British Wildlife Centre British Wildlife Centre

I've been a couple of times over the years although I don't have any pictures, its worth a visit if your in the area, some of its enclosures are erm.... rustic as many of these places usually are, their wild cat and pine martin enclosures were good if my memory serves me right.
 
Grey Squirrels?, maybe they should have the Red species as they are british and not the greys?
 
I think they have both red and greys. Greys are more common no in England than reds and they do have an educational story to tell about how they got there.

I am quite interested in this little place, I would like to see how they display their animals. British animals must be the hardest species to display effectively when you think about it. A lot of them are small and nocturnal.
 
Pretty sure they only do conservation work with reds, if there are greys, I haven't seen them. I've only visited 3 times, no pictures of the enclosures unfortunately - i prefer to shoot the wildlife. Last I was there, they have a purpose built copse under construction to allow the red squirrels to run free. I think they are closed in the winter season right now, I would love to visit again - light is really good right now.

While the main grounds are somewhat compact, they have a pretty huge wetlands area and large deer park. The individual enclosures for most of the critters imo are pretty fair sized.

It is a really good day out there, every half hour, there will be a keeper at one of the exhibits, which will feed the critters and give the visitor a good overview of the critter's behaviours etc. I especially enjoy the foxes and deer - the deer get so cute headbutting over food :)

I've got one environmental shot showing the otter feeding going on:
AlvinVFX Updates!: British Wildlife Center - once again

Alvin
 
Thanks for the link, you have some great pics! I am intrigued by how they manage to keep otters in that exhibit! They must use electric wire or something! I am sure they would scale that no problem.
 
They actually have three otter enclosures, one of them has a breeding pair that had 3 pups the last time I was there. There are no electric wiring, not sure why the otters don't run out but I assure you I want to eat what those otters eat. (With cream chesse, on toasted bread though :P)

Regards,
Alvin
 
I seem to remember an albino grey squirrel in the run of cages on the outside of the main building ...
 
Great visit today, having last visited 2017.
Saw most of the exhibits, and although it is a compact centre, we spent the whole day visiting, as there are enthusiastically presented talks about individual species every half hour, starting with an excellent red squirrel talk in their large enclosure (three squirrels seen, and they were posing beautifully for photos today), to a final birds of prey talk with four of the owl species flying around the “Dell”, an enchanting wooded area with plenty of seating around the perimeter.
Really appreciated the numerous benches and highlight was the badger sow with five cubs in the darkened artificial sett.
 
Cotswoldgent said:
Great visit today, having last visited 2017.
Saw most of the exhibits, and although it is a compact centre, we spent the whole day visiting, as there are enthusiastically presented talks about individual species every half hour, starting with an excellent red squirrel talk in their large enclosure (three squirrels seen, and they were posing beautifully for photos today), to a final birds of prey talk with four of the owl species flying around the “Dell”, an enchanting wooded area with plenty of seating around the perimeter.
Really appreciated the numerous benches and highlight was the badger sow with five cubs in the darkened artificial sett.
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Glad you enjoyed your trip, I must say the British Wildlife Centre is one of the best collections for native wildlife. Not just because of the amount of species but the amount of talks and educational content for people of all ages. The extensive mustelid collection is also another great feature.
 
A Couple of bits of News missed out from the FB Page:
British Wildlife Centre | Newchapel

1st March: One of the female badgers gave birth, leading to the temporarily closure of the Observation Badger Sett. The sett will reopen when the cubs are a little older and more robust.
25th April: The Observation Sett re-opened
8th May: Scottish wildcat kittens just started venturing out with mum.
21st June: Back in April, Oreo gave birth to a litter of four cubs, and now they have finally emerged and are exploring.
15th July: On the 15th, the team released a new colony of female Water Voles onto their island enclosure (near the Scottish Wildcats and Polecat). They’ve been spotted frequently out and about exploring their new home. Another group have also been released onto the nature reserve to add to the wild thriving population.
18th July: A new group of 8 Harvest Mice have been introduced into the wetland boardwalk area, bringing the total to 75 this year.
20th July: This year at the centre they have bred 6 Wildcat kittens that currently live on display and are making frequent appearances throughout the day. These kittens will play a vital role in conservation efforts to save this ‘endangered’ species from extinction. Last year 19 Wildcats were released into the Cairngorms and as of recently, at least two of those females have given birth to kittens.
 
Dr. Loxodonta said:
Glad you enjoyed your trip, I must say the British Wildlife Centre is one of the best collections for native wildlife. Not just because of the amount of species but the amount of talks and educational content for people of all ages. The extensive mustelid collection is also another great feature.
Click to expand...

It's a delightful place, and when I lived in the SE I was an almost weekly visitor. The 'Barn' and 'Hedgerow' exhibits are especially good, and again they're the kind of thing I'd like to own myself. If I have one mild criticism of the place it is that its bird collection is a little on the thin side; some British songbirds and waders would be nice.
 
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