All systems go, well, nearly...

Well doesn't time just fly by? We're getting ready to open up once more and it doesn't seem two minutes since we closed. Lots of things still need doing (especially painting due to the recent damp weather) but we're well on our way to being ready. The plants and lawns still look a bit wan but I'm sure they'll catch up with the season soon; the extremes of winter weather has put everything back two or three weeks compared to last year. Our daffodils had come and gone by April last year but at the moment they are just coming in to flower.

We have dismantled Cinnamon and Leaps' release pen and will be bringing it back to the Centre soon. We are still visiting the site regularly and they are still living there, still together and seem to be coping very well indeed. We haven't managed to see them ourselves but we have had a couple of reports of a pair of otters being seen in the very near vicinity and it sounds very much like them; they also seem to be avoiding people which is just how it should be. One thing which has taken us by surprise is the presence of water voles in the release area. They made my heart miss more than just one beat late one evening when we took one another by surprise in the dark! I then read up on them and am confident there is a family of them out there, which is nice to know.

Dasher's coat still isn't growing back much but he seems to be doing well in himself; if you see him at the Centre please be gentle with him.

The Fallow Deer bucks are the yob element here at the moment, the are constantly trying to out do one another in the damage stakes. They have been responsible for numerous breakages and acts of wanton vandalism in the last few weeks. Fencing and pipe work is their current favourite target.

All of the otters are well, we'll be changing their diet and feeding times this week and they probably won't be happy with that initially. Tor continues to vie for the title "cutest otter ever". He is very playful and makes it very difficult for us to actually do any work when near him; he brings balls, twigs and his Octi (still suckled on several times a day) over to us to try and get our attention. He likes playing with ducks and peafowl (I'm not joking). He chases and harasses them and then they chase him and harass him back until they all get bored; one day, when he realises that they might be a tasty morsel, things might not end so happily. Tor isn't entirely useless as a hunter, we have seen him chasing and catching food (probably small eels) recently so there is hope for him yet.

We have a new British Otter, Troy, in with Tor at the moment. He's about the same age and they seem to get on well although Troy is very shy. He came from the British Wildlife Centre in Surrey and Kernow has now gone to live there in exchange.

That's all for now, fingers crossed for a bit of nice weather.