Half Term Wildlife Fun at the Park!

What a crazy week it has been here at the park! One minute we have glorious sunshine and the next- torrential downpours! But not even the heavy rain can keep our amazing visitors away!
The keepers have been kept busy welcoming lots of holiday makers and local islanders to the park, as well as running all the of hands on wildlife encounters!

Today we were first joined this morning by Drew who was our Keeper-for-a-Day! Drew is from the island and was treated to this experience as a Christmas present! He had a great time learning how to be a keeper and getting up close to lots of our amazing animals. His favourite however was definitely meeting Baby Roo, our gorgeous wallaby joey who is being hand reared by the keeper team:

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We also welcomed Cameron for a meerkat encounter, where he had a great time feeding our cheeky trio some lovely meal worms! He also able to watch them as they were on full Sentry Duty, due to a couple of planes flying over head (the meerkats sometimes mistake them for birds of prey!)

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Finally this afternoon Robert visited the park with his family for his Junior Wildlife Experience! He is here on the island whilst on holiday and absolutely loves all animals. This experience was a treat, as it was also his birthday today! It was a pleasure showing Robert around the park, he was full of great questions and is a big fan of nature documentaries too!

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All the keepers would like to thank the boys for joining us today and we look forward to welcoming them again soon!

If you are interested in having a wildlife encounter of your own, just visit our website for more information:
http://www.seaviewwildlife.com/summary/wildlife_encounters/

DIPPY THE PENGUIN TO PROMOTE ISLE OF WIGHT TOURISM

http://www.iwradio.co.uk/articles/2013-05-30-dippy-the-penguin-to-promote-the-island-

Seaview Wildlife’s Recruitment Drive!

The dynamic ‘Multi-Award Winning Seaview Wildlife Encounter’ requires additional team members to fill the following seasonal roles -
Entrance Receptionist/Gift Shop Vacancy
A multi-task position to cover days off and busy periods in both departments.  This position requires a mature, experienced person with excellent front of house/customer care skills .  Up to date references will be required. 20+ hours per week increasing during peak periods.  Immediate start to September.
Catering Department
The Catering Department has a vacancy for a team player that can handle extreme busy periods with serving the public, cleaning, clearing tables, coffee/ice cream machines, use of tills with excellent customer care skills.  No cooking involved.  Up to date references will be required. 20+ hours per week increasing during peak periods.  Immediate start to September.



Both these positions are five days a week to include bank holidays and weekends and hours are flexible according to weather and trade.  Please apply in writing only via email to Lorraine Adams - info@seaviewwildlife.com with current references or by post to Seaview Wildlife Encounter, Oakhill Road, Seaview, Isle Of Wight. PO34 5AP

Closing Date for applications – 5th June, 2013

Email of the Day

We have just received an email from another Island Business – Lifeline Security to congratulate us on our recent award.  Thank you lifeline for taking the time to send us such positive praise – the team really appreciate this.

“  Dear Lorraine

We just wanted to say congratulations from the team at Lifeline on winning the certificate of excellence 2013 for the Seaview Wildlife Encounter.

It is genuinely pleasing to see Island Companies receiving accolades for their hard work in this difficult economic climate – you and your staff should be very proud of yourselves.

We even mentioned it on our facebook page!

Well done again, very well deserved and our best wishes for a successful summer season”

Kind regards

Cindy “

Fun in the rain!

Alice Elkins braved the rain yesterday for a very soggy Keeper for the Day. Regardless of the weather Alice had a fabulous day with the keepers and animals even saying she didn’t want to leave!

In the same day Nadine Randall put on her water proofs and treated herself to a Meerkat Encounter! Because she adores Meerkats so much!

DIPPY THE PENGUINS ISLE OF WIGHT ADVENTURES

http://www.visitisleofwight.co.uk/media-and-trade/news/2013/5/24/dippy-the-penguin-s-adventures-on-the-isle-of-wight-a101

Letter of the Week!

Last week we were sent a lovely message from Stuart Kelly, who recently visited the park along with his wife Lisa and parents Anne and Mike, for a fantastic Combo Encounter with our Penguins and Meerkats!

“ Hi Seaview,
On Tuesday 14th May, my wife Lisa and parents Anne & Mike came along to Seaview for the Penguin & Meerkat Combo Encounter. We were met by our guide Tara, who was brilliant throughout.
First we met Dippy & Co in the Penguin enclosure to give them a bite to eat, sprats to be exact. This was followed by a encounter with three mischievous Meerkats, who even despite the wet weather, still made an appearance on our laps to delve into a tray of mealworms.
But the highlight of the day for us, had to be meeting the little balls of velvet, four Penguin chicks only one week old. This was such a privilege and something we will never forget.
On behalf of my wife Lisa and parents, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Tara and Seaview Wildlife Park for such a wonderful day.
See you again soon
Stuart Kelly
ps) Even before we got back to South Wales, Dippy had 4 new Facebook friends! ”

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During their time at the park Stuart & Lisa were also able to capture some amazing photos of our animals, which they have submitted into this years Photographer of the Year competition:

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On behalf of everyone here at Seaview we would like to thank Stuart, Lisa, Anne & Mike for being such wonderful guests and we look forward to welcoming them back again soon!

