Does anyone know where Chester's Sand Lizard stock originate from- are they from the (Northern) Lancashire Dune population or elsewhere?
Yes, from Ainsdale. See https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uk...-lizards-return-to-land-of-their-fathers.html
Wildwood are supplying 29 captive-bred hazel dormice to a reintroduction project taking place near Coventry (a total of 39 animals to be released). The 2018 release site is just a few miles away from the release site for last year - it is hoped that as the dormice naturally increase in number the two populations will meet in time. More information on the link below: Wildwood leads the fight as rare hazel dormice are released to the wild today to halt National Extinction | Wildwood Trust
The June newsletter for the park has mentioned several pieces of news I haven't seen elsewhere, but the main one of interest to Zoochatters is most likely the opening of a new reptile house opposite the Rat Barn. Nine different animals are mentioned in all: - Corn snake, California kingsnake and four-lined snake - Common toad, common frog and tree frog (species unspecified for the latter) - Hissing cockroach, tarantulas and millipedes (species unspecified for either of the latter animals) The species not native to Britain (the enormous majority of them) are supposedly to represent common pet species that can then end up released into the countryside. June Newsletter | Wildwood Trust
I suppose the Adders and other British reptiles could have been moved into the new reptile house,along with Aesculapian Snakes (small wild colony lives somewhere in Wales)
Some news from the December newsletter: - Four rescued and underweight hazel dormice are being cared for at Wildwood over the winter, for re-release next spring. - A new and late litter of water voles have been born in the conservation breeding area. - The final stages of construction are taking place for a new enclosure that will house Wildwood's current pair of Eurasian lynx. More information is included on the link below: Newsletter - December 2018 | Wildwood Trust
Some news at Wildwood from the February newsletter: - The new Eurasian lynx enclosure has been completed. - The red-necked wallaby paddock is being replaced with a large walkthrough enclosure for red squirrels that will extend from the otter enclosure to the konik horse paddock (the wallabies remain at the park, but have moved up next to the fallow deer - see map included at the bottom of the post). - A juvenile male wild boar that was born last year at the park has left for ZSL Whipsnade to help with their breeding programme. - The Scottish wildcat enclosures have recently had a makeover and there will hopefully be further individuals arriving at Wildwood soon. This information plus some other news is included in the link below: Newsletter - February 2019 | Wildwood Trust The updated park map, including the location of the upcoming red squirrel walkthrough, is included below: https://wildwoodtrust.org/sites/default/files//wildwood-media/Files/Wildwood_Map_2019.jpg
The wild boar have recently had two young piglets born; they are starting to emerge from their birth nest. There the first new births of the year with other births expected soon from the red squirrels, reindeer and Soay sheep. More information is included on the link below: Wildwood Welcome First Babies Of The Year | Wildwood Trust
There have been several news updates from Wildwood. Things that are of note include: From the July 2019 newsletter: Wildwood provided 16 of 22 hazel dormice recently released at two sites in Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, as part of a project to bolster previously reintroduced populations. Two new green lizards have been released into their new enclosure. The fallow deer herd have moved to an enclosure next to the European elk, in order to give the ground in their old enclosure time to recover. Wildwood Newsletter - July 2019 | Wildwood Trust From the August 2019 newsletter: Three red squirrel kits have recently been born; these will be moved to Wales once they reach adulthood to be released into the wild. Five baby green lizards have recently been born (currently living off-show). Over the coming months, the beaver enclosure will be receiving an upgrade. Two fallow deer fawns are currently living behind-the-scenes but will be moved into the enclosure with the main group in September. The red squirrel walkthrough has received its first residents, some young female mandarin ducks. The enclosure will apparently contain a number of other species in addition to the squirrels. Three herds of Wildwood's konik horses have been moved to new sites as part of their conservation grazing programme. Three young red-billed choughs have fledged. The plans are still ongoing for a reintroduction of the species to Kent, in collaboration with Kent Wildlife Trust and other partners. Wildwood Newsletter - August 2019 | Wildwood Trust And finally, four Scottish wildcat kittens have recently been born in the park. More information is included below: Britain’s rarest animal given new hope as four wildcat kittens are born at Wildwood in Kent. | Wildwood Trust
The October 2019 newsletter has been released by Wildwood: One male and two female fallow deer fawns have arrived at the park; they are black fallow although they have yet to grow into their colours Five new red squirrel kits have been born recently at the park New Eurasian lynx will soon be arriving at Wildwood, with a new enclosure being built adjacent to the current lynx housing A donation from the People's Trust for Endangered Species has allowed the construction of five new off-show breeding enclosures for hazel dormice at both the Canterbury and Escot Wildwood sites Seven ten-week old blackneck pheasants have recently arrived; they are currently living next to the Rat Barn but once mature will be moving in with the red squirrels. I believe blackneck is another name for the Southern Caucasian pheasant, in which case Wildwood is the only public holder of the subspecies in the UK (according to Zootierliste) Wildwood Newsletter - August 2019
Black fallow are born black, they don't 'grow into' their colour- although I suppose they mean they are sooty-coloured rather than the black of adults. I once saw a wild fallow doe that was black, with a spotted fawn, a very strange combination. I have also seen the reverse too bu that doesn't look quite so odd.
Wildwood have recently received a £48,739 grant from Viridor Credits Environmental Company; a large area of the park will be transformed in order to enhance the conservation work of the park and improve the woodland habitat. In collaboration with Kent Wildlife Trust, Wildwood is developing a project to monitor the effects of reintroducing large formerly native herbivores such as bison and wild boar to a large area of woodland. This is the first time such a project has been done in the UK. More information about the grant and the planned projects can be found in the link below: More WILDNESS at wildlife charity
The December newsletter has been released by Wildwood: - The first piece of news is obviously about the redevelopment of the entire upper area of the park to become a grazing experiment involving bison and wild boar, among other animals; this development will mean the upper area of the park will be closed over the winter - A young pair of Eurasian lynx have arrived at the park from France, bringing the Wildwood population up to four animals (two older sisters also live at the park) - A new arctic fox has arrived; this is the daughter of Bard, an arctic fox born at Wildwood that then moved and fathered a litter at Highland Wildlife Park - A female hazel dormouse used in the education department (called Dora) has died at the age of nine years, seven weeks; she has been replaced by a male dormouse (called Sid) that was the only survivor of a rescued wild nest of four dormice More information can be found in the full newsletter below: Wildwood Newsletter - December 2019
I was looking around for news about the bison project and found this page from the Kent Wildlife Trust. As well as mentioning the chough reintroduction to Dover and the planned wild boar/bison grazing experiment (which will be done alongside a larger grazing area with longhorn cattle and Tamworth pigs), this page also says that ecologists from Wildwood are going to begin scoping locations for pine marten reintroductions in the county. The two paragraphs in question can be found near the bottom of this page, under the heading 'Wilding and Wildwood': Wilder Kent | Kent Wildlife Trust
Do they already have Bison or will these be completely new additions? I've never been so unsure of species
They already have two male European bison, which will be moved into the new area. The intention is also for a number of females to be brought in to try and make an actual herd. I got that information from this article: Animal park eyes woodland for 6ft beasts
