Wet again

Well what a time we've had over the last week at the otter park. As any of you will know that have visited Cornwall this Summer we have had our share of rain and more! Last week in particular was very bad for the park. It all started on Wednesday morning, we had had a lot of rain the previous night and were slightly apprehensive as to what the park might be like the next day. However, upon arrival it didn't seem too bad and initial thoughts were that we may have to open half an hour later just to make sure everything was okay. However between 10am-11am things got worse, with the rain coming down in torrents and all the water that had been cleared originally started building up again extremely quickly. With the water level building up the park and the staff were finding it hard to control and pretty soon the bridges started flooding, the stream had broken its banks, the footpath was flooded and a rip current began in front of Tino and Tamarisks' pen quickly expanding from 4 foot wide to 20 foot wide. Water was starting to take over the place at an alarming rate. The cubs pen is about 4 feet higher than the stream and even that started flooding. This was quite worrying, as the water started rising and only a small amount of land was visible in their pen, however they were all very sensible and stayed inside, apart from Biggy who thought it was all good fun! This was just the start of our problems however, as the rip current that had started at Tino and Tamarisks' pen had become so fierce that it took down two sections of the fence surrounding their pen which was soon under 2 feet of water. Fortunately Tino and Tamarisk slept right through it so there were no attempted escapes. Finally the whole site was completely flooded, the water on the footpath became waist deep and the waterfowl lake, marsh lake and the main river outside the park all became one, so that it was impossible to tell them apart.. The end result was that the park couldn't open and all of the staff from the tearoom, shop and outside spent the rest of the day in waders trying to repair all of the damage that had been done and stop any more from occurring. All in all it was a very disheartening day and definitely not something you expect to happen in the middle of the summer.

Although that Wednesday was particularly bad and repairs were still being carried out for the rest of the week, as more damage had been found to the fences, it hasn't all been bad news and the animals are all doing well.

Nigel's looking much more like his usual self with both antlers pretty much fully grown and all of his velvet is starting to dry up. This means he will soon be rubbing his antlers up against the trees as they will be starting to itch and irritate him. Then once he's got rid of all of that velvet he will have two proper antlers and can start strutting his stuff for all the does. He has been putting his current antlers to use though, as he is the main suspect in repeated damages to equipment, such as various dents and holes, this makes us wonder how long our animal feed bins for the public will last, once he realises he can have a continuous supply of food by keep knocking them onto the floor.

The fallow deer fawns are also doing well. They have been looked after brilliantly by their mums and the rest of the herd and it appears they have been learning from them all, as they are now starting to build in confidence and are getting closer to members of the public, no doubt realising that those deer that are slightly braver (including Hansel our young buck) get extra helpings of food each time they get close to the public as they will gladly eat out of peoples hands. I wonder how long it will take the young fawns to follow in their greedy elders footsteps?

Whilst the weather hasn't been brilliant we have managed to let three of the ducklings out into the rest of the park, that had previously hatched from the incubator. They are finding their way round and are doing well. However it seems that they are missing their companions inside, as we still have seven ducklings indoors and they tried to sneak back in to see them whilst they were being cleaned out.

Our young joeys seem to be getting bigger now and with it much bolder. You are more likely to see them munching away on some leaves a few feet away from their mums now rather than just the odd little head poking out of a pouch. However they don't stray too far away from their mums, as they are still looking for protection and can jump straight back in the pouch when it feels necessary. It seems one pair of wallabies - a mum and her Joey have been on the move and have migrated from the woodland area to the marsh lake and just outside the tea room, where they have been able to enjoy a tasty banana skin or two. As well as the joeys becoming more active and bolder, the other wallabies seem to be getting more active as well. It looks as though its mating time again, which means there is more chance of seeing these animals close to as they are less worried about people and only interested in each other, so we have seen some fantastic mating displays and chases.

The two barn owls that we let go appear to be doing well. Whilst we haven't seen them we have found signs that they are coming back. They have been eating some of the food that we have been leaving out for them and whilst this could mean they aren't getting food themselves they are also leaving behind some nice big pellets which have been changing in colour. This indicates that they are managing to hunt for themselves and are just coming back for a top up and also shows that they are staying in the area, which is quite nice to know.

