IMPORTANT - Wildwood upgrades electrical systems

Wildwood upgrades circuit tree

Wildwood Trust's wildlife park in Herne Common, Kent will be closed to visitors for ONE DAY ONLY on Friday 4th May, as work is undertaken to upgrade and maintain the park's electrical systems.  Our keepers will still be onsite to look after the animals and we will be using generators to run essential devices, such as the refridgeration units and electric fences. We'll be opening as per usual on Saturday 5th May. Thank you for your understanding and apologies for any inconvenience if you had already planned a visit on this day.

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

Pathway funding lets visitors walk on the wild side

Pathway funding lets visitors walk on the wild side

Wildwood Trust, Kent’s unique British wildlife park and conservation charity, is celebrating after being granted desperately-needed funding to repair the park’s woodland pathways and install a concreted entrance to their car park. As a conservation charity, Wildwood is dedicated to educating people about British wildlife and wild spaces and uses its ancient woodland setting to achieve this goal. Making our woodland park easily navigable for visitors whilst being sensitive to the natural environment can be challenging; heavy rain has resulted in many pathways around the park becoming severely waterlogged and muddy, making some areas almost impassable. The cold weather has made other paths uneven and difficult to navigate – particularly for those with additional mobility needs or pushchairs. Viridor Credits Environmental Company has come to the rescue, granting this project £15,320 funding through the Landfill Communities Fund. This grant will enable Wildwood to carry out much needed repairs to the damaged areas and upgrade the paths with recycled materials to withstand future wear. The new concrete entrance will solve the problem of potholes and uneven surfaces for people visiting with cars. These renovations will ensure visitors can enjoy exploring Wildwood all year round.

Gareth Williams, Operations Manager at Viridor Credits, said “Viridor Credits is proud to continue to support Wildwood Trust’s educational aims in Kent, and this project will enable people of all abilities to see the important work they are doing there.” Paul Whitfield, Wildwood’s Director General, said: “Thanks to the continued generous support of Viridor Credits, people from all across Kent will be able to discover Wildwood and what a rewilded Britain looks like, regardless of ability or needs. We hope that you will bear with us whilst we continue with these improvements and strive to offer the best experience to all our visitors.” This recent development, combined with the new wolf platform and kiosk extension to the café, means that the past few months have seen some huge refurbishments to the park with a focus on increasing access and making sure everyone is able to enjoy their visit. Work to concrete the entrance to Wildwood’s car park will begin on Monday 23rd April, carried out by the Wildwood ranger team together with the help of volunteers from the local community. This does mean there will be some minor disruption when entering the park, however Wildwood is still open and welcoming all visitors.

Editor’s notes: Viridor Credits Environmental Company seeks applications from not-for-profit groups and organisations and community groups. Applications can be made for projects that fall into one of three categories (below), provided that the project is located within 10 miles of an active Viridor landfill site or Energy Recovery Facility (ERF). They are: Provision or improvement of a public amenity The conservation or promotion of biological diversity through the provision, conservation, restoration or enhancement of a natural habitat, or the maintenance or recovery of a species or its habitat on land or water Restoration or renovation of buildings of historical or architectural importance or those used for religious worship. Viridor Credits is looking for further projects to fund located within 10 miles of active Viridor-managed landfill sites or ERFs. Applicants can visit www.viridor-credits.co.uk, call 01823 476476, or email enquiries@viridor-credits.co.uk. Viridor Credits Environmental Company is an environmental body and independent charity.   Landfill Tax and the Landfill Communities Fund The Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) is an innovative tax credit scheme enabling Landfill Operators (LOs) to contribute money to organisations enrolled with ENTRUST as Environmental Bodies (EBs).  EBs use this funding for a wide range of community and environmental projects in the vicinity of landfill sites. LOs are able to claim a credit against their landfill tax liability for 90% of the contributions they make.    Since its inception in 1996, over £1.3billion has been spent on more than 51,000 projects across the UK. For further information, please visit www.entrust.org.uk or see HMRC’s general guide to Landfill Tax.     CONTACT Wildwood Trust: +44(0)1227 712 111 Peter Smith: peter@wildwoodtrust.org or 07986 828229 Michael Lunn: michael@wildwoodtrust.org or 01227 652480   Wildwood Trust, Herne Common, Herne Bay, Nr Canterbury, Kent CT6 7LQ Registered Charity No. 1093702   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

