Wildwood's February Newsletter

Wildwood Newsletter - February 2019

Red Squirrel Walkthrough   After finishing our new lynx enclosure, we're continuing to work on new projects to expand Wildwood for the benefit of our animals and to give visitors new experiences with British wildlife. We are currently replacing our old Wallaby Walkthrough with a huge Red Squirrel Walkthrough. Stretching from the otter pond to the horse paddock, the enclosure will be landscaped with meandering paths and will include a tree house, allowing visitors to get up close to this incredible, acrobatic animal.

We're on BBC Inside Out!   Keep this date in your diary! This Monday 11th February at 7:30pm on BBC One in the South East, some of Wildwood's staff and animals will be involved in BBC Inside Out South East's report on the wonderful world of hibernation. See Mr Prickles the hedgehog, Queenie the dormouse and our two bears.

Wildwood Watch   A new way to look at your favourite woodland discovery park. As well as our fantastic display collection, the natural woodland setting of Wildwood supports a host of free-living wildlife. Did you know, for instance, that over 60 species of wild birds are regularly seen at Wildwood? A dozen types of wild mammals live in the woods or pass through on a regular basis; there are four kinds of cool reptiles and all sorts of invertebrates, including over 20 beautiful butterflies. In addition, there are wonderful woodland wild flowers, a diversity of native trees and an assortment of fascinating fungi. Throughout the year we shall be keeping an eye on them all, with nestbox and bird feeder cameras, guided nature walks and trails, talks and events that will link you to the changes to wild, wild Wildwood throughout the seasons. As you walk around the park, looking at our captive collection you can look out for Wildwood’s wild things for yourselves – from woodpeckers to wood mice, from teasels to weasels, from treecreepers to trees – and add them to our sightings board.

Bear Experiences 2019   Our bear experiences for 2019 are now available to book online. We'll be starting in April and running until the end of September with morning and afternoon sessions. Wildwood Bear Experiences are a unique opportunity to meet and learn all about Wildwood's two rescued bears with exclusive behind the scenes access. Walk through the bears' large enclosure to scatter a feed, before meeting the bears and giving them a treat in their smaller enclosure. Then let them out into their large enclosure, where they will sniff out and hunt down the scattered food.   Click here to book now

Boar On The Move   Our younger breeding boar couple, Ash & Sherwood, had 4 piglets last year - one male and three female. The male juvenile has recently moved to Whipsnade Zoo to help with their breeding program.

Scottish Wildcats   Our Scottish wildcat enclosures have recently had a makeover by our keepers, and we're planning on bringing in more of these highly endangered animals soon. Watch this space!

Conservation Courses   Our popular Wildwood nature courses are now available for our winter/spring period, catering from complete beginners and amateur naturalists through to wildlife professionals. We cover a variety of topics ranging from species ecology, conservation and handling to outdoor crafts. To find out more, visit  https://wildwoodtrust.org/wildwood-kent/conservation/conservation-courses   Click here to book now

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FOLLOW US Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewildwoodtrust Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WildwoodTrust Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/thewildwoodtrust   ABOUT WILDWOOD Wildwood Trust opened in 1999 as a centre of excellence for the conservation of British wildlife, and was established as a registered charity in 2002. Wildwood is Kent's best British wildlife park. Home to over 200 native animals, past and present and set in 40 acres of beautiful ancient woodland where visitors can see bears, wolves, bison, deer, owls, foxes, red squirrels, wild boar, lynx, wild horses, badgers and beavers plus many more. As one of the leading British animal conservation charities in the UK, Wildwood Trust is dedicated to saving Britain's most threatened wildlife. Wildwood Trust have taken part in many ground-breaking conservation programmes to date, which include, saving the water vole, using wild horses to help restore Kent's most precious nature reserves, bringing the extinct European beaver back to Britain and returning the hazel dormouse & red squirrel to areas where they have been made extinct.

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