Goings on at work

We are having lots of work going on around the site at the moment. It always seems busy at the Japanese Koi company and our hard work pays off the site looks fantastic. This new extension will remain a surprise but will look amazing when finished. I cant wait to see it.

Pekin Robin

These birds are amazing , so sort after these days i ahve a couple of pairs in the tropical aviary at work. They have settled in really well and i managed some nice shots today. Native of far east asia a small bird that is always on the go.

Beautiful birds

Black hooded red siskin, if like me you are a birdwatcher, birder, twitcher or just all round animal geek. This bird really is one to see they may be small at 10cm but they make up for it in colour  and song.

Unfortunetly these birds are really hard to photograph because they are in a white cage , but i am going to come up with a way to photograph all the birds in a more natural way. You really do have to come down and see these in person though.

In the wild these are rare and in Venezuela  and Northern Colombia where they originate from they are considered vunerable. Which means they are on the decline and on the way to extinct in the wild. In captivity there is a good number so not everything is lost.

A different Hedgehog

Lowland streaked tenrecs.

I met these guys for the first time a few weeks ago at a friends, they are extremely cute and really ...weird. They are Madagascars version of the hedgehog, although they remind me more of shrews, they move around the forest floor looking for their favourite food .... earthworms. They occasionally take other small insects and fruit but their staple diet is earthworms.

They only reach 6 inches in length but they are covered in coarse hairs and some of these are modified into stiff spines.

They have tiny eyes but have amazingly sensitive whiskers and a very acute sense of smell. This is how they find their food in the night when they lurk the leaf litter layer. They are located on the reptile department at the Japanese koi Company where they are kept nice and warm.

An amazing animal to observe and very glad to have the oppurtunity to look after them.

cub in the lab

If you have been to the shop recently you may have noticed a puppy looking object behind a door leading to a small room. The small room is known as the lab and the puppy looking object is known as a Silver Fox. Annabelle is a seven week old fox cub who belongs to me and at the moment she comes to work as i am in the process of weaning her. I acquired her at between 4 and 5 weeks old and have spent the last few weeks weaning her off milk on to solid. She is part of my family and has been bought up with my dogs, duck and kids. A mad combination when in the garden!!!!

I have had many dogs and really enjoy the challenges that training animals has. Annabelle is such a little character and unbelievably agile almost more cat like than dog like. She is so friendly and has an amazing memory and for some reason loves running away with bras!! Although the other half does not care for running after her bras.

Silver foxes are the  black form of the Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and are bred for the pelt and are heavily farmed in Europe and Russia. A disgusting trade and one that should no longer be allowed to take place.

She will come to work with me every now and then after she has been weaned as socializing is really good for her.

I have put a few pics up so you can see how she has grown up an amazing transformation....

This week i will write about lowland streaked tenrec, black hooded red siskin, white faced scops owl and pekin robin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Working with animals

When working with animals you have ups and downs. Some days will be better than others, on monday my rescue German Shepherd was sadly put to sleep. Old age had got the better of her and a tumor had caused internal bleeding. She was found abandoned on a road with 14 other German shepherds!! The blue cross found her and put her in kennels which she could not live in due to chewing herself up. She was then put in foster homes until finally reaching me , I have had the pleasure of looking after  her for the past two years. Since the first day i got her she has been my shadow, wherever i was she was right there beside me.

We have been up Mount Snowdon, sat on a 300ft cliff overlooking the sea, we have fallen in rivers and nearly got run over by a stolen van. I hope she enjoyed all those things as much as i did.
She was between 10 and 12 when she died and although a very sad occasion for my family i do look back at the good times and how much i have learnt from her.

I would like to say thank you to the blue cross and i would like to urge people to rehome or rescue a dog, even though they may be old they have an awful lot to give. People say you cant get to know them as you dont see them grow up, my Molly would have defended my family from a raging bear if need be!!!!
http://www.bluecross.org.uk/

Molly , Best friend , Shadow.

raccoon or dog?

So here is the first picture of our new raccoon dogs, they are simply amazing. I took about 500 pictures of these and the burrowing owl a week ago, i spent about two hours processing them to go and delete them. Now i normally would not admit this but i did cry a little!!

Stupid computer!

Anyway, they have settled down very well, the winter coat is nearly fully out and they are looking beautiful. They are using all the platforms in the enclosure and i hope to put some more in soon. The next plan for them is to get them both leash trained and out for some walks. This could take some while but they are so friendly i hope it does not take that long.

It is very obvious from this picture why they are calleed raccoon dogs, the dark mask resembling that of the raccoon from north America. They are not however related in any way, they are a canid so are related to foxes and domestic dogs.