Wildwood Trust

Wildwood e-news Feb '11 - Half Term special

1) Half Term events at Wildwood
2) Play park update
3) Meet Wildwood's new baby boar
4) Wildwood on Dick & Dom Go Wild!
5) Wildwood on Inside Out with Kaddy Lee Preston 21st Feb
6) Wild horses moved to Wildwood
7) Appeal - can you help?

 1) Half Term at Wildwood - Prehistoric Week

All week – Free Dinosaur Trail!
Pick up your free trail leaflet on arrival and look for clues around the park to complete the trail. All completed entries win a free prize! Once completed, all entries will go into a prize draw to win one of our cute cuddly dinosaurs!

All week – Free animal talks & feeds.

Join our keeper and education teams around the park to see some of our animals close up with a feed and educational talk. Check the boards as you arrive at the park for details of the talks and feeds that day.

  

Monday 21st Feb – Woolly Mammoths

Find out all about the woolly giant that roamed in the Ice Age and make your own to take home.

Must book - 2-3pm, £1 per person, one adult free per family.

Tuesday 22nd Feb – Sabre Tooth Cats

Learn about the awesome Ice Age cat, famous for its giant teeth and make your own to take home.

Must book - 2-3pm, £1 per person, one adult free per family.

Thursday 24th Feb – Ice Age Art

Join our resident artist and Natural Heritage Officer Steve Kirk on the ever popular Ice Age Art Day. Begin at 11am with an escorted 1hr walking art lesson around the park to view the animals and sketch their shapes, then from 2-4pm make your own cave art and 3D clay moulding to take home.

Must book - £2 per person, one adult free per family.

Saturday 26th Feb – Dinosaurs!

What is a dinosaur? How big where they? What sounds did they make? Find out about the biggest animals that ever lived and make your own dinos to take home.

Must book - 2-3pm. £1 per person, one adult free per family.

To book any of the above events call 01227 712 111 (limited spaces available).

 2) Play park re-development update

As regular Wildwood visitors will know, our play park re-development is now starting to take shape. The towers on the fort have gone up and the housing for the drop slide is nearing completion (pictured). We have also taken delivery of the super new tube slide.

Once completed, the improved play park will increase the appeal of Wildwood to older children and their families which in turn will help Wildwood to raise more funds for conservation projects and animal enclosures through longer term memberships.

The new play park is being designed to work in harmony with the surrounding trees and help children experience life in the treetops. The main feature, a Victorian drop slide is to be made from sustainable materials in keeping with Wildwood’s mission to be as eco-friendly as possible.

We appreciate your patience whilst we complete the new play park and hope you are as excited as we are to see the finished article later in the year!

3) Meet our new baby boar

Remember to keep your eyes peeled at our Wild Boar enclosure for a peek at Wildwood’s newest addition. Our cute baby boar was born on New Year’s Day and has been delighting visitors by racing around the enclosure with mum and dad. Notice that the baby has striped brown fur; this acts as camouflage to keep youngsters hidden against the woodland floor until they are big enough to fend for themselves. See if you can spot the new addition on your next visit!

4) Dick 'n' Dom Go Wild! at Wildwood

Wildwood was pleased to welcome Children’s TV favourites Dick and Dom to film their new series recently. Their new show, Dick ‘n’ Dom Go Wild! has been aired on Cbeebies and features the comic duo lending a hand around the park. Wildwood was featured on 2 episodes, if you missed them, you can watch the videos here:

Dick 'n' Dom Go Wild! episode 1 - Dom visits Wildwood and his assistants have a close encounter in the rat barn, say hello to a baby badger and help to groom a fox.

Dick 'n' Dom Go Wild! episode 2 - Its Dick's turn to come to Wildwood and in this episod the boys meet a dormouse, help give a goat a pedicure and are given the runaround by some red squirrels.

5) Wildwood on Inside Out - Monday 21st Feb

Kaddy Lee Preston visited Wildwood this month to film our otter for BBC’s Inside Out programme. Kaddy was delighted to meet the otter and the footage will be used in a section on the show about the plight of otters in the South East.

You can watch Kaddy at Wildwood on Inside Out on Monday 21^st February (7.30pm BBC1)

6) Wild horses moved to Wildwood

The team at Wildwood have been busy moving some of the charity’s wild horses from their homes in Dover to Wildwood ahead of them moving to a new home in Scotland. The horses are being transferred to the RSPB nature reserve at the Loch of Strathbeg, Scotland  where they will live wild to improve the wetland habitat through natural grazing.

In total 8 Konik foals have been transported from sites at Hospital Down and Western Heights near Dover. Visitors can see the foals at Wildwood for the next few weeks before the move.

As a conservation charity, The Wildwood Trust is committed to improving conditions for wildlife throughout the UK.  The Wildwood Trust's vision is to bring back our true 'wildwood' by restoring Britain's land to its natural state through conservation grazing by large wild herbivores that restore natural ecological processes to help Britain team with wildlife once more.

Konik horses are the closest living relative of the extinct Tarpan, the wild forest horse that roamed Britain in prehistoric times. They are hardy animals that live well on wetlands eating weeds, reeds and grass. They help to boost biodiversity through light grazing and natural fertilisation which keeps the land open and encourages a wider variety of plants, birds and invertebrates to settle in the area.

Wildwood’s Chief Executive Peter Smith said “We are delighted to be working with the RSPB to send these beautiful animals to the Loch of Strathbeg . They are the ideal conservation management tool and will boost the area’s biodiversity”

Keep any eye out for the foals on your next visit to Wildwood.

7) Wildwood equipment appeal - can you help?

As a conservation charity, Wildwood needs to watch the pennies and we love to recycle, so if you have any of the following items that you would like to donate please let us know:

 Large plastic storage boxes with lids - To help our Education to sort out their skulls from their scissors.

Laptop computers less than 5 years old - for use around the park.

New kitchen units and worktops - we need unused kitchen units and worktops to furnish our new conservation building (for looking after endangered animals).

If you can help at all please contact the office on 01227 712 111, many thanks.

Fiona Paterson
Wildwood Trust
Tel 01227 712 111