We also have some fresh faces in the park - three peachicks, two guinea fowl chicks and thirteen cockatiels. Two of the peachicks are being kept indoors with the two guinea fowl chicks as the guinea fowl left her nest and the eggs were hatched in the incubator and in the past the peahens don't seem to do too well looking after their chicks. However we have left one of the peachicks with its mum as she spent all that time hiding her nest and sitting on her eggs, we thought she should be able to see the end result and be given the chance to rear one of the chicks herself. Thirteen cockatiels - some people might say unlucky for some but these birds seem to be doing very well and enjoying the park. We had an empty aviary and the offer to temporarily house these birds, so thought it would make a change for the visitors and the cockatiels and the cockatiels certainly seem to be enjoying themselves.

Onto the otters now and it seems we could be expecting some fresh faces there later on this year as Raymond and Zephyr, from the family’s pen, have been seen mating again this week, which must be the second or third time this month. Unfortunately Tino has had a fat eye due to some overenthusiastic play with Tamarisk last week, but it doesn't seem to be bothering him and they are continuing to play just as exuberantly.

The cubs are still adoringly cute and Cinnamon is starting to get very cuddly. She has been climbing onto John and Mandy’s lap every time they go into the pen and seems to be enjoying being tickled. Whilst she seems to be enjoying this and has started realising that she has been missing out on all of the cuddles that Biggy and Smalley have had for so long now it is rather worrying for the keepers, as she is getting quite big and has very sharp teeth with a strong grip! Leap is also gaining in confidence but not to the point that she is yet having cuddles and tickles, but she is coming out more often when the other cubs are out and enjoys playing with them all. Whilst Cinnamon and Leap are growing quickly and Biggy is still quite a bit larger than Smalley who still seems to be boss of the group and gets away with pretty much everything. Biggy, however remains the most vocal and attention seeking otter we've ever known but still manages to be very cute!


Here’s hoping for some drier weather, Sonia.

Barn Owls update

Just a very brief note to say that we think that at least one of the Barn Owl chicks returned on Tuesday night and took all of the food left in the Owl box. A very good sign indeed. My suspicion is that they are still together and will remain in the local area until they become more established. The weather here has been very wet for the last couple of days and isn't ideal for young, inexperienced birds learning to hunt so we are leaving out larger than usual portions for the next few days. Fingers crossed for drier weather in the coming week.

Otters in town

What a busy week we’ve had and I’m not just talking about more visitors to the Centre either!

The Barn Owl chicks are doing well, their appetites are good and we’ve managed not to imprint them at all. Every time we approach them they hiss and click away at us, both very healthy signs that they didn’t trust us one bit.

By the middle of last week they both looked likely to fledge, all their down had gone and they looked great in their newly grown feathers so we opened the door to the outside world for them. They spent four or five days just taking in the view but this morning their supper from last night was untouched and the birds had gone. I don’t think they will be very far away and we’ll continue to leave food out for them for a while to give them support while they hopefully learn to hunt for themselves.

Back to otters now and last Sunday afternoon (everything seems to happen on Sundays recently) we received a number of telephone calls saying that there was a distressed otter cub in a drain by a river bridge in the centre of Launceston. We went to investigate and found a group of people watching a small cub that was hiding in a storm drain; they were just a few yards from a busy, noisy main road. It was 3pm on a very sunny afternoon and not the sort of time or place you’d expect to find such a shy animal.

Apparently an otter and possibly two cubs had been attacked by a group of ducks protecting ducklings, the three had become separated and one of the cubs had taken refuge in the drain. The hunter had become the hunted!! The bad news was that people who had seen the cub up close thought it had at least two injuries that might need medical treatment.

We caught the frightened little thing without too much trouble and took her back to the Centre so we could have a proper look at her. She was about five weeks old and once we had cleaned her up her “injuries” turned out to be nothing more than grease, probably from the inside of the drain. We fed her and then Mandy and I assessed the situation: we had a healthy cub and we knew exactly where it had been found. We suspected that its mum would stay around searching for her cub for at least a few hours so should we try to get them back together?

We knew that time was against us and that if we were going to find mum we had to do it as soon as possible so off we went with the cub in a small cage in the back of the van whistling for its mum the entire journey. It was just after 5pm. First we tried an area slightly down river of the bridge as that was where mum had been last seen. I whistled, the kids whistled and even Mandy whistled but we just couldn’t get the cub to call at all. Typical.

