Happy birthday to Jemima, a fellow wildlife lover

We had a fantastic British wildlife encounter on Friday, surprising Jemima for her birthday! We brought a variety of British reptiles and amphibians alongside our lovely tawny owl Freddie and a very special hedgehog guest.

We started out having a look at the reptiles and amphibian and a few of the children got the once in a lifetime chance to handle Britain’s rarest reptile - the smooth snake. They then saw the fluorescence of scorpions under UV light and had the opportunity to see an orphaned hoglet that needed to come with us for hand feeding as he’s still on regular milk formula feeds. Everyone loved watching him feed and self anoint!

Both the adults and the children were then able to handle Freddie the tawny owl. They were taught how to responsibly hold a bird of prey in the safety position and the correct positioning of the fist to ensure it is most comfortable for the bird.
Of course there was also lots of chat about owls too! This was the first experience this lovely group have had to handle an owl and they did amazingly well. I think the smiles say it all.