Pathway funding lets visitors walk on the wild side

Pathway funding lets visitors walk on the wild side

Wildwood Trust, Kent’s unique British wildlife park and conservation charity, is celebrating after being granted desperately-needed funding to repair the park’s woodland pathways and install a concreted entrance to their car park. As a conservation charity, Wildwood is dedicated to educating people about British wildlife and wild spaces and uses its ancient woodland setting to achieve this goal. Making our woodland park easily navigable for visitors whilst being sensitive to the natural environment can be challenging; heavy rain has resulted in many pathways around the park becoming severely waterlogged and muddy, making some areas almost impassable. The cold weather has made other paths uneven and difficult to navigate – particularly for those with additional mobility needs or pushchairs. Viridor Credits Environmental Company has come to the rescue, granting this project £15,320 funding through the Landfill Communities Fund. This grant will enable Wildwood to carry out much needed repairs to the damaged areas and upgrade the paths with recycled materials to withstand future wear. The new concrete entrance will solve the problem of potholes and uneven surfaces for people visiting with cars. These renovations will ensure visitors can enjoy exploring Wildwood all year round.

Gareth Williams, Operations Manager at Viridor Credits, said “Viridor Credits is proud to continue to support Wildwood Trust’s educational aims in Kent, and this project will enable people of all abilities to see the important work they are doing there.” Paul Whitfield, Wildwood’s Director General, said: “Thanks to the continued generous support of Viridor Credits, people from all across Kent will be able to discover Wildwood and what a rewilded Britain looks like, regardless of ability or needs. We hope that you will bear with us whilst we continue with these improvements and strive to offer the best experience to all our visitors.” This recent development, combined with the new wolf platform and kiosk extension to the café, means that the past few months have seen some huge refurbishments to the park with a focus on increasing access and making sure everyone is able to enjoy their visit. Work to concrete the entrance to Wildwood’s car park will begin on Monday 23rd April, carried out by the Wildwood ranger team together with the help of volunteers from the local community. This does mean there will be some minor disruption when entering the park, however Wildwood is still open and welcoming all visitors.

Editor’s notes: Viridor Credits Environmental Company seeks applications from not-for-profit groups and organisations and community groups. Applications can be made for projects that fall into one of three categories (below), provided that the project is located within 10 miles of an active Viridor landfill site or Energy Recovery Facility (ERF). They are: Provision or improvement of a public amenity The conservation or promotion of biological diversity through the provision, conservation, restoration or enhancement of a natural habitat, or the maintenance or recovery of a species or its habitat on land or water Restoration or renovation of buildings of historical or architectural importance or those used for religious worship. Viridor Credits is looking for further projects to fund located within 10 miles of active Viridor-managed landfill sites or ERFs. Applicants can visit www.viridor-credits.co.uk, call 01823 476476, or email enquiries@viridor-credits.co.uk. Viridor Credits Environmental Company is an environmental body and independent charity.   Landfill Tax and the Landfill Communities Fund The Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) is an innovative tax credit scheme enabling Landfill Operators (LOs) to contribute money to organisations enrolled with ENTRUST as Environmental Bodies (EBs).  EBs use this funding for a wide range of community and environmental projects in the vicinity of landfill sites. LOs are able to claim a credit against their landfill tax liability for 90% of the contributions they make.    Since its inception in 1996, over £1.3billion has been spent on more than 51,000 projects across the UK. For further information, please visit www.entrust.org.uk or see HMRC’s general guide to Landfill Tax.     CONTACT Wildwood Trust: +44(0)1227 712 111 Peter Smith: peter@wildwoodtrust.org or 07986 828229 Michael Lunn: michael@wildwoodtrust.org or 01227 652480   Wildwood Trust, Herne Common, Herne Bay, Nr Canterbury, Kent CT6 7LQ Registered Charity No. 1093702   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

Wildwood April Newsletter

Newsletter - April 2018

Welcome to the April edition of the Wildwood newsletter and the beginning of the nice weather! We have some cute new babies, some improvements at the park to mention and some great conservation news. If you wish to know more about any of our stories or Wildwood in general, then please feel free to email us at info@wildwoodtrust.org Thank you for your continued support. We'll see you again soon!

Wolf pack Wildwood are enormously proud to announce the opening of Britain’s most innovative wolf woodland enclosure. A unique two-level woodland feature allows visitors to venture into the heart of the wolf pack’s lair and experience what it is like to share the woodland with the wolves. With immersive 360-degree panoramic views, accessible to all, thousands of families can join the wolves in one of Britain’s most engaging animal experiences. We also hope to soon welcome the pitter patter of tiny paws and the start of Wildwood’s new wolf pack.

