Alison behaving badly!

Poor Alison, our trustee Animal Keeper/Work experience student....no she wasn't behaving badly, but what with catching up ducklings, feeding penguin chicks and clearing drains, Education Officer/Animal Keeper Tara got so caught up in it all that she locked Alison in...whoops!



Park director Lorraine received a panicked phone call for help as the public started throwing bird food for her through the fence!


Apologies Alison I didn't do it on purpose...I promise, at least she saw the funny side!!!

The Keeper's have their hands full with Humboldt Penguin Chicks at Seaview Wildlife, Isle Of Wight

As you can see we currently have our hands full with ducklings and penguin chicks this Easter!

The reason for this is some of the parents from our eight breeding pairs of Humboldt Penguins don't always make brilliant parents, and can be a bit heavy footed and clumsy at times.... therefore the Animal Keepers here at the Park do sometimes have to intervene and take over the role of rearing these fragile little chicks.
At the moment we are hand rearing 4/7 chicks! This means we have to feed the greedy penguin chicks liquidised sprats and vitamins 4 x a day every four hours, recording their progress and weight each time.

Today we had the added task of weighing those penguin chicks still on the nest with their parents....unfortunately it can be stressful but this is completely necessary to ensure that all the chicks are being fed properly and gaining sufficient weight.


The photos here show a penguin chick hatching as we speak!

On this occasion it was necessary to 'pull' the chick from its parents, who currently have one other chick, due to the fact it was struggling to hatch!

The penguin chick will be incubated until it hatches and regains strength, then all being well will be able to join the other youngsters for a well earned snuggle before the next feed in the Incubation House where visitors can view the chicks being fed at 12.15pm and 4 pm daily....


....it's a hard life!

Quotes of the Week (the very first week of opening)

The Park opened on Saturday (27th March) and it has been cold and rainy all week ~ where is the much-needed sunshine?

We have six baby penguins that have hatched this week - three hatched on the day of opening! Ducklings are popping out of shells in the incubation house and joeys are peeking out of Mother Wallaby pouches! We have been given two tiny baby rabbits for our Pets Corner and all the Willow trees at the lower lake are coming into bloom. Spring is here and the Park looks beautiful we just need some sunny days....

Quotes of the week

"Wonderful day out. All staff fantastic! loved the Wallabies" Singleton Family - Warwickshire

A wonderful day even though it rained. It was fantastic to have such a perfect and personal display of all the animals" Peter & Andrea Hardy

"An excellent way to spend my 23rd birthday. Particularly enjoyed the Flamingos and Wallabies" Robert Hicks

"FANTASTIC!! Wonderful staff, gorgeous animals and a brilliant day out! Beware the ducks!"

Sparrowhawk preys on feral pigeon at the Park - caught on camera

Out in the Park yesterday late afternoon, two birds shot past me - one in hot pursuit of the other, just a flash of movement, swooping through narrow spaces like two miniature fighter pilots engaged in combat .... moments later I witnessed this Sparrowhawk, bright eyed and alert, on top of her pigeon prey. She was surrounded by a group of Peafowl who had gathered to watch and perhaps even to participate in the event - the Sparrowhawk had to raise her wings intermittently at the Peafowl to keep them at bay. I've included some key facts about the Sparrowhawk:

This is a Eurasian (or Northern) Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus); a small bird of prey. Adult males have bluish grey upperparts and orange-barred underparts; females and juveniles are brown above with brown barring below - we think that the visitor to our Park was probably a female. The females are up to 25% larger than the males – one of the largest differences between the sexes in any bird species.
The Sparrowhawk is a predator that specialises in catching woodland birds. There are an estimated 40 000 resident throughout the UK. Sparrowhawks seem to thrive in a variety of habitats and are often seen hunting for garden birds in urban and suburban areas. The smaller male Sparrowhawk tends to hunt for smaller birds such as tits, finches, and sparrows; whereas the larger female is more likely to take thrushes and starlings - however, as can be seen in my photo, female Sparrowhawks are capable of killing larger birds such as pigeons (sometimes weighing more than 500grams).

JOIN THE TRAIL FOR WILDLIFE DELIGHTS!

Over the EASTER WEEKEND, Seaview Wildlife Encounter is hosting the Great Mystery Wildlife Quiz Trail.
Visitors can hunt for hidden wildlife clues and even be part of the popular, hands-on wildlife encounters.
There are free creamy Easter eggs if you discover all the answers. The star prize is a giant basket of egg-cellent Easter goodies.
Entry forms are available at the Park entrance.

New arrivals have also landed at the Park - Amazing Alpacas that look just like giant teddy bears.
Dippy, the Park's head-honcho Humboldt Penguin, is the first real penguin to be launched on Facebook. To become friends with Dippy, just search for Dippy Seaview.

The Penguin brigade have been very busy recently. They've been building ground nests and laying eggs ready to hatch their chicks in the next few weeks. You can help feed the Penguins at 11.30am and 3.30pm every day.

Two new female Meerkats have also joined the Park recently and they've really bowled over the three boys at the Park. The gang are at their most mischievous right now and are a joy to watch. Feeding time is at 2.15pm daily.

The three otters, who arrived last Easter, were quite shy on arrival - but not anymore. The three brothers are cheeky, noisy and always hungry. When the Keepers go into their enclosure they have to watch out, because the otters bite their boots!

For the ultimate otter observation, watch them being fed at 3pm daily.

Seaview Wildlife Encounter has just launched its new website and Blog. Log on regularly to keep up to date with what's happening at the Park.

Ducklings are starting to hatch and the baby Joey Wallabies are peeking out of their mother's pouches.

By Jules Brittan and Jamie White

Vet's Visit to the Park

Our vet, Dr Ian Green, has visited the Park - for a final check up of some of our animals and birds prior to our re-opening this Saturday, 27th March.

Dr Green consulted on various small issues, but most of his time was spent in a make-shift surgery (in one of our offices!) where he and his assisting vet nurse castrated our five male Wallabies. This was necessary in order to avoid in-breeding in our Wallaby mob. We'll be considering bringing in a new stud male in due course in order to continue the strong bloodlines in our breeding programme.

Our Albino Joey hits the headlines in Times Online today!

See the full article online: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/biology_evolution/article7070424.ece
Our little Albino Wallaby Joey made a grand appearance for the press - and appeared in the Times online today. You can get up close by visiting us anytime from this Saturday 27th March.