A week in Cornwall and on the 30th March 2017 I saw my first ladybird of the year.  It strikes me that it is incredibly early to see one out but here it is.

First Ladybird of the year!

So after a week in wet and windy Cornwall where the opportunities for some photography were limited, the sun has come out and I took a day to go down to the BWC.  The plan was to photograph the red squirrels as it is getting to the time where they lose the tufts on their ears that they have for the winter and I wanted some new images to work on.  As often happens when I visit, what I plan to do rarely happens and I come away with other images that I hadn’t planned on, but nevertheless are just as interesting.  This happens mainly because I am dealing with wildlife, and with the best intentions in the world they don’t care about what I want and will please themselves.  You just have to be in the right place at the right time.  That’s ‘their’ place at ‘their’ time of choosing of course.

What did I see? Well I had a close encounter with a wild rat that ran along the back of the seats in the squirrel enclosure causing me a fright, as I was expecting to see a red squirrel coming towards me.  To be fair, I wasn’t as scared as it was when he saw me move, and he scampered away into the trees.  It was then I noticed that there were other rats running in and out of what looked like a rat burrow in the bank (see below). 

The Rat Bank!

So I spent some time photographing the wild rats running from an exit to the enclosure to their burrow and back via some pine trees. Never seen rats in trees before but they seem to be having a good time.

I also saw a honey dormouse which I have never seen before in the nocturnal house.  No pictures obviously because it was dark in there.  Look them up, they are very cute.

I also was able to watch 4 keepers catch a Scottish Wildcat and saw just how unfriendly they can be.  They took no chances with it. It was done very quickly with a net, after it was cornered in its house.  This was so the Vet could give it a sedative and it could be taken away and given a thorough check over.  I saw it later and he seemed no worse for the experience.

Then there was the Vet.  I first spotted hime earlier looking over the foxes in their enclosure and what struck me first was the shirt he was wearing.  A chicken shirt!  Its the best chicken shirt I have ever seen and the fact he was in the foxes enclosure wearing it struck me as unfair to the foxes. (see below)

Vet in a Chicken Shirt!

After a very interesting day I came away with lots of images to start working through which will appear in my BWC folder, to be found within the Sanctuaries, Centres and Zoos Folder in the Gallery on this website or just click HERE.

Thats all for now………..