TRIP ADVISOR 2013 EXCELLENCE WINNER FOR SEAVIEW WILDLIFE–SECOND YEAR IN A ROW!

PRESS RELEASE–DIPPY THE PENGUIN’S ADVENTURES ON THE ISLE OF WIGHT

Dippy The Penguin’s Adventures on the Isle of Wight

Launch date Tuesday 28th May at 12.30pm.

The Needles Park and Seaview Wildlife Encounter launch a new and exciting cross marketing project with the help of ‘Dippy The Penguin’ the first real Penguin to ever be launched onto Facebook!

Dippy aims to promote Island Tourism with a creative theme that captures the imagination of everyone who loves Penguins. His adventures see him travel through time and space to different locations on the Isle of Wight.

The creative project will see Dippy the ‘real penguin’ superimposed into a variety of Isle of Wight locations accompanied by short narrative about his adventures and will be played out through posts on his Facebook page www.facebook.com/Dippyseaview

Dippy's Adventures will then be developed into a series of children's books which are planned to be published towards the end of the year.



Lorraine Adams, Director at Seaview Wildlife explains, "Dippy's adventures will be educational and fun. Dippy aims to promote outside activities, Island heritage and the environment. Dippy's mission is to show children how exciting and diverse the Island can be . . . We look forward to developing this exciting project with other local businesses and organisations over the summer."

Royal Visit:
A Queen Victoria re-enactor will officially launch 'Dippy's Adventures on the Isle of Wight' at Seaview Wildlife Encounter on Tuesday 28th May at 12.30pm.

The ceremony will proceed with the cutting of a ribbon to open the Penguin Pool with a new ‘ Needles Lighthouse Development’ - an exciting new installation, comprising of a Needles and Lighthouse scale model recreation alongside the existing pool area.

The creative theme to Dippy's Adventures on the Isle of Wight is based upon the idea that the new lighthouse installation at Seaview will contain a magic door that is just big enough for a penguin to squeeze through. . .

Mary Cracknell, Marketing Manager at the Needles Park commented "We are very excited about the new developments at Dippy's Penguin Pool and look forward to Dippy's magic door transporting him across the Island to the real Needles, where we will see him start off on his adventures around the Isle of Wight to a variety of destinations"

More entries for our Photographer of the Year Competition!

Last week we were sent some fantastic images from Stuart and Lisa Kelly who visited the park recently and took part in a Combo Encounter with our cheeky Penguins and Meerkats!
They managed to capture some great shots during their time with us of our ‘Animals in Action’ including one of our Meerkats Lula showing off her impressive teeth!
Check out their entries below:

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Each year we run this competition here at the park to see who can capture the best photos!
If you are interested in entering the competition you can find details on our website:
http://www.seaviewwildlife.com/summary/photography_competition/


The theme for this year is “Animals in action” – images can show Park animals on their own, in groups or interacting with a Keeper or visitor – as long as they are action-orientated!

We look forward to seeing your entries!

LETTER OF THE WEEK

“  Dear Tara
I wanted to let you know how very much John and I enjoyed our day at Seaview Wildlife Encounter on Thursday.  We were thrilled to get up close to the animals and birds and you were such a friendly guide.

I think the highlights for us was being able to hold the penguin chicks and the little orphaned Joey.  Please also pass on our thanks to the ladies in the restaurant.  The table looked lovely and they made us feel very special.


When we got home we looked at all the photos you had taken and just re-lived the day all over again.  The next day we were thrilled to see ourselves on your blog.

Tanith our daughter is on twitter and she put a message on here from us as John and I are not on Face Book or twitter!.  We will definitely be returning and hope that next year we can have another ‘ Wildest Date’.  All the best John & Viv xxx “

A RIGHT ROYAL VISIT !

Tuesday 28^th May 2013 from 11am to 2pm.



On her travels around the Island this May Bank Holiday, Queen Victoria will be paying Seaview Wildlife Encounter a visit to meet Dippy our famous facebook Penguin!
We will be rolling out the red carpet for Queen Victoria and Dippy where everyone will have the chance to meet her and all of  our wonderful animals at the Park so please join us on this momentous day!

Combo Encounter for four!

  Stuart, Lisa, Anne and Mike were our most popular guests in the Park this morning as the Penguins and Meerkats got MORE sprats and Mealworms fed to them then they knew what to do with!

Thanks to Stuart and Lisa,  Anne and Mike were given this unique opportunity to meet our Potty Penguins and Mischievous Meerkats during a ‘Combo Encounter’ as a Christmas present and Stuart and Lisa having visited the Park before thought they would join in on the fun too!