Then we tried near the bridge where she had been found. I just opened the back of the van and whistled for a minute or two and then, was that a reply? The cub thought so because she suddenly started to call at the top of her tiny voice! There were only a few people around and we didn’t want to attract any attention so I surreptitiously took the cage and placed it under the river bank where it would be hard to see from the road. The cub was still calling but I didn’t want to let it go until we were sure that mum was nearby, it might not be so easy to catch a second time. There was definitely an otter coming closer, we couldn’t see it but the calls were getting louder and louder.

When I was sure that mum was only a few metres away I took the cub from the cage and waded with her to an island in the middle of the river. I set it down in good cover and retreated. Five minutes passed and I didn’t see the next bit, but a lady standing in her garden did; she beckoned me over and said she had been watching our activities (so much for being secretive) and had just seen two otters, one a cub, together not far from where I had set her down. I watched the area with her and soon we saw them together in the shallows moving towards an area of dense cover. We then left them alone.

First thing the next morning Mandy and I went back to the river and had a good look around. We found a couch or resting place in deep cover where the otters had spent some time and then moved on. We were pretty sure that they had left the area the way they had arrived; as a family.

Chuffed to bits? You bet we were.

Summers coming, isn't it?

Its that time of year again, no not the impending summer holidays, I mean its the end of the breeding season for most of our animals and birds here. Only one doe remains pregnant and boy is she huge!!No I mean really HUGE. It looks like she's about to explode but is very content with herself and doesn't seem in any discomfort apart from the weight of the fawn inside her. She's eating for Queen and country and competing with Nigel in the "Greedy Deer of the Year" contest. We await the results of her, literal, labours.

The Chinese Fawn Goslings have been released into the main park and are finding their way around quite well. They have been reunited with their duckling comrades and the 6 of them are usually found together.

Our Snowy Owl has built us up and let us down. She sat for nearly 5 weeks in all sorts of weather before hatching the first of her 3 eggs. She cared for the owlet very well for 6 days until the next chick hatched one Saturday morning. No sooner had one hatched than she ate the first one and within 4 hours had gone on to kill and eaten the second. We took out the remaining egg later that afternoon but it failed to hatch. I know that Snowy Owls have been noted to have cannibalistic tendencies but she really took us by surprise and we are all very disappointed that there are no new Snowy Owls this year.

Last Sunday 2 Barn Owl chicks were brought in to the Centre by a lady from a nearby village. She had been checking her horses earlier that day and had found the pair in short grass in the middle of a field far away from any trees or buildings with no clue as to how they had come to be there. They were both still very downy with some tail and wing feathers just coming through. One was alive but clearly unwell and the other appeared to be dead as it lay flat out in the bottom of a cardboard box; both were cold and wet. The first thing was to get them under a heat lamp and what a magical device that is. Half an hour under the lamp was all it took to get them both dry and on their feet, the dead one wasn't dead after all. I took them home and managed to feed them a little that night but although their stomachs felt empty they weren't very willing to eat. During the next three days we managed to establish a feeding routine with them and on Thursday we moved them into a purpose built owl box 12 feet off the ground in the lean-to part of the barn. We won't interact with them at all from now on if we can help it, they have room enough to eat, stretch and grow without any undue interference from us. Their box has 2 entrances, the one into the barn is open at present but as they approach fledging in three weeks or so we will open the outer door. Barn Owl are territorial and hopefully they will stay in the area so that we can monitor them as they grow.

All the otters are well, the cubs in particular are fine and dandy. Last week I made the mistake of putting my coat on the grass so that I could sit on it without getting wet. They all thought it was great fun, tunnelling into the sleeves, hiding under it etc. as I sat but what I hadn't noticed was that Cinnamon was stalking me from under my coat. It was too late to get out of the way when I did!! She had leaped at my right hand and had it in a grip like a vice. I yelped and so did she as she let me go. I'm sure she was just playing and had expected me to tease her by getting out of the way before she struck otherwise I'm sure the damage would have been much worse than the fairly minor punctures I was left with. Just goes to show that you should always keep an eye on them, however much you think you know them.

