Thank You Email From Marian Wade - Wildlife Photographic Competition Winner

 

We received an email from Marian Wade earlier today, the winner of the Adult Category of our 2010 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition.  Included below are three other images that Marian submitted into this year’s competition.

We have also included (bottom left) Marian's winning entries into the 2010 Wightlife photographic competition - well done Marian!!
We plan to decorate an area in our Discovery Zone with some of the many wonderful images that Marian has taken over the years of our birds and animals.

 

Hi Jules,

I had a large parcel delivered yesterday - thank you so very very much!   I loved the book, the pictures are stunning. I see Andy Rouse had another winner with his Tiger picture.  I went on one of his lectures in January as he was at Chester, and it was brilliant.

I will look forward to visiting Jessops, I didn't expect the gift voucher to be so much, that is very kind of you. The surprise didn't end there though, as I read the letter from Miss Lorraine Adams  it had a family pass for another visit.  "I will just have to keep myself as fit and well as I can" said Tony, "So we can make another visit next year"

I will look through all my Seaview pictures and sort out my favourites.  I guess the ones I have entered into your competition will be high on my favourite list, but I will enjoy looking back through them all, and I'll be in touch soon. In the meantime I will be sending you a written thank you later today, this email is just to let you know the parcel arrived.

Wishing you and the team all the very best,

With love from Marian.

PS. Even though your park is closed I'm pleased to see your keeping up the blog  - I'm convinced I won't be the only avid reader!

PPS. Just thought you may like to see the images Wightlife displayed of mine this year.

Important BIAZA assessment visit to Seaview Wildlife Encounter

Regular Blog-followers may remember an article from earlier this year announcing our acceptance as provisional BIAZA members (British & Irish Association of Zoos & Aquaria). This took place after a visit from Dr Miranda Stevenson and Mr David Field, both from BIAZA (David is also Director of ZSL – London and Whipsnade Zoos). David kindly took on the role of being the Park’s mentor in working towards full BIAZA membership.

Yesterday, six months after the initial visit, David returned to the Park, this time accompanied by Lesley Dickie (Director of EAZA – European Association of Zoos & Aquaria) and Adrian Walls (Manager of Birds London Zoo). The intention of the visit was to assess the Park for full BIAZA status. It seems as though the day went really well and that the recommendation for full status will be made at the next membership meeting to be held in March 2011. It would certainly be a great accolade to coincide with our 40th anniversary year!

Image above from left: David Field, Lesley Dickie and Adrian Walls – taken yesterday, a particularly cold winter’s afternoon at Seaview Wildlife Encounter (29th November 2010).

Celebrations at the 2010 Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce Business Awards for Excellence!

Five team members from Seaview Wildlife Encounter attended this year’s Isle of Wight Chamber of Business Awards for Excellence held at the Yacht Haven in Cowes. Group photo above from left to right: Alison Kinnett, Tracy Manning, Fern Daly and Jake Cousins (Jules Brittan top right).

Looking glamorous (despite the freezing temperatures outside!) at this high-profile, black-tie event – photo above (left to right) : Alison, Jake, Fern and Tracy representing Seaview Wildlife Encounter in receiving the 2010 award of Highly Commended in the category Best Small Business.

ELVIS THE ‘BOOTED BANTAM’

Elvis was given his name by one of our Park visitors – because of his ‘flaired trouser look’.

Having done some cursory research, it would seem that our Elvis is a Golden-Necked Booted Bantam (otherwise known as a Golden Neck d'Uccle Bantam). He’s not necessarily a pedigree, but certainly recognisable and undoubtedly handsome! We were donated two of these character-full cockerels but unfortunately had to separate them after some nasty feather-bashing took place (they’re extremely territorial).

Bantam chickens are known to be faster and "spunkier" than their larger counterparts. Full of ‘attitude’ and known for their aggressive ‘puffed up’ disposition these chickens can be quite comical in stature and behaviour. Our Elvis is a fine example of that! He ‘chats’ and struts about, making a song and dance out of everything he does!

