Cinnamon and Leap update.

We are still visiting Cinnamon and Leap's release site and finding signs of their presence nearby but they still have not been taking the food we leave. We look on this as a positive sign and are very pleased with how things are progressing to date. The camera has not managed to catch them yet but we did have a photograph of an inquisitive Woodpecker staring into the camera!

Back at the Centre with only six weeks until we re-open we have had a very busy half term week. Our working party group from Surrey the Browns, Reaveleys, Tresize and Creasey families all came down and we got a lot of woodland work and other maintenance jobs completed. There is a lot of truth in the saying "many hands make light work" Big thank you to all of you for the help we really do appreciate it.

Dasher is doing extremely well and finds us every day for his handful of monkey nuts and a tickle behind the ears.

The Kestrels aviary has been renovated and they seem to like the changes that have been made. The Scottish Wildcats appear to have settled in and they really do look great up in the quarry area.

Biggy, Smalley, Tor and Libby are still all in together they have made an awful mess of their enclosure so we will be moving them out soon so that we can carry out some essential maintenance. Biggy and Smalley are two years old now but they still enjoy the interaction from the Keepers and Tor also gets very inquisitive. Libby is still the shyest of the four but does come out for her food and we see her playing with the others but she disappears back inside once we get too close.

Carmens cubs Kernow and Coady are a year old this week and they are both bigger than their Mum but very relaxed around the Keepers. Harriet Tamarisk and Lottie are seen daily playing together in the water; Harriet always has an eye on Tamarisk and soon puts him in his place if he steps over the line.

William Hilda and Pluto are all getting along very well, Pluto certainly has his Mothers personalty and hisses at the Keeper at feeding time until he has four chicks then he will go away and eat them.

We will keep you updated on Cinnamon and Leap.

Cinnamon and Leap out and about

Dasher continues his recovery, the photograph shows just how radical his surgery was, but he seems to be coping well.

Cinnamon and Leap are now out of their release pen and have been venturing out and exploring their new home in the wild. Interestingly they've only explored a few metres upstream of the release pen but about 400 metres downstream. They are using a very typical otter holt, a partially eroded riverside tree root, as their current home. They haven't gone far though as this site is only 20 metres from their pen!

We've been leaving food out for them but as yet they haven't taken any. There are lots of Swan Mussel shells turning up on the river banks and a distinctly fishy smell emanates from their home under the tree, so they seem to be providing for themselves quite well.

Yesterday I did see a group of ducks on the river scatter and get up into the air in a great hurry as though they were being chased but I didn't see their pursuer. I did however see a big dog fox shortly afterwards and its quite possible that it was him rather than an otter that the ducks were reacting to.

We'll keep leaving out food for the time being just in case they have a difficult days hunting but so far, so good. We are trying to get some photographs of them in their new environment with a remote camera but so far they have eluded the lens, we'll keep trying though.

Dasher/ Cinnamon and Leap

No, its okay we haven't put the three of them in the same pen!

Dasher is still doing very well and has cottoned on the the fact that everyone has a soft spot for him and that he only has to make an appearance to be showered with nuts and grapes. His coat is regrowing but is a rather odd shade of grey at they moment, perhaps it will change colour as it grows out.

Now on to Cinnamon and Leap who were both wild born cubs brought to us in February 2008. As they grew they both had their problems, particularly Leap who had many injuries after being attacked by a dog. We have always wanted to see them both back in the wild and now we have taken a major step towards that end.

Since October 2009 we have been working to prepare them for life in the wild and to find a suitable site for their release. We have had lots of help from lots of people and as a result of all this effort Cinnamon and Leap have been moved to a beautiful location where they are currently housed in a temporary release pen.

They will stay there for the next few days and then we will open up their pen and allow them to come and go as they please for several weeks. We will continue to feed and care for them during this time but the idea is that one day they will go and will not return.

This "soft" release should enable them to practice hunting and get a little more physically fit with distant support from us.

We will be keeping the location to ourselves to give them as much privacy as possible and will update the blog with their progress.