Since I wrote the last newsletter we have enjoyed some fabulous weather. With the residual wetness of the rainiest winter and spring many can remember, the sunshine has brought enormous growth of flowers and trees albeit about 3 weeks late.
The young Puma born on the 19th December last year turned out to be a little boy and we named him Lovejoy. He developed well in April on substitute puppy milk and became a great favourite of all.
At the very end of March Ken who is helping the Conservancy on a temporary basis, was good enough to collect a rescued Herman’s Tortoise, a lovely animal. Unfortunately, his keeper who is in the Armed Forces had to take up duties abroad so has asked us to look after him. He is about four and really rather handsome. He immediately joined our group of Herman’s and others in our specially built heated house and run. Ken then went on to a rescue centre to collect a mate for our fox Frankie. He has now been joined by a quite small shy vixen called “Roxie.” Both have been injured on the road and although they are not recovered well enough to be set free, they will have a very useful life here at the centre. They get on well, maybe young cubs next year!
Although we saw quite a lot of frogspawn laid in our little pond near the Lynx enclosure, it all seemed to disappear. At first, we thought this was due to the odd frost. Later however, we found a pair of Moorhens were coming across from the BIG pond early each morning to eat frogspawn and any tadpoles lucky enough to hatch. Later she built her nest in some exotic grasses and laid seven eggs, six of which hatched into tiny black “furry” chicks with long stilt like legs quite out of proportion. She was then taking the chicks into the bigger pond and on out onto the stream. It does show that you do not need a massive pond to attract interesting wildlife.
In early April, two tiny kittens were born to Shakira, the beautiful female Serval, taken on from a local lady as she wanted her to have a mate and do just that – have kittens. The lady concerned is thrilled. The kittens opened their eyes at about ten days old, blue as ice, and by six weeks they were both out in the enclosure playing together.
Daniel, who has helped enormously with our collection, brought to us a young male Red Billed Magpie, bred in Holland, to join our lovely but lonely, female. These birds are stunning blues, blacks and white with grey markings and the long tail marking their family. They look superb flying around their large aviary together.
I was thrilled to bits to see a summer visitor arrive on the 4th April. It was the small warbler with a stunning black head, the male Blackcap. Most unusually, it was feeding on the fat balls which hang in front of the bedroom window. His wife has not yet arrived. She is a little more sober with a wonderful gingery brown cap. On the same day we heard the small warbler, the Chiffchaff announcing its homecoming with the rather monotonous call “chiffchaff…. chiffchaff….chiffchaff….”
I heard a Greater Spotted Woodpecker “drumming” on a tree while planting hundreds of snowdrops and bluebell bulbs. All signs of spring and the end of winter.
Rab, our maintenance man and Ken, spent a good few days unearthing some granite blocks and stones, the residue of an old barn taken down before we even lived at Tredivett Mill. They then dug a new pond out, quite a sizeable pond in the new woodland garden, where last year we planted hundreds of native trees. The pond was then surrounded by some of the large granite stones and planted with Iris, ferns, and Gunnera.
Within days Whirligig Beetles, tiny toy like creatures whirling around in apparently pointless circles on the surface of the pond and then suddenly diving below. Pond Skaters arrived running on the surface tension of the water and both Damsel and Dragonflies visited within days. Even a Moorhen visited this brand new void pond.
For about a month a pair of Canada Geese stayed on the BIG POND even feeding with the ducks when we took extra grain to them. On the 12th April we spotted the first Orange Tipped butterfly – A rather small white butterfly where the male wears a wonderful orange blob in his wings.
We visited the Cairngorms in the middle of April, a trip we hope to repeat. I have written a complete review, which we will issue when my hand writing is converted into readable text.
When we came back, it was clear we had three young polecats, like little grey sausages at first, but quickly becoming miniatures of their mums. We kept dad in with the pregnant females as he seemed and proved to be, a very gentle giant. He is three times the weight of his dainty wives.
The baby Servals were becoming stronger by the day so we chipped them (with microchip numbers like domestic dogs) for further identification, we did this at just 4 weeks old. We have a little boy and a little girl.
On the last day of the month to our great distress, while I was weeding a flower bed about ten metres away from the Eurasian Otter enclosure, a young Otter, obviously seriously injured, crawled in front of me. I immediately put a small plastic crate over him. Oddly enough, I had noticed a couple of spraints on the lawn but put this down to the wild Otter population. I was excited at the spraint but devastated at the injured Otter, which once we examined we had assumed was “our” young male born last year. It was most certainly a male and about a year old. The poor creature died within the hour but at least on a good bed of straw with a red light above to give warmth.
After it died we thoroughly examined the animal. There was no sign of injury, no blood at the mouth, teeth were sound and no bleeding from the anus. However, when I found it, it clearly had lost the ability to do more than pull itself along in a snake like fashion.
It was a complete mystery. I put the poor creature, properly wrapped into a deep freeze for later taxidermy – thought nothing more about it.
Oddly enough, when we checked on our trio of Otters, male, female and year old male, we could only see the adult pair. This was so for the next day also. We do not necessarily see all the Otters every time as they have some deep natural holts. Although it is more normal to see all three coming for food.
On the Thursday following the Monday of the tragedy, imagine our complete surprise when Lulu our head keeper popped her head around the office door and said “we have three Otters, they are all there.”
“How” I asked.
Now the mystery became ever more so.
It was clear that the young Otter was hiding, possibly from some event that had frightened him.
We can only surmise. It is possible that the young injured Otter became separated from his mother, maybe was hit on the road, possibly then it found itself at the nearest river which borders our Conservancy and then smelling our Otters, made its way into our garden. We will never know.