The fawns begin to arrive

The ducklings and goslings are all doing well. We have let two of the bigger ducklings go and the goslings are now starting to get some tail and wing feathers, but they are still a bit too young to be let out into the rest of the park so we are still moving them around on the grass and have even given them a miniature pond which they like to have a good wash in.
Outside in the park the Barnacle goslings are still with their parents and the ever protective Greylag, being looked after very well. However they do seem to get into some unusual places, as they can’t yet fly but one still managed to get behind some fencing the other day which it was too big to fit through. However we got it out and it ran back to some frantic parents.
The Snowy Owl is still sitting on three eggs. They are due to hatch any time now and we are checking them regularly to see if there’s any progress. Hopefully they will hatch, as she deserves a reward for so patiently sitting on them, whatever the weather!
Lots of the birds are starting to look a bit tatty as they are all moulting, a few of the ducks, Karulah and the Golden Pheasant are looking particularly miserable as they have lost a lot of their main feathers. But hopefully it won’t take too long for them to grow back and they can start cheering up again. Being the complete opposite are the Peacocks, which are in full display at the moment and trying to attract the attention of all of the Peahens (and pretty much anything else).
In the last week we have had some Fallow Deer fawns. We think we have three but it may be four. Because they are so well camouflaged they are very difficult to spot. The mums are all being excellent parents, feeding them when necessary and placing them at the bottoms of trees (which they blend in with very well) to keep them out of the way and let them rest. We saw one at the beginning of the week just after it had been born, (we must have missed the birth by about 5 minutes). It was very exciting and the mum did a good job of cleaning it off and protecting it from other nosey deer who wanted to see what was going on. Unfortunately we did lose a fawn the other day, there didn’t seem to be much wrong with it, but it could have possibly been a bit underdeveloped. The rest are all a few days old now though so hopefully they will all survive and continue to do well. We are still expecting about another four fawns and are looking forward to their arrivals. The cubs are all doing well. We have moved them into a different pen because they have been so destructive in the pen they are in - just digging and creating holes everywhere and generally making a mess. Because of Smalley’s previous accident we decided to move him first and check he could get in and out of the ponds ok before moving all of the other cubs into the pen. Smalley managed the ponds just fine, he is much stronger than he used to be! However this was the first time him and Biggy had ever been separated. They pined for each other whilst separated but it was only a short while before they were reunited, but it was very clear during this time to see the strong bond they have between them. Cinnamon and Leap weren’t so fussed about being separated or being reunited with the others and took it in their stride. However, a new pen meant they were quite wary about coming out and it has taken them a while to get used to it. Initially none of them would go in the water in this pen, but we knew how much they had all loved swimming around in their other pen, so on went the waders and within about 5 minutes Biggy jumped in the water with Smalley following right behind him. Now they love it and we have moved their slide in with them, which they still like to slide down, climb up and use for dive bombing each other.
In the last couple of days Leap has been really gaining confidence. It was a real effort to get her to come out as she was so shy but this week she has been coming out for her breakfast and tea when nobody is around and in the last couple of days she has been out in front of everyone, very keen for some food. Whilst it is a definite improvement to have her coming out and about; she is a bit stroppy with the keepers and other otters, but hopefully the more she comes out the more she will settle down.
The rest of the otters are all doing well but Tino and Tamarisk are starting to the occasional scuffle with each other for no apparent reason. Hopefully they will start calming down or we may have to separate them. We are starting to see more of Hilda at the moment as she is coming out more often at the feeds and staying out so people can see her, but still no signs of pregnancy, William is obviously being rather lazy!
That’s all for now, lets hope for a few sunny days, Sonia.

"Reliable" Goose fails at first hurdle.....

I wonder who coined that old adage 'never work with children or animals', they were obviously very perceptive whoever they were.

Our Goose Experiment, was well..........., I can only say it was a complete failure.
Our reliable Gander proved to be totally unreliable and wasn't interested in the goslings at all. We let him go the morning after we caught him and he didn't look back once, he just legged it to the nearest pond. It may be that he prefers to select his kidnap victims himself rather than have them forced upon him or it might be that he was confined overnight which upset him and put him off his usual habits. Anyway, the result is that we have still got the ducklings and goslings confined to a shed at night but they go out into a mobile ark during the day so that they have fresh grazing and get used to being outside. They are all very friendly and look great, so maybe we'll let them free soon.

