The busy season is well under way now, so please excuse us for not updating the blog for a while – we’ve all been far too busy! There’s been so much going on, here are a few of the highlights since our last blog post.
Open Weekends
In May we had two very successful open weekends and were very pleased to see so many of you come along. We were blessed with decent weather for the most part, and everyone had a great time.
Our first ever Fun Dog Show took place over the Easter open weekend and was very popular! So much so that we did it all again later in the month at our next open weekend. We had fun with ferrets, classic cars, birds of prey and a great series of wildlife talks.
We would like to thank everyone who came along to support us, and also the ever hard-working staff and volunteers who turned out in full force to hold the events whilst keeping our busy rescue and rehab operation running smoothly.
Friends
We recently hosted a very special day for supporters who are part of our Friendship Circle. Friends who attended were given a more in-depth look into Secret World, including a behind the scenes tour of the site and time to chat to staff and volunteers over a lovely cream tea.
If you’d like to become part of our Friendship circle, you can find out more here.
Orphans growing well
Since our last post, we have had lots of orphaned animals admitted to us. From blackbirds to badgers, we do all we can for them. We give them the care and rearing they need and get them back to the wild as soon as possible.
Many of our young birds have already fledged the nest and been released, though more come in every day. Our hospital rooms are now alive with the sound of baby birds calling for food. Several groups of young rabbits have also been successfully reared and released.
Our larger animals however will be with us a while longer. We now have three groups of badger cubs and several groups of fox cubs, who are currently going through our veterinary protocol which includes several tests and vaccinations. All are doing well so far and are very boisterous and playful as you might expect!
We also have a few tawny owlets who are growing well and gradually beginning to develop their adult feathers. All these will go for release later in the year at the time they would naturally disperse from their parents’ territory.
Lots of hungry mouths
At the time of writing we have over 300 animals in our care, all of whom need plenty of feeding to recover and grow ready for their return to the wild. This puts quite a strain on our resources, and donations of some of the things we need to help these animals are always very much appreciated. If you’d like to help us out with this, you can have a look at our Amazon wishlist (remember to use Amazon Smile as they donate a small amount to a charity of your choice!).
Fun at the festivals
Secret World popped up at the Festival of Nature in both Bath and Bristol over the past few weeks. Did you see us?
It was a pleasure to meet so many people who were keen to support our work, including many who hadn’t heard of us before. Our founder Pauline gave a talk at the Bristol Festival of Nature, sharing some stories of the animals we have helped over the years.
We’ll be hoping to pop up at more events like this soon. If you have an event planned and you’d like us to be there, please do get in touch.
Upcoming events
Talk by Lloyd and Rose Buck
25th November
Lloyd and Rose Buck have many years experience in training birds and have worked on numerous filming and other projects. Lloyd and Rose will be talking about their lives with birds with plenty of stories along the way, and even some avian visitors.