allowed to enter as many categories as you wish, but please remember only two photographs per category. As a reminder, the categories are as follows:

Animal Portrait:
A classic portrait where the animal fills the shot, or showing the animal off in a different light

Taken by Flower Snow - flickr

Animals in their Habitat:
Photo of an animal in very natural surroundings, as if it could have been taken in the wild

Taken by Crowlem - flickr

Animals in Motion:
Animal in action, be it flying, feeding, running, playing, swimming etc...

Taken by Russell Harvey

Animals and their Keepers:
Animals interacting with our keeper, showing the mutual bond they share

Taken by Dap's Images

Fauna Fun:
Fun image of our animals, with a fun caption to go alongside it

"I can roar like a lion" - taken by Gary Stamp

Junior:
Anything goes in this category, as long as the photographer is aged 16 years or under at the time of taking the photograph

Taken by Kyle Moore

I will post reminders throughout the year, but for now... Good Luck to all who enter!