Wildwood Trust: October Newsletter

Newsletter - October 2017

Welcome to the October edition of the Wildwood newsletter. We've been busy on the rewilding front and appearing all over the news with some of our beaver getting released in Scotland! We've also got loads going on at the park over Halloween and Christmas.

If you wish to know more about any of our stories or Wildwood in general, then please feel free to email us at info@wildwoodtrust.org

Thank you for your continued support. We'll see you again soon!

Beaver reintroduction

Wildwood Trust, Kent’s Unique Wildlife park and conservation charity, are thrilled to announce that two of our beaver have been released to reinforce the population in the Knapdale Forest in Scotland.

Two beaver from Wildwood Trust near Canterbury in Kent travelled up to Scotland this week. Eventually up to 28 beaver will be released into the Knapdale Forest over the next three years. The idea behind the project is to boost the numbers of the small beaver population to give it the best possible chance of thriving in the long-term and to increase the genetic diversity.

Watch BBC South East report

Halloween

The half-term approaches and we have plenty of spooky shenanigans at Wildwood between 21st and 29th October. Join us for the Top Trumps Trail, crafting events, the pumpkin competition, medieval weekend, fancy dress day, fungus foray and halloween talks.

Find out more

Christmas

It's some time away, but so many people have shown an interest in our annual grotto that we are now taking bookings for our legendary hand-crafted Santa's Grotto.

There are also limited dates for an exclusive Twilight Tea with Santa.

Email us at help@wildwoodtrust.org or phone 01227 209621 to find out more or to make a booking.

See available dates

Wildwood goes nuts

There are literally thousands of acorns and sweet chestnuts dropping throughout Wildwood until early November and we're collecting the tasty treats for our animals.

On your next visit, please feel free to bring a carrier bag, fill it up to the brim with acorns and sweet chestnuts from around the park, then hand it to our shop staff. You'll get a FREE entry ticket for one child and some goodies to show our appreciation for collecting for our animals.

You're also welcome to bring in your own acorns and sweet chestnuts from the garden - the more the merrier!

Arctic foxes going white

Teddy, Bard and Lyre are fast getting their snowy coats in preparation for the winter months.

They'll be getting fluffier and more white as winter approaches so come down and see the change. If you fancy getting up close and personal, we're also running our Arctic fox experiences up until March where you can go in to their enclosure and interact with the cheeky siblings.

Find out more

Autumn rut

There is plenty of noise at the park this October as Desmond the red deer stag is in full rut. Come down and marvel at his incredibly loud bellowing as he competes for the hinds' attentions.

Please forgive us for the messy enclosure as our keepers wisely avoid the testosterone fuelled beast until his mood is less aggressive!

Funghi

Autumn is beautiful at Wildwood with all of the leaves changing colour and a plethora of interesting and bright funghi popping up around the park.

If you would like to know more about these incredible organisms, make sure to join our fungus foray on Thursday 26th October. Please also tell any little 'uns to avoid touching or eating any of them...they look amazing, but some are quite bad for your health!

Towel appeal

We get through quite a large amount of towels at Wildwood for a variety of animal based reasons. If you have any spare old towels that you're thinking of disposing of, we'll be more than happy to take them off of your hands. Just pop them into our shop the next time you're visiting. Many thanks and feel free to share!

Tube appeal

Water voles are quite slippery and very fast so we use cardboard tubes to make it easier for us to handle, weigh and health check the little animals. It also makes it a lot less stressful for them. We're running quite low on tubes so are appealing for any crisp fanatics or friends of crisp fanatics to collect their empty Pringles tubes and drop them at the park on their next visit. Many thanks!