Anneliese bids farewell

It's time for Anneliese Taylor, our work experience student, to bid farewell to the keepers and Animals after spending three weeks on a work placement here at the park.

Always busy feeding up ducklings and chopping up fruit, Anneliese worked very hard along side our Animal Keepers and we will miss her very much!
Due to Anneliese's quiet nature we were all thrilled when she announced that she would like to have a go at giving the Wallaby presentation at 2.15pm. Despite the large crowd and the mob of Wallaby's close on her tail, Anneliese proved to be a natural!

So thanks again Anneliese, good luck with your further studies and hope to see you again!

Keeper for a day- Georgie Atkinson

Twelve year old Georgie Atkinson decided to come to the Park and help the Animal Care Team and experience what it's like to be behind the scenes working as an Animal Keeper.

Georgie is hoping to work with animals when she leaves school, so what better experience than to become A Keeper for a Day at Seaview Wildlife Encounter and really get stuck in!

Georgie worked along side Education Officer, Tara, where she had the chance to feed the Pelicans, Wallabies, Penguins AND Meerkats, just some of Georgie's highlights of the day.

And after all that hard work we ended the day with a gentle stroll with our woolly Alpacas!

Letters of the week

TO ALL THE STAFF (July 25th, 2010)

I just wanted to say what a brilliant place the Park is. We visited on Friday, at the end of a weeks holiday on the Isle Of Wight, and it was easily the best part of our holiday. Everything about the Park was perfect and we both loved the ability to get up close to the animals (especially feeding the wallabies - that was the highlight of our holiday).

All the staff were really helpful and informative - and didn't mind that we were acting like 2 big kids! We thought it was brilliant value and are looking forward to visiting again in the future. We have recommended to our family and friends as the day was just perfect.

A huge thanks to all of you,

Best Wishes,
Chrissie Monksfield, Lincoln.

VET VISITS SEAVIEW WILDLIFE (28 JULY 2010)

Dr Ian Green had a scheduled visit to the Park at 8.00 this morning – with the primary task of micro-chipping this year’s Penguin chicks (this is mandatory in terms of zoo regulations). All nine chicks were successfully caught (thanks especially to Head keeper, Craig who has a real knack!) The most challenging capture was the parent-reared chick (the other 8 chicks have been Keeper-reared and are therefore less skittish). The image, above left, shows an action shot of the ‘wild child chick’ being rounded up and captured ready to be micro-chipped! Thankfully, all went off smoothly – the image above right shows the micro-chipping in progress!

A close up shot of Dr Ian Green micro-chipping one of the Penguin chicks this morning

Harvest Mice in new hide-away

I captured this endearing image of two of our juvenile Harvest Mice earlier today – they have taken the ends of a frayed rope within their enclosure and creatively built themselves a snug hide-away (or perhaps a luxury hammock!)

In the wild these tiny Mice usually inhabit dry reed beds, hedgerows, bramble bushes, hay meadows and some crop fields. They are very active, agile little animals, using their prehensile tail to grasp grass stalks. By winding their tail around a stalk they can quickly climb up tall stems to find the seeds at the top. They feed mainly on seeds, buds, berries, fruit, bulbs, and new grass shoots, but a small proportion of their diet is made up of insects, particularly in the summer, as well as roots, moss and fungi. They hide some of their food underground ready for the less abundant winter months.

Here at the Park we take pride in providing our resident Harvest Mice with a varied diet – incorporating as much of their natural grains, seeds, berries and fruit as possible. We regularly place wild flowers inside their enclosure – not only to provide a varied food source but also as enrichment. The flowers, leaves and stalks (including the inevitable accompanying insect) seem to be a real feast for their senses – it’s very rewarding to watch as the little Mice examine their new foliage with obvious excitement – the very moment it arrives!

MAX McCONACHIE – KEEPER-FOR-A-DAY (25 JULY 2010)

Max spent the day with us on Sunday – as Keeper-for-a-day! These images show our Head Keeper, Craig (left), Max (centre) and Animal Keeper, Holly Cluitt (right) enjoying some time at the Penguin Pool.

Max ‘shadowed’ Craig and Holly and said he really enjoyed spending time with all the birds and animals and seeing how things work behind the scenes.

If you’d like to know more about becoming a Keeper-for-a-Day please see our website for details.

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