The first months of 2018 have suffered depressingly poor weather. Very wet and even snow, although for only a few days, is not what our animal collection or wild birds enjoy.
We have had to keep several enclosures heated, Rusty Spotted Cats, Lemurs, Tenrecs, Agoutis, Mongoose etc., and we have brought some smaller birds inside.
In spite of all this we have already had born a Senegalese Pigmy Goat kid, 5 Kuni Kuni piglets and we are expecting one of our Servals to produce soon. The Agouti females are all getting ‘fatter’
In the snowy weather there was an influx of bird visitors – Redwings and Fieldfares, and we even had a Lapwing patrolling our lane.
One of the best pieces of news is that on the 12th March a pair of Greenfinches visited our hanging bird feeders. They then visited the next day. For over 4 years we have had no Greenfinches in this area due to a nasty disease that is very virulent but only affected Greenfinches. They are such beautiful creatures. For those who do not know, the male is a beautiful shade of fresh grass with a yellow wing flash. The female is slightly more moderate, as though washed through. They are sparrow sized, have a wonderful “zizzing” call and are a delight to have back. Hopefully, these will be immune to the disease.
Our first frogspawn was laid in January when the water was very cold. Unfortunately, the eggs were all eaten by a trio of Moorhens that had travelled up from the big pond. They do quite a lot of patrolling in the very early hours of the morning before light. We had further spawn laid in late February but due to the Siberian weather at the beginning of March all of the eggs were frozen and died. We wait for nature to right these wrongs.
Fortunately, the Rooks are back building but only two nests so far (5 were built and used last year). They build right in the top, very springy branches of a huge old oak. Both large boxes opposite our bedroom window are being used by Jackdaws, which have jealously guarded the boxes all through the winter.
A young Puma (Lovejoy as we have named her) was born on 19th December 2017. In the most terrible storm, her mother must have become disorientated as when I was completing the usual Sunday feed round, I found the tiny baby covered in mud, very cold and almost dead. The mother must have actually taken it outside. We carried out the usual first aid. First, we washed the little mite in warm water to bring its temperature up. When we had thoroughly cleaned her and she was warmer, Cherry dried her with her hair dryer and then wrapped her in kitchen foil. We then set about trying to give her a little feed and Cherry kept her in her blouse until the electric incubator showed the correct temperature of 37°. We proceeded to feed her every two hours, through the night. The next day the Keepers were in and immediately took over including the night-time responsibilities.
She is currently in a large dog cage in our kitchen next to the Aga and is all but 3 months old, very fat and loved by all who have visited. She is now eating meat with gusto.
Currently we are working on the paperwork to send to a huge 245 hectare botanical and zoological gardens in Panama, six of our home bred animals, two Puma, two Fishing Cats and two European Lynx. We have received export licences and are just awaiting the final formalities.
We are particularly proud of this.