Woke up outside Tanner Farm, enveloped in fog. Nobody knew we were there, and were obviously not interested, so we made our way through the fog towards our next destination, which was to be Down House, the home of Charles Darwin. This place is in the outskirts of London, but actually in Kent still, so we thought we were safe from wandering into the London Low Emission Zone — being in an old diesel-powered vehicle, we would have to pay a penalty for entering that zone. Imagine our surprise when, after climbing a steep hill on a very narrow country lane, two miles short of Down House, we came upon the dreaded sign. Oh well, Darwin will have to wait!
You never know what's around
the next corner in the fog!
At least we got to see another of those
strange chimneys they have around here!
We turned around and made our way down the hill, pointing ourselves toward the Winkworth Arboretum near Guildford. We were travelling southward on the A22, just about to cut westwards towards Guildford, when we saw we were passing the British Wildlife Centre. We weren't sure if we would see much of the trees at the Arboretum through the fog, which was still quite thick, so we decided to drop in here and commune with the animals.
Good choice. The place is delightful. As you go in, you are met by Snuffles, a huge sculpture of a hedgehog, donated to the centre by UKTV in 2014.
The animals are all well cared for, and well displayed — but this in a way counted against us, as many of the animals were snuggled up in warm little nests rather than out and about where we could see them. But the animals we did see were fabulous. There was one little weasel who runs non-stop round his enclosure — and associated wire-covered runs in its vicinity. We asked one of the keepers whether he ever stopped, and the response was "Only to sleep". In spite of ample opportunity to take his photo, Warren was totally unsuccessful — he just didn't stay still long enough, and certainly wouldn't respond to the simple instruction, "Stay still!".
But we had a wonderful time, finally catching up with some red squirrels that share a large enclosure with a few deer, numerous birds, and various rabbits. This walk-through copse is a delight, with the squirrels going about their daily activities as if you just weren't there. This little colony of about 30 squirrels is part of an effort to save the red squirrel in the UK — the introduced American grey squirrel competes with it for food, but also unfortunately carries the squrrelpox virus which is lethal to reds. If a successful vaccine or other treatment is not found within 20 years, the red squirrel may well become extinct in the UK! At least they are still common on the Continent (as we saw in Luxembourg), so if the worst were to happen, they might be able to be reintroduced to the UK once squirrelpox is finally conquered.
The other animals were a treat, too. One of the keepers was wandering about with a European Eagle Owl — all 7kg of it, a heavy bird — on her hand, so we got a close up introduction. Another was wandering about with a young hedgehog. She was the one who, later in the day, had a very interactive showing of the otters. They have a secret — they set up the talks about the various animals for the times the animals expect to be fed, so you get to see them at their best.
Playtime!
We wandered around past the Scottish wildcats, the pine martens, the badgers, the foxes, the bids of prey, the deer park — the fallow deer were easy to spot, but the red deer were grazing a bit further away, and were getting lost in the fog, which was showing no signs of lifting.
Finally we made our way out of the park. We walked round to an outer wetland area, hoping to catch a glimpse of the egrets there. A 'glimpse' is the right word, as the fog wasn't helping us at all here!
We finally left, and drove for a campsite, Honeybridge Caravan Park, Dial Park, Horsham, West Sussex. Much the same result as last night — the place was closed, but did have a nice parking area, so we pulled in for the night.
Distance driven — today, 75 miles ( 120 km ); to date, 30,454 miles ( 49,011 km )
Y'know what? Vixens abandon their cubs as soon as they are weaned. I think they may have the right idea of motherhood sometimes. I'm feeling yuck today. Loved the animals. Particularly little red squirrel and the barn owl. Love ya Catrrhy
ReplyDeleteGorgeous creatures. Is that some kind of deer below the squirrels? I have never seen one like it before!
ReplyDeleteGemma - yes, and it was in the enclosure with the squirrels.
ReplyDelete