Despite the wet weather our four guests had a great time and here are a few photos to prove it….

http://www.seaviewwildlife.com/wildlife_encounters/Combo_Encounters/

Todays Encounters!

Today we had not one but two interactive Animal Encounters with our popular Meerkats and Penguins!

Olive and Ron Smith enjoyed feeding our Meerkats some tasty treats, whilst Chris, Chris and Caroline enjoyed feeding our Hungry Humboldt Penguins some smelly sprats!

Great fun was had by all and here are just a few photos of our guests experience….

If you would like to treat yourself or someone special to a unique Wildlife Encounter follow this link

http://www.seaviewwildlife.com/wildlife_encounters/One_on_One_Wildlife_Encounters/

THE WINGED CRUSADER! AKA Brian the Goose

Over the years the keepers have noticed something quite lovely about Brian the goose. Unlike the rest of the top pool residence, it seems he can’t stand by and watch any wrong doings in his part of town.

Anytime the keepers have to catch up a duck from his pool he will always come to the ducks rescue, seeing the keepers off and helping the ducks to escape. And in the spring when the male ducks get a little too flirty with our female ducks he can be seen fending the males off and saving the day, what a true hero!

Brian (above) having a bath with his fellow duck friends.

The Geese & the Swan!

Down at the lower lake this week the keepers noticed something strange!
Over the last few weeks we have been watching a pair of Canada Geese build a nest together and have seen them lay several eggs.

This week however we were very surprised to find that it wasn’t either of the geese sat on the eggs incubating them- but a swan!

We are not sure what started this strange partnership and whether we might see a mix of goslings or cygnets but we will keep you updated as the story develops!
We have also spotted another pair of Canada Geese who have successfully hatched their brood and have some very cute goslings!

Sophie Hales Penguin Encounter!

Yesterday we were visited by Sophie Hale who took part in a very special Penguin Encounter!
Sophie is from the Island and visits the park regularly. She also won our ‘Name the Penguin’ competition last month! Her suggestion of ‘Kiki’ was chosen for one of our female penguins- seen in the photo below on the right with red & yellow coloured tags.

Sophie first fed the Humboldt Penguins lots of their favourite fish and then was able to get up close to a few of our friendly characters!

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After that we took Sophie to the Incubation House where she met our gorgeous baby penguin chicks and watched them have their afternoon feed!

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Shoresearch 2013

Each summer the team at the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust runs a series of surveys called Shoresearch, which aim to record and study the marine life of our local shores.
Shoresearch not only helps to increase our overall knowledge and understanding of our local marine environment but also helps to identify and monitor changes that may affect the marine life e.g. climate change, invasive species and local developments.



The surveys are very straightforward and are always carried out at low tide.Volunteers are needed in order to ensure that valuable information is collected and action is taken to help preserve our biodiversity-rich shorelines.

Some of the keepers here at the park are involved in Shoresearch and if you would like to volunteer and learn more about your local shore and the marine life it contains then please do get in touch!
For more information including dates please visit the Shoresearch website:

http://www.hiwwt.org.uk/pages/shoresearch-training-and-survey-information.html

The surveys are free to take part but booking is essential so please fill out a booking form and email it to the Marine Officer Amy Dale on Amyd@hwt.org.uk

Our first ‘Wildest Place for a Special Date’ of the season!

We had the pleasure of celebrating Vivien and John’s special Golden Wedding Anniversary here at the Park on this glorious morning as they enjoyed our unique ‘Wildest Place for a Special Date' package, our first of the season!

Vivien and John, local to the Island, wanted to make their special day one to remember and having never visited the Park before in all the years they have lived here thought this would be a perfect way to celebrate 50 years of marriage!

I gave Vivien and John a guided tour of the Park, allowing them to really get close to the animals and to meet some of our special residents……

…….before finishing off with a well deserved champagne lunch for two!

Judging by the smiles on their faces throughout the morning I can safely say that John and Vivien had a wonderful time and have said they may even come again next year…

It was an absolute pleasure to share this time with them both and we look forward to hopefully seeing them again soon!

http://www.seaviewwildlife.com/wildlife_encounters/Wildest_date/

Work Experience Student Sophie

Sophie Bradfield spent two busy weeks with us on a work experience placement and it was her last day with us yesterday. Sophie was a pleasure to have around and provided valuable help to our keepers here. She got stuck into every aspect of the job and got a real taster for what life is like as an Animal Keeper. We wish you all the best for the future Sophie, come and see us all again soon!

Junior Wildlife Experience- Matthew Woolford

Islander Matthew Woolford enjoyed a unique Junior Wildlife Experience on a glorious sunny afternoon!

Here are just a few special moments that Keeper Becky caught on camera of Matthew’s close encounters…

….all the while carrying a Joey in his rucsack!