Elvis is certainly very popular at the Park. Now that our visitors aren’t here to admire him he’s taken to spending time with the Keepers as well as being pursued on a daily basis by three un-Bantam but friendly females – namely a Silver Pheasant, a Mallard duck and one of our battery-rescued brown hens.

‘I just can’t help believing’ that, despite the ‘suspicious minds’ of his current female admirers who ‘can’t help falling in love’ with him, we might be able to find a couple of Booted Bantam Birds for Elvis to get ‘All shook up with’ next year!

TWO TINY SURPRISES BORN AT THE PARK!

 

A few weeks ago we moved our Harvest Mice Micromys Minutus into beautiful new display tanks – a safer, better option than the wooden, glass-fronted cabinets  that housed them  previously – unfortunately these proved to be not entirely escape proof…….  We now have four glass tanks – two new ones for the two adult groups- males in one, females in the other.  Then there are two smaller tanks underneath – one we’ve made home for a breeding pair and one that is ready for the juveniles to spend a few weeks once they’re weaned from their Mum but not yet ready to join the adult groups.    

The two Harvest Mice that I selected as our new breeding pair hadn’t produced a litter before, and I was beginning to wonder if perhaps the chemistry wasn’t quite right between them!  However, I decided to leave them together in case they were slow starters and hoped they’d snuggle their way through a winter courtship ready to produce babies in the Spring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imagine our surprise when peeking into the breeding tank yesterday morning – to see two tiny new faces peeking out of the nest!  We don’t heat the Discovery Zone (where we house our Harvest Mice) during winter, so although the mice are completely draft-free they’re more likely to produce litters in the Spring and Summer.  So these two babies are a real gift!  Hidden from view in their nest of hay, the baby mice are born pink after a gestation of between 18 to 21 days. Once the youngsters are approximately 8 weeks old they’ll be weaned and ready to move to the nursery tank. 

Until recently, I had been lead to believe that Harvest Mice are Britain’s smallest mammal – however, it was recently pointed out that, although a close call between the Harvest Mouse, Pygmy Shrew and Pipistrelle Bat – the Pygmy Shrew is fractionally the smallest!

Behind the Scenes in Winter – Ad Hoc Projects

 

It’s quite different here at the Park during the winter months.  From the end of October till a week before Easter each year the Park is closed to visitors.  This is a time for maintenance, repairs and development of the grounds, buildings and enclosures – everything from building new exhibits to  draining lakes and ponds!

Once the gates have been closed to the public, the retail and catering divisions start to pack away – deep cleaning scrubs and stock taking are the focus for the first week or two, then the treasure troves of gifts are packed away safely until Spring returns.  Most of the staff in these two divisions are employed on a seasonal basis but one or two kindly assist with ad hoc projects in the Park during the colder months.  An example of one such project is the decorating of the toilet blocks this winter.  Sound boring? No way!!  Sally (our retail manager) came up with the idea of drawing and painting fun versions of some of our animals inside the ‘loo cubicles’!  Sally and Julie (our receptionist) have been busy over the past few days – and their plan is already coming together – it’s undoubtedly going to put a smile on the faces of those visiting our loos in the future!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image above left – Sally (L) and Julie (R) on their way to buy painting supplies!  Image above right – the artistic two-some working wonders with their imaginations and paint brushes!

Cool winds blow in Frisky ALPACA behaviour!

Out in Wallaby Walkabout this morning the Alpacas had a few mad moments …… the images above show how it started – with a cheeky nudge and a nibble ……….

Then the play fighting and rough and tumble really began ………….

Sometimes looking like two young stags, sometimes like two boisterous rams and the rest of the time more like a heap of woolly camels! Our two boys seemed to have a great time romping around together – albeit looking rather ungainly – Olly the Pygmy goat was intrigued and tried to join in the fun, but this was strictly a game for Alpacas only!