Ten club members plus two friends of members visited the British Wildlife Centre at Lingfield.
We assembled at 9.30 and had a welcome 'cuppa'. Then the keeper who was going to take us into the various enclosures introduced herself and off we set.
We went into the Red Squirrel enclosure first and they were totally unafraid of us climbing all over a few of us immediately; totally amazing to me as I have photographed them in the wild in Scotland where they are very wary of mankind. To get the various species to come quite close to us throughout the day the keeper came into the enclosures armed with food for each species which they come to expect at set times during the day.
After the squirrels we went into the red fox pen where we were very close to a dog fox and a vixen. On our last visit we were treated to a couple of cubs, but on this visit, we had to do without. They had some in another enclosure but Mum is not ready for them to meet the public yet.
Then we were able to photograph a Tawney Owl which was placed on a tree branch totally unphased by us all; and then we took pictures of a Barn Owl. Hopefully our publicity lady now knows the difference between the two types!! ( private joke between her and me). And lastly before we broke for lunch, we were treated to a Hedghog which was difficult to photograph running in the grass; but we got some really lovely pictures of him being held up by our keeper.
After our packed lunch break, we went into the Otter enclosure were they came as near as one metre to us. In Shetland where there are probably the most wild otters in the UK it is very difficult to get close to them at all, except with an expert tracker, if you are lucky.
After the otters came the wild cats. This time we really only saw one quite 'un-wild' cat which behaved like your everyday tabby! Again, last time we had a couple of kittens as well as two really wild cats.
Then we moved up to an area where we saw weasels; stoats; badgers; adders and mink all being fed various delicacies to suit.
The weather started off being a bit chilly in the wind, but by the time we were ready to go home, we had hot sunshine. The day before it had rained quite hard and I thought we would have a wash out. Instead, we all had a really nice visit and some of us hopefully have some good images with which to remember the day. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.