Please Vote – Family Traveller Awards 2015

Family Traveller Awards 2015 - Please Vote!

Great News!  The Isle of Wight has been shortlisted in the Best Domestic Destination For Families category in the Family Traveller Awards 2015.  Please vote for our beautiful Island  -  www.familytravellerawards.com

Opening today at 10am….

The Park is closed today due to heavy rains….

The Park is closed today Sunday July 26th 2015 due to heavy rains and very wet weather… Apologies for any inconvenience and we will re-open tomorrow at 10am ….

Moulting penguins…..

A penguin's feathers are very important for keeping them warm and dry while they are in the cold ocean water. Over time their feathers may wear and break (imagine wearing a sweater everyday for a year, it is bound to get some holes in it, and look a little worse for wear). In order to replace these feathers, penguins go through what is called a moult, where their old feathers are pushed out and replaced by new ones.



A penguin's moult is sometimes called a catastrophic moult, because unlike most birds that will moult a few feathers at a time, penguins moult all of their feathers all at once.  If you look at some of these pictures you can see that catastrophic is a good description, they often look like exploding pillows.

Moulting is a 3 stage process and starts weeks before the penguins actually replaces any feathers. Their bodies are making the new feathers while they are gorging themselves on fish which they must do to increase body weight to endure the 2nd stage. Penguins are not waterproof when they moult, so in stage 2 they stay on land for 2-3 weeks fasting until the new feathers have emerged from below the skin.   When the weather is hot the keeper team apply factor 50 suncream to their bare skin as sometimes in captivity our penguins lose their feathers and look patchy and bare before the new feathers are ready to push through.  During that time they will not eat, so a few weeks prior to the moult they will increase their food intake to build up a fat reserve to live off of while they are on land. Since we record how many fish each penguin eats everyday we can usually recognize when a penguin is getting ready to moult since their daily food totals can double or even triple. In the wild stage 3 involves returning to the sea to replenish lost body weight.
Here are a few pictures of some of our penguins right before they start moulting, notice how much bigger they look than a normal penguin.

Reddish Buff Moth Project

Seaview Wildlife has become greatly involved in the conservation and monitoring of an extremely rare Moth. The Reddish Buff Moth which is classed as an endangered species, breeds in sparse open vegetation where the larvae feed on leaves of Saw-wort and is only found in very localised areas of the Isle of Wight.

Tara, Head Keeper, is working closely alongside other BIAZA collections on the Island as well as the Butterfly Conservation Trust and The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Trust to survey and monitor the distribution, breeding and feeding habits of this allusive Moth in the hope that we can encourage the overall population to increase and conserve the natural habitat in which it exists.

Tara has been trained to use a suction sampling method in order to survey areas of the Isle of Wight including Cranmore SSSI, Bouldner and Parkhurstwhich may be home to the Moths larvae.

 

Now the weather has warmed up, surveys are well underway but unfortunately we have yet to find any Moth larvae!

 

Feathery facts….

Did you know?  Thanks to selective breeding, it’s common for captive peafowl to buck the iridescent trend for all white feathers. This is called leucism, and it’s due to a genetic mutation that causes loss of pigmentation. These peafowl are often mistaken for being albino, but instead of having red eyes, animals with leucism retain their normal eye color.

 

Only the males are actually ‘ Peacocks ‘

  With its massive tail and iridescent colours, this bird has long fascinated its human observers—and we’re still learning its secrets. For example, a study recently published in The British Journal of Animal Behaviour says that when a peacock fans its ornamented train for the ladies during mating season, its feathers quiver, emitting a low-frequency sound inaudible to human ears. Depending on whether they want to attract females from far away or up close, they can change the sound by shaking different parts of their feathers. (They’re not the only animals that create infrasonic sounds. Elephants produce them with their vocal cords, most likely to communicate over long distances.)

Brunch, Lunch and Afternoon Tea are a real treat at Seaview….

 

The Gallery at Seaview

Our Gallery showcases some incredible Island talent – beautiful landscapes by local artist Jamie Russell www.islandvisions.co.uk



Wight Wildlife Photographer Stuart Shore exhibits captivating wildlife and landscape images  www.wightwildlife.co.uk



Ed at  www.gloryartglass.com designs some beautiful pieces and the bespoke penguins are a very popular line in our gift shop!


Maria Ward www.mariaward.co.uk has a quirky, charming style painting seascapes in a truly unique style!

      

Come on over to Seaview and browse in the Gallery ….  so much talent on such a small Island !

On the menu today….

Home made quiche, new potato salad, fresh mixed leaves & home made slaw… delish !

 

Sandcastles for Sealife Fundraiser August 16th

On Sunday 16th August, the Your Seas People & Port project is running its first ‘Sandcastles for Sealife’ competition on Appley Beach, Ryde, Isle of Wight.  Entrance costs just £5 for a 2 x 2 metre plot of sand to create a sealife themed masterpiece!  Please come along and join in supporting this worthwhile cause

http://www.orcaweb.org.uk/news/sandcastles-for-sealife-fundraiser

Remember our photographic competition 2015

Don't forget to enter our photographic competition 2015 http://www.seaviewwildlife.com/social-hub.aspx