Summer time

July is upon us already, what happened to June I don't know but we must have been busy so that's okay.

Recently my Auntie Joyce sent me a newspaper clipping stating that 150 toad corpses had been found on the banks of a loch on the Isle of Bute, Scotland. After detailed examination it was decided that these were otter prey. What appears to have happened is that the otter has caught the toads (probably with his feet; whenever I've seen otters mouth toads they drop them pretty quickly because they can't stand the taste of his noxious skin) and then somehow managed to open the toad and turn it inside out to get at the flesh of the rear legs without having to mouth the skin. It must be a very tasty meal to repeatedly go to all that effort. This behaviour has been reported before but I think it is interesting. Clever otter eh?

Back to Cornwall and all is well here. We've four new Fallow fawns and two more on the way (judging by the stupendous size of two does).

The two adult bucks are still growing their first full set of antlers and they both look very regal whilst the yearling prickets have their first set of prongs. Even though they are only two thirds grown the prickets have very high opinions of themselves and are intent on pushing everyone else around and making sure they get noticed by everyone; this isn't always a good strategy as they sometimes pick on the mature bucks and are firmly put back in their place.

The Guinea Fowl are laying eggs everywhere and not sitting on any of them though we've managed to incubate quite a few along with several Silver Pheasants. The Peahens have shown no real inclination to pair off, mate, nest build or lay eggs which is very disappointing. The Peacocks seem to have given up on the hens and are losing their tails already (which does seem rather early for them).

All of the otters are fine although Thor, one of our Asian Short Claws, had to be taken out of his pen and isolated for a week due to an abscess in his mouth. He started looking a bit lethargic and then began to be excessively noisy when eating so we decided to take him out of the limelight and get him some medical help. He was quite unwell for a few days but then picked up quickly. We gave him as many toys and puzzles as we could find/organise but towards the end of his confinement he was getting quite bored with us and seemed very pleased to get back home with his girls. Its always a bit of a worry putting otters back together even if they know each other but all went well and he was made a real fuss of by the girls on his return.

We have a new Snowy Owl who is now just over 5 weeks old. He lives at home with us at the moment and I take him to work during the day. He's settled in very nicely and is starting to look a little more like an owl rather than a rather lost penguin. His appetite is huge and once fed he usually nods off and lies down on his front in a heap. Yes, he nods off first then goes down which explains the heap.

The Scottish Wildcats are becoming much more bold than they were when they arrived and have developed an unusual hunting method. They lie adjacent to the fencing and stay completely still. Wildlife, usually birds such as crows, hop up to the fencing and then the cats strike with their feet through the fence and drag the unfortunate victim in for tea!

Lets hope for some half decent weather.

Cinnamon and Leap

Its over three months now since Cinnamon and Leap were released and although we haven't actually seen them on our regular visits to the site we have seen many signs of their presence. Today the kids and I decided to have a good leg stretch near to the release area. It was a nice but breezy day; as we watched the surface of the river we could easily see hundreds of fry, probably salmon and trout babies, in large schools in the shallow water. They were moving from algae covered stone to algae covered stone grazing as they went. In slightly deeper water we came across less numerous parr, (older salmon and trout babies from last year but I can't tell them apart unless they're in my hand and lie still!). There would be an occasional splash as they jumped out of the water for flies. When I was last here two weeks ago there were loads of large brown trout but we didn't see any of them today.

It can be hard looking for otter signs at this time of year due to high vegetation that obscures your view and hard ground makes it difficult to find footprints.

At about midday we found our first ottery sign of the day; it was a couch, a flattened area of reeds in the open air where an otter has rested. And the best news, it was still wet!

That's when we went into indian mode, moving as quietly as we could we moved to the river bank and lay down on a bend in the river about six feet above the surface of the water. We settled down and waited. I find that you have to let nature settle down for a few minutes before you can really expect to see much. That amount of time usually equates to Frances' boredom threshold...

Thank goodness we didn't have to wait too long, after 15 minutes or so we saw a long brown furry animal slink into the water about 100 yards to our left, a beautiful otter, in a bit of a lazy mood by the looks of things. He (or she, it was too far to say with confidence) paddled diagonally across the river towards us in a very languid relaxed sort of way. Head out of the water most of the time but with a dip every now and then to see what was going on below the surface. No haste, no rush, just a well fed killer out for a paddle.

Then one of those peculiar moments when you're watching animals in the wild when it gets so close to you and then its gone! We couldn't decide where! We waited for ages (Frances "can we go now"- and it was her who had spotted our otter first) and eventually moved on.

