Hi all. Just a quickie to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a very happy new year. Hopefully it will be a good one.  Centre wise we are still doing very well, and have a couple of new projects lined up for next year. I'm sure we will bring you news of that as it happens. Blog wise, you may have noticed the reduce number of posts. This is due to time with the strange year we have had, but also due to most of our engagement coming through our social media channels now. I guess it is much easier to pick up and view, and already there if you have subscribed to it rather than having ..read more

  We have had a new arrival over the past month. Meet "Mortimer" the fox. Morty arrived here a couple of weeks a go now and is settling in very well. Having been rescued as a cub, he was reared with all intentions of him going back to the wild, but despite being with other foxes Morty had other ideas and became to friendly for the wild life. That's when we were asked if we might be able to offer him a home here.  Having sadly lost "Ellis" to old age a couple of months a go, we of course said yes. After a careful introduction, Morty is now living in our second fox enclosure along ..read more

  We have just come to the end of a very busy October half term, and now with the clocks turned back it really feels as if Winter is on it's way.  This past month has seen our deer rutting. A lot of roaring and posturing, but not too much actual clashing of antlers this year... but from the little there was it seems that Albus Dumbledeer is once again our master stag.  He will likely mate with our hinds over the coming weeks, and then we can expect some calves next year in the lead up to summer ..read more

  This month has been our first month after our Summer opening, and are quickly getting back in to our routine of school groups and photographic days. Despite being closed to the public during the week, we are still open every day to private booked groups be that educational tours for school children or college students, or photographic days for keen photographers.  I often get asked "you must be looking forward to being closed during the week after the summer holidays when it will be a bit quieter for you?" during the summer, but it is actually the other way around. We have groups ..read more

  The summer is nearly over, well, the summer holidays that is... and what a busy summer it has been. Even with a limit on numbers we have seen very busy days here with lots of visitors, many regulars, and lots of new faces too which had been great.  Of course the baby animals have perhaps been the stars for mot people, but our other animals have been on great form too. I think they are keen of the attention again after the lockdown of earlier this year. Our red squirrels have been particularly good.  We have about a dozen squirrels in the copse, and do the one squirrel talk ..read more

  The last month has seen us lead up to our summer opening, we have had the last few schools and photography groups for the season, and are now open every day for the summer holidays. You can now turn up on the day without pre booking, but the booking system is still in place... and it is a little cheaper to pre book your tickets so if you are thinking of visiting us, best to pre book online if you can. Gerald, our grass snake, is always one of our more elusive animals. A lot of times I hear people saying they haven't seen him, and/or don't believe he is in there. Many frequent vis ..read more

  I mentioned some stoat babies at the end of last month. Here are the two that Keeper Izzy is currently hand rearing. Denzel and Ermine, brother and sister, both doing extremely well and currently living at home with Iz.  These two were abandoned by their mother, Shakira, who had 8 in kits in her litter in total. She obviously felt this was too many for her, especially being a first time mum, but she is doing and amazing job with the remaining kits and they are now beginning to come out and play with each other providing much enjoyment for those lucky enough to see it. A few other ..read more

The weather is getting warmer, the Centre feels alive again with all the visitors and we have lots of new life! A good start to the year. We are open everyday this week due to half term, pre booked only still due to restrictions, but it hopefully won't be too long until we can lift this and take that next step back to a bit more normality.     Our biggest draw at the moment is arguably our wildcat kittens. Two litters, a few weeks apart, which shows nicely how they grow and the different behaviours at different stages. Above are two of Agnes's kittens, and the top photo is H ..read more

Agnes and Atticus's kittens are now 5 weeks old... this is usually when we would expect to see them out and about a little for the first time, but unlike their shy mother the kittens decide to venture out a little early and we saw them at the end of last week for the first time.  They don't go too far from their underground den at the back of the enclosure, but explore a little usually during the afternoon and evening. Some lucky visitors managed to see them on Saturday, but unfortunately they did not make an appearance until after closing on Sunday.  These three single kitte ..read more

  Earlier this month we welcomed people back to the Centre for the first time in over 4 months!.. With restrictions easing on the 12th, we were allowed to open to the public once again at weekends and school holidays, and run our pre booked photographic days and school trips.  I must confess to being a little apprehensive in waiting to see people here again, I guess having got used to having the place to ourselves and a new routine, but within the first few minutes of opening the doors on the morning of the 12th everything just seemed to be right again!.. Staff and animals relaxed ..read more