Thursday, September 15, 2011

August is the busiest month of the year at the park. Although this year it hasn't just been busy with visitors, this August we welcomed the arrival of two Scottish Polecats.
They were living off show, but they can now be seen in their enclosure down by the Marsh lake. If you are unsure what a Polecat is, a Ferret is the domesticated sub-species of a Polecat.
We are also crossing all fingers over the hope of new editions of the "Otterly" cute kind. Henry and Leah, Troy and Carmen and thirdly William and Hilda have all been seen mating. This would be great if cubs were to be born at the park. Especially if they were British Otters, as they are renowned for being hard to breed in captivity.
Jack the Kestrel has settled into life under the public eye rather well. He has now been living at the park for a month. Jack spends the day on his perch, he then returns to his aviary for the evening.
We have begun to teach Skylar the Harris Hawk the basic of flying to and from the glove. First lessons are rarely productive and Skylar was no exception. The birds tend to spend the first session just taking in their surroundings; as there are many disturbing waterfowl and peacocks.
Although the weather hasn't been a clear indicator, there have been some signs of summer at late. Such as the sighting of Kingfishers, if you aren't able to see them you will probably see them around the area.
August has also been a busy month for the Fallow deer. The fawns are now fairly confident and are not too afraid of getting close to the public. Our two young Bucks have showed the first signs of "rutting" this is a period of tome when the males battle for dominance. They have had a couple of scraps, but nothing too serious. Although I shall certainly let you know if anything ground breaking happens on this front.
Once again thank you to all you followers and don't forget to look out for your September update.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

July Update

If you have read the June update then you may remember me mentioning that I was going to tell you about our latest feathery edition. Our newest bird to arrive at the park is Jack the Kestrel.

Kestrels are one of the smaller birds in the Bird of Prey family. Our little Jack weighs in at around 8 ounces, so he is lighter than your average bag of sugar! Jack has an extremely powerful beak; in the wild he would use it to break the necks of field mice, bank voles, small birds and other animals of a similar size.

Jack was hand reared by the keepers and lived at home with us for six weeks. At home he had the luxuries of central heating and the television, which he really enjoyed watching in the evening.

We received Jack from a breeder just outside Plymouth, Devon. He is now 14 weeks old, and can be seen on his block perch in our bird display area or in his newly constructed aviary.

Our bird display area is another new attraction at the centre. There are handling sessions every day at 12.30 and 2.30pm. Other birds you can see include Skylar the Harris Hawk, Tooki the Snowy Owl and Karulah the Bengal Eagle Owl. Members of the public can get up close and friendly with all of theses birds.

All six of our Bronze Turkeys have been released into the woods at the park. They can be seen roaming through the trees and foraging for food. Although they aren’t fully grown they will be a colourful edition to the woods when they do reach adulthood.

After Lola sadly passed away, Ellie has been living alone ever since. She went through a short stage of feeling sorry for herself, but with a little TLC and a lot of playtime she has returned to her old self. Ellie can now be seen worshipping the sun or playing with a keeper at the 12 and 3 o’clock feeds.

Be sure to look out for your next update on the fawns, love is in the air at some of the Otter enclosures and there is another new species at the park.