The British Wildlife Centre, Adders, Stoats and Weasels.

Having dipped on the Brown Shrike we were at a loss for something to do.

Brian suggests we drop in at the British Wildlife Centre. It turns out to be worth every penny of the entrance fee and we spent a really enjoyable afternoon here.

The BWC is situated on Eastbourne road (A22) in Surrey, and this was my first ever visit to this site.

Quoting from the centre's visitor information leaflet it says this is "Home to the finest collection of native species in the country" It has over forty different species, many rarely seen in the wild.

A few of the species I have been lucky enough to encounter in the wild in recent years are featured below.

Adder

I have been lucky enough to see a few Adders in the wild in recent years, and the enclosures at this site are design with the species that they are going to house in mind.

Unfortunately the Grass Snake didn't want to show itself on this occasion, which was understandable given the overcast conditions. It was a bit of a surprise that the Adder was relaxing in the open.

Weasel

The Weasel and Stoat's were housed next to each other, and their pens had wire mesh tunnels along the sides and tops of the pens allowing them to run along these tunnels and then enter the enclosures via holes cut into these enclosures. These two species proved very tricky to photograph.

The Weasel decided it was going to take a nap and this was my chance to grab a picture. The Stoat was even more of a challenge. In the middle of it's enclosure was a grass mound and within this mound were a series of holes. You just had to pick a hole and hope the Stoat would appear from this hole. Luckily I eventually picked the right hole and got the shot below.

Stoat

The Fox is an ever more familiar sight in our cities, but it was still nice to watch them.

Fox

The British Wildlife Centre holds four species of Deer. Red, Fallow, Roe and Muntjac.

I managed to grab a shot of one of the Roe Deer. 

Roe Deer

In part two I'll feature a species I've had the pleasure of watching in the wild on a couple of occasions.