Wildwood - May Newsletter

Newsletter - May 2017

Welcome to the May edition of our monthly newsletter. We have a bear mystery, some reintroduction news and the first chough chicks to be born in Kent for at least 150 years.  If you wish to know more about any of our stories or The Wildwood Trust in general, then please feel free to email us at info@wildwoodtrust.org Thanks for reading and for your continued support. We'll see you again in June!

Water vole reintroduction Part of the consultancy services available through Wildwood conservation includes mitigation services for water voles. We have been managing two water vole mitigation projects over the last 6 months, and one of the contracts is due to be finalized next Thursday the 1st of June with the release of 49 water voles back into their original habitat in Tilbury, Essex. Wildwood is one of a handful of organizations that has the capacity to offer water vole mitigation services, such as looking after a population over winter, breeding, and aiding in release back into the wild. These services play an important part in required mitigation practices for water voles, and on a larger scale assist with conservation of the species.

First chough chick born in Kent for 150 years! Conservationists are celebrating as the first ever baby chough chick is born at the Wildwood Trust. This is the first ever chough to be born in Kent in at least 150 years. Lost to Kent for centuries, the magnificent chough, which adorns the Canterbury City's coat of arms and civic regalia, can once again be seen back in the county synonymous with this wonderful bird. This is the first success by Wildwood's team of expert keepers in the hope of establishing a long-term breeding programme for the bird's return to Kent. Watch our choughs on BBC South East Today

Reindeer baby update Our baby reindeer born last month is doing brilliantly and starting to fill out - she is no longer 90% legs! Mum and baby are still inseparable while wandering around their enclosure, but she is growing up very quickly and her baby ways are fast disappearing If you haven't already seen her, make sure to come down soon before she grows up. She's adorable!

Pine Marten Towers We've been working on our new Pine Marten Towers for some time now and are happy to announce that the build is now complete and we should be opening in the next few weeks! The two towers have two separate levels which are accessed by a combination of rope bridges, climbing frames, slides and a walkway joining the play dome. We'll be educating as well as entertaining the children with engaging facts about the pine marten; how fast they can climb and leap, and how reintroduction could help increase our native red squirrel populations. To find out more about reintroducing pine martens back into our countryside, please click on the button below. Pine marten appeal

Baby red squirrels We're happy to announce that we have more births at Wildwood this month with some new baby squirrels. They're within the first nest box in the enclosure between the red foxes and the entrance to the bear bridge, and have started venturing out. Why not come down and see if you can spot them!

Mystery tree We had a bit of a mystery as our bears showed a particular interest in one of the trees in their enclosure. You can see the bite marks and dents on the metal plate after both our bears were scratching and clawing at the plate which is there to protect the tree. We were obviously intrigued and a little worried that they may hurt themselves so, as soon as they went into their small enclosure for the night, we checked out the tree. When we removed the metal plate to discover what had piqued their interest, look at what we found...a robin's nest! After making sure that the bears were not in danger of hurting themselves, we quickly replaced the plate and kept an eye on the nest. We're happy to report that robins have returned to the nest and have our fingers crossed that the eggs will hatch.

Bee observatory Our bees have been busy building up their colonies after winter and our glass fronted observation hive is once again packed full of the fascinating insects. Come down to our Bee Zone to find out more about the complicated workings of these incredible creatures and don't forget to stop off in the shop to pick up a jar of this year's batch of Wildwood honey...it's delicious!

Volunteers - Zenith Marque A big thank you to the lovely people from Zenith Marque who kindly volunteer their time every year to help us spruce up our park. They were in 'nut browning' fences and clearing excess foliage from the paths, and they did a magnificent job. Interested in volunteering?

Picture of the month

Wildwood Trust Herne Common Herne Bay Kent CT6 7LQ Registered Charity No: 1093702 Wildwood Kent: 01227 712 111 Wildwood Devon: 01404 822 188 info@wildwoodtrust.org