An hour or so later Rhys and I saw an interesting bit of movement in the water about 300 yards from our first sighting, we were both sure it was the same otter and only 15 or so yards away! But reeds, wind and lots of tall thorny vegetation contrived to prevent us from seeing it clearly. Very frustrating I've got to say; we can't say that it was an otter but what else would it have been?

Anyway, all in all it was quite a rewarding afternoon and we went home very happy.

Later that evening Mandy came home from work and asked to the kids, "What have you two been up to today?" Frances answer?

"We went to Tesco and bought you a new ink cartridge and we both got top ups for our mobile phones, nothing else really...."

May already?

Well, whether we were ready to or not we are now open and animals and staff seem to have settled back into things nicely. Everything is starting to look much greener now after the long winter months; the daffodils are disappearing but all of the bluebells are coming out in the woods and the iris’ are getting closer to flowering in the Marsh Lake.

It’s also that time of year when we are starting to get lots of little babies. Our incubator is full of eggs at the moment, mainly guinea fowl (as they are such poor mums) they will leave their eggs all over the park for us to collect and look after. A couple of their eggs are currently hatching and we already have three Chinese Fawn goslings and some other chicks in the shed. They are all just a few weeks old and when they get a bit bigger can be released into the park with the rest of the waterfowl and poultry. Out in the park one of our chickens has four chicks, which she has managed to look after very well and is very protective of them should anyone try and get too close! We also have two moorhen chicks on the marsh lake which follow their mum around closely and look very cute and tiny! We are also waiting for some babies as one of our Barnacle Geese is currently sat on a nest along with our Little Owls - very exciting! It’s also not just our birds that are expecting babies, we had a count up of our Fallow Deer the other day and think that at least six of the does are looking heavily pregnant and the fawns should start arriving anytime after the first of June.

Cinnamon and Leap still seem to be doing well. We still haven’t seen them ourselves but have seen an abundance of fish and other potential prey in the area so that may explain why they seem to be hanging around.

Dasher along with the other deer has moulted out his winter coat and is now growing his hair back on his shaved area and is starting to look very handsome indeed! He is also enjoying all of the extra attention he gets from visitors and staff and if he feels he is lacking in it, he will make a point of coming to find people and sniff inquisitively at their hands in the hope of finding a monkey nut or a grape.

Our Fallow Deer bucks are just starting to lose their antlers ready to grow back a new pair. Unfortunately this irritates them a little bit and they seem to be more destructive than usual, as they like to rub their antlers on just about anything. We have allowed them to roam around the main part of the park alongside the otter pens to enjoy the sweet taste of fresh grass and plants and hope this takes their mind off their itching heads a little.

The otters are all doing well and seem to enjoy all of the extra attention they get when we are open - particularly Tor, Biggy and Smally. Tor and Libby no longer live with Biggy and Smally as we decided our new British Otter - Troy might like some company, so Biggy and Smally are back to being just the two of them and Tor, Libby and Troy all live together. Troy has gone from being very shy to extremely confident and will come up to us and take fish from our hands, whilst it’s nice he’s so relaxed around us, he can be a bit unnerving, especially as he likes to make sure that he won’t be forgotten and doesn’t seem to hesitate in giving somebody a nip to remind us that he’s there! Tor is also a bit of a handful, he is still very cute, suckling his ‘octi’ to get himself off to sleep and will bounce around the pen after you more like a Labrador than an otter, but he has developed a habit of trying to play with your shoes and clothing in his mouth and gently tugging on them. Although he is very gentle, it is still a bit of a worry! Libby is also a lot more confident now than she used to be, she will also be hand fed and doesn’t seem to worry about sitting outside and eating her lunch in front of visitors although she is still not as relaxed as the other two and is still very vocal. All three of them seem to get on very well together and are extremely playful, using their slide and playing with a ball and hard boiled eggs!

Biggy and Smally are on a bit of a diet, which they don’t seem to appreciate very much, but they are still just as cute as ever and plans are underway for them to go to the Royal Cornwall Show again next month.

Our Scottish Wildcats are also settling in nicely. Initially they were very shy and weren’t too sure about coming out in front of us let alone any visitors that we might have, but now that we have been open a couple of months they seem to be a bit more relaxed and enjoy making the most of our sunny weather - yes, believe it or not we have had some sunshine - and they will set up on their shelves around their pen sunbathing. We think it unlikely that we will have any kittens from them now but our fingers are crossed for next year.

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.

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.