Baby boom 1. We’re celebrating the birth of a new wallaby joey to the park. The joey has only just left its mother’s pouch and can be seen exploring in the walkthrough. We have yet to determine the sex, but so far it appears to be very strong and healthy. 2. The beginning of March welcomed the birth of five baby rabbits to our doe, Truffle. Did you know baby rabbits are actually called kittens? 3. Our Soay sheep have recently welcomed a new lamb, born this April.

Pigs in space Our younger wild boar pair, Sherwood and Ash, have moved to an enclosure next to the bison. The new area hosts plenty of opportunity for foraging a bountiful amount of food and will give their old enclosure time to rest and grow up new plants and shoots. We will be regularly rotating the boar between the two enclosures to reap the benefits of new floral growth and to enrich the animals.

Bears are back in town After a second successful winter torpor, our bears are back in their large enclosure for the summer. Come see them foraging, relaxing in their pool and doing bear things! The bear bridge viewing platform is also open.

New shop website opens We’ve been working hard on a new shop website, which is now live at wildwoodtrust.shop Adoptions - Wildwood animal adoptions last for one year and are the perfect gift for any animal lover. Each adoption helps support our work to save British Wildlife. We have various different levels of adoption available to suit all occasions and budgets, and you can choose from any one of our animals. Experiences – We currently offer bear experiences, photo days and guided tours on our website. We’ll have Arctic fox experiences available later in the year and have some other great animal experiences in the pipeline. Shop – This is where you can buy items unique to Wildwood -  Top Trumps, Hoody Bears, Prints and Vouchers. Courses - Wildwood Trust offers a range of training courses and workshops throughout the year catering for 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, foraging and permaculture. Find out more

Wolf artwork Ramsgate artist Donna Langridge helped the park celebrate the opening of the enclosure by donating two stunning pieces of custom made pyrography. The 36-year-old spent more than 90 hours painstakingly burning each individual line onto wood to capture the beauty of Wildwood's wolves, Odin and Nuna. Both artworks are on display in the new wolf platform.

Road and path upgrade As a conservation charity, Wildwood is dedicated to educating people about British wildlife and wild spaces and uses its ancient woodland setting to achieve this goal. Making our woodland park easily navigable for visitors whilst being sensitive to the natural environment can be challenging; heavy rain causes many pathways around the park to become severely waterlogged and muddy, making some areas almost impassable. Cold weather can also make other paths uneven and difficult to navigate – particularly for those with additional mobility needs or pushchairs. We will be upgrading the road to the car park and pathways throughout the park this year and apologise in advance for any inconvenience.

Conservation grazing Some of our wild konik ponies have been moved to an exciting new rewilding project. The Cambrian Wildwood Project aims to rewild thousands of acres of overgrazed Welsh mountain land. Taking ecologically destroyed land and restoring it back to its original wildwood status. With lite grazing from wild horses, trees will come back with complex wetlands and open areas. This ground breaking project could be the start of a rewilded Britain and we will be doing more to help our partners achieve their aims.  Find out more

Dormouse reintroduction Over 20 adorable dormice have been released at a secret location where they have gone extinct in the UK. Each year Wildwood supplies captive-bred dormice for the release programme and, as studbook holder for the species, selects and pairs up the animals for release, thus ensuring the strongest genetic mix for future generations. Wildwood Trust is the UK’s leading charity in captive breeding dormice for release into the wild to help to combat this decline and have bred hundreds of dormice over the 15 years.

We need your help! To help with our conservation aims, our keepers are always in need of a variety of items. We're looking for old pillow cases and towels, 2ft x 3ft concrete slabs and a trailer. If you have any of these spare and ready to be thrown out, please get in touch.

Purrfect New Home Our breeding pair of Scottish wildcats have now moved to their new enclosure opposite the Eagle Owls. The enclosure comes complete with a quiet, off show birthing pen for when and if kittens arrive. Carna and RJ are both growing in confidence in their new surroundings, already sleeping on their platforms and boxes.

Reintroducing stamps Royal Mail’s NEW Reintroduced Species stamps have been released and subsequently a very special Wildwood collection pack produced by our friends at Buckingham Covers. As well as being a great collector's item that includes the full set of 6 stamps, Wildwood will receive £1 from every sale which will go towards our ongoing beaver reintroduction work. You can buy now or find out more in our shop or by clicking the button. Find out more

Wolf recovery It's been high drama in the wolf pack recently at our park in Escot, Devon. Learn all about Moby's adventure by clicking the button.  Find out more

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