We have lost several ducklings in the last few days, including a pair of European Shelduck which is very disappointing; I think we may have a pike in one our ponds and that it is responsible for our losses, but it might be a mink or some other predator.

On a brighter note our Snowy Owl is still sitting after nearly three weeks. She has shown great determination and hasn't moved however bad the weather has got. She is on three eggs which are due to hatch in ten days or so all being well.

The Fallow Deer are still pregnant with no fawns being born yet but the first births must be imminent so we are having a good look around each day. We are letting them out onto the lawns at night so that they have fresh grazing but they do leave their calling cards everywhere which creates a bit of cleaning up job. Nigel is starting to look more like the dominant buck that he is; his antlers are growing very quickly and he's got his self esteem back.

All the otters are fine but Hilda is still showing no signs of being pregnant and we haven't seen any activity that might suggest that she is.

The cubs are doing well. They have been in a destructive mood for a week now and break or attempt to break anything that they can get hold of. We have placed a childrens garden slide in one of their ponds to help them to gain confidence and learn the limits of their abilities. If they do fall off (or rather, when they fall off) they fall into the pond so its pretty safe for them. Smalley can only manage the first two steps but uses this vantage point to bomb his fellow cubs and dive into the water. Biggy and Cinnamon think its great, whizzing up and sliding down with great delight. Leap is still rather shy and we haven't seen her use it yet but maybe she does it at night or at other times when she isn't being watched.

That's all for now, lets hope for a little warmer weather in the next few days.

The Gander Experiment

These last two weeks have been extreme here in Cornwall; some beautiful long sunny days mixed with, well, last Friday for instance……a wet day but not too bad until about 3 o’clock when the rain became torrential. Two hours later we were two feet under water. I had to dig out the full waterproofs and wellingtons that I’d just stored away for the summer and get to work clearing and unclogging and generally keeping the water damage to a minimum. By 7pm the water had receded enough for me to decide it was safe to go home without much damage to property but lots of problems for the ground nesting birds and their youngsters. Several nests had been flooded, including our Snowy Owls who were nesting on the ground in a scrape. A number of ducklings also just seemed to disappear, presumably victims of the cold, wet weather. Hopefully the ducks and other birds will try again, our Snowy Owl hasn’t wasted any time at all and has already made a new (higher) scrape and laid two eggs; she doesn’t usually sit very well so it will be interesting to see how this affects her.

Our Chinese Fawn Gosling are three weeks old today and making good progress. I want to let them out of their hatching shed and pen area and into the grounds so that they can graze at will and have access to the ponds but the problem is that without a goose to look after them their chances of surviving are low. So we’ve hatched a plan (no pun intended) and it goes like this……

We have a Greylag Gander who loves babies. He loves them so much that he attaches himself to any duck or goose that has ducklings or goslings and tries to steal the babies. Don’t worry, he won’t harm them, in fact he usually does a great job of taking care of them. If we can link the gander up to our goslings they will stand a good chance of survival. This afternoon I managed to catch him and tonight he is in the shed with the goslings. Tomorrow morning we’ll try and decide whether they have bonded and if they have we’ll let them all out together, so fingers crossed for a good result. If they don’t bond them we haven’t lost anything and we’ll let the gander free.

Nigel (our Fallow buck) is less bashful now that his antlers are growing back; they are now about four inches long and covered in velvet. Soon they will start growing very fast and he will cheer up even more. His does are looking very rotund and we are expecting some fawns in the next couple of weeks or so- let’s hope it stays fairly dry.

To other matters…the otters are all fine, and the cubs in particular are still doing well.

Some of you may have seen Wednesday’s Western Morning News and Friday’s Times with our new national star Biggy having his tummy tickled (very cute).

Staying with the paper theme I’d like to thank Class 1 of Egloskerry Primary School for their excellent book and information sheets. Its really nice to see the children so interested in nature after their visit here a couple of weeks ago. All of their work is on display and they have even had time to give our young buck a name; he’s to be called Hansel because he’s handsome and lives in the woods. I don’t think any of us can argue with that!