Tasmanian Tiger alive!

An interesting read that indicates the Thylacine, (Tasmanian Tiger), may actually still exist. If it's true then I for one would be ecstatic. Such a wonderful, strange beast. It even has a pouch!
Please be alive!!

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2003/06/18/879154.htm

Crow life.

Here's a short video of a friendly Crow enjoying a spot of lunch. She is very cool. Gotta love Corvids eh. She started by tearing off pieces and burying them then going back to eat the rest. A very interesting close study of Corvid behaviour.

Earth, Cyprus, and.....

So i'm off to Cyprus.
Binoculars at the ready I will be doing a bit of bird watching. An opportunity to see some new firsts for me. Looking forward to that. Not so keen on 100' temperatures though! It will be a great break away from the hassles at work. Look out for my new bird sightings list.

On a trip to Stover country park recently I saw a Hawfinch for the first time. Very cool. And I saw a host of Nightjars and many Glowworms. So good to see these. Finding them is tricky but if you know what your doing then they never disappoint. So far, every trip I have made I have seen and heard them all. So lucky.

In other news. Planet Earth 2.0 discovered. A new planet has been found with Earth like qualities. I have got my ticket. Bag's already packed. Where do I queue?

Spam. Love it. Discuss.

Catch up.

Not written anything for a while. Been very busy now spring has sprung.
New animals to sort out, idiots to deal with and garden to spruce up. Had help with all to make life easier.

The Swallows and Martins are back!! Brilliant.

Grass is growing fast now so need to try and keep on top of it. Had some great sunshine to help it on its way and now a little rain to motivate it. Planted some wild flowers and trimmed back the trees so gardens looking good. Thanks to the help on this too. :-)

Taking a day off is proving more difficult lately so looking forward to a good long break in July. Although not so keen on the apparent temperature in Cyprus in July being around 100+! I like warm weather but that's a bit hot for me.

There's been some good astronomical events lately. Another Dragon supply craft went over UK chasing down the ISS which made interesting live viewing and the Lyrid meteor shower gave a good show too. Venus and Jupiter been showing really well and the thinnest crescent moon a few evenings ago was spectacular.

My 4x4 training is all booked in so looking forward to that. A trip away is also coming which i am also really looking forward to. Get my car serviced and raring to go.

Stay well folks and i'll try and keep you updated more often. 

Solar Eclipse

So today i was lucky enough to have clear skies to see the Solar Eclipse. What a wonderful sight. Not 100% but around 85%. That'll do me. Had some great viewing options that worked really well. Even got some cool pictures which you can see below.

No dark skies but it went a little dusky. Nothing happened with the animals either. It didn't get dark enough. Hope you all had a great view if you had the opportunity. If you didn't, i hope you enjoy the pictures.

Thanks all.

Tapir swimming

Just for fun and interest. I filmed our Tapir having fun in their pool. Chana, (the dark faced one), and Mani, (paler face). Mother and son loving an evening swim. 

Our pool is shared by the Capybara and Tapir, (and a few Ducks and Geese). The pool is deep enough for them all to be able to dive and swim at full speed. Excellent exercise and important for natural behaviour. They do also poop in it but the pool is constantly refreshed with natural spring water flowing through it. A great feature of this large mixed exhibit enclosure.

We love to see them playing so i thought i'd share it with you.

Enjoy.

Click on the link below to see the video.

Tapir swimming fun.

Animal antics!

Wow. What a busy week!

Had important meetings and animal movements. Big news is i collected four Common Marmosets from Longleat Safari Park. They are being released in to their new enclosure today so come and see them. They are awesome. 

We have been re-vamping a few enclosures this week too. One of our animal staff has been teaching college students the art of enclosure management. The enclosure in question was the European Eagle Owl. To do this safely we had to remove the birds so they would not be stressed and workers would not get hurt. I filmed the capture which, although is stressful at the time, only took a few seconds and ultimately was better for the birds to be away from the commotion. An hour or so later they were safely returned to their re-vamped home. Good job by all involved. See video at the link below.

Some more enclosure sprucing is planned for the spring including a sand pit for our Ostrich which we hope will encourage breeding and sand bathing. 

Spring is definitely in the air as all the birds are busy nest building and mating. Exciting times.

Lots more to do but if i told you all of it you wouldn't need to come and see it. See for yourself and make a visit.

Catching a Europan Eagle Owl