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Don’t miss Secret World being featured on Springwatch! The team were down recently filming some of the cubs that we have been rearing, and we think the feature will be broadcast on tonight show, at 8pm on BBC2.

The number of fox cubs we are caring for is on the increase!

May 20^th

Simon’s birthday so he’s off for a day of leisure. Maybe he knew it would be a crazy day- it certainly was a fox cub day. We had a fox cub in from a carer in bath, 3 fox cubs from Wiltshire Wildlife Rescue and six fox cubs and 1 badger cub from Oak and Furrow near Cirencester so it was all change in the pens.

The grass has grown so long in our rehabilitation pens that strimming was in order for it to be suitable for the cubs to go into the pens. They need long grass to hide in and short grass to be able to forage for worms in wet weather. We are lucky to have 5 pens so are able to help with the second stage of rehabilitation of fox cubs that have been hand reared.

We always give the cubs plenty to play with

It means though that we will be desperately looking for release sites for them and it is all extra work for the staff but they know that there is a lot of pressure at this time of year. The 6 cubs went straight out into a grass paddock

but the 3 will have to wait until we can get their pen done. The odd one has joined a group of 5 that are the same size in the Millie Block. We already have a group of 7 and 6 so that takes us up to 28.

We never release on site as neighbours around us shoot and anyway, we are too near the motorway. They need the best chance of survival after all the work has gone into them.

All in all a long day but eventually all the animals were sorted.

The smaller cubs will start in one of the inside pens

May 21^st

Leigh managed to strim a couple of the fox pens for the group of 3 and 6. With luck they will be out tomorrow enjoying the space.

A vet nurse in Wales is bringing us a fox cub with a broken leg tomorrow which has already received treatment but needs rehabilitation to convalesce. He is also bringing a swan that has lead poisoning so our pens will be nearly full again. I hope we won’t have to turn animals away.

Another cygnet came in today. Evidently it is a sibling to the one that had the broken leg and had to be put to sleep. Something must have happened to the parents as they are usually very protective and would never leave

The larger ones are all ready to go into one of the outside enclosures

them on their own. He’s being called Seymour as it co-incides with the first anniversary of our Cygnet Web Club which is for children. As members of our Cygnet Club the children ‘See More’ wildlife – we have Debbie to thank for that little gem !!

It has been fabulous watching on the cameras Hope play in her enclosure. She is loving the pond and bounds around in the long grass.

Our little white duck, Matilda, who has had ducklings on our dipping pond is down to 6 ducklings but they do look pretty amongst the water lilies.

It was a trustees meeting tonight so a late finish again. Tomorrow will be busy getting ready for our open weekend. At least the weather sounds as if it is going to be good.

Matilda and her happy family

Derek, relaxing in the Cubby Hole

May 9^th

Debbie must have been up really early to get the animals ready and to go to Southampton for me. At least the weather is fine and they should have a lovely day at the centre. The Scholling Valley Centre is a small oasis of wildlife in Southampton and if it were not for the very dedicated volunteers who have worked hard to keep the area, it would probably have been swallowed up for development. It just shows how a few people can make a difference.

Derek the fawn is doing well and I feel much more positive about his progress. The day goes quickly with guests invited to attract corporate funding arriving for a look around and cream teas.

Noisey Teresa from Derbyshire called in with a cub that she has reared. It had found with horrendous head injuries and other bite wounds. He’s a fine little chap now and looks really good. She also brings a cub that has been found in South Derbyshire but both have had their first blood tests so are able to join a group straight away. Continue reading Pauline’s Blog – May 9th to 19th….

Right, so I know I’ve been pretty quiet over the last couple of weeks, but trust me, I have still been doing ‘some’ running…. Although possibly not as much as I should’ve been!

I’ve been keeping myself ticking over with a couple of three mile trundles every week, but this week is when I’m going to start taking things a little more seriously.

I’ll be out for three miles tonight, and then fingers crossed I’ll be attempting another 4+ miles on Wednesday evening, followed by another (probably 3 miles) on Friday. I’m also going to be doing some complimentary circuit training once or twice a week, and hopefully will have a new bicycle sorted within the next week or so which should give me another added bit of variation to my training.

I must admit I haven’t weighed myself for a while, so I’ll bite the bullet and step on the scales again tomorrow and start recording that more regularly.

We have almost filled the initial 10 spaces that we had purchased for the Bristol Half Marathon, so with plenty of interest still being registered, we have bought another 5 spots. So if you are interested in running in the Bristol Half Marathon on behalf of Secret World, please contact me ASAP!

I look forward to hearing from you.

A successful release!

April 30^th

Back into routine with the badger cubs in the kitchen and still feeding Hope the otter cub, who is in a pen with an inside and outside enclosure. She has water available to her all the time in the pen outside but is still making the most of some towels left on the floor for her to dry herself.

She will only come out once I have put the food on the floor and I certainly would not want to try and pick her up!

We had a report of three badger cubs sitting on the side of the road and the finder very kindly brought them in. They were quite small cubs and very hungry. All three were boys and had to be front lined to get rid of the unwanted guests. Once they were clean and warm they were added to the cubby hole. Georgie, Porgie and Jack were duly named. Let’s hope the next cub in is a gril and we can call her Jill!

It always amazes me just how quickly they all mix and follow the routine in the kitchen. With 4 still on bottle and 3 solid food meals a day, it takes up quite a bit of time. 10 cubs in the kitchen is a record and the cubby hole looks like a fitted carpet of badgers ! Continue reading Pauline’s Blog – sorry for the delay! (15/05/09)