Week 10 - an auspicious day

Week 10 began with the rodents! yey, they must know me well by now. I was working with Toby, who I'd not met before - he said he'd been there 4 weeks but had always ended up doing things on his own. He seemed a sensible lad, doing his Duke of Edinburgh, and just GCSE age. Toby hadn't done the rodents before so it was new for me to be able to tell a volunteer what to do, instead of the other way round.

The rats didn't take long with two of us, so after that we did the squirrels (changing the food, water and spot-cleaning). I over-confidently said to Toby that the red squirrels were very shy and we'd be lucky if we saw one. Neil was doing the owls next door and they were flying about, in a fluster, so I think this disturbed the squirrels. Whilst we were both in the middle of the enclosure, one popped out of its nest box, and started scurrying, really quickly, and nimbly, all over the walls. It even stopped upside down on the ceiling. It was a really wonderful experience; although the squirrel isn't in the wild, it was still beautiful to see it so close at hand, and to watch it, motionless, as it ran about the enclosure. It has really tufty ears (I could not help thinking of Squirrel Nutkin) and a lovely bushy tail. Toby was equally as thrilled, and I, of course, had to take back everything I'd said.

We had a long break, and then I went to the rodent house. This has now been renamed "small mammals" as I think it has a larger variety of animals in there. I had to give each rodent enclosure fresh food and water. From the back, each area is accessible from 2 small hatches, which open in the back panel which the visitors can see. A couple of times I made someone jump, by an arm and face suddenly appearing out of nowhere - I've experienced this as a visitor too! I had to carefully locate the rodent, or small mammal, and then make sure it wasn't about to jump out of the hatch. Each animal had a different food mix, all cleverly stored in those plastic containers you can put cereal in, each with a cup with a different "fill" level, to show how much food you should put in. With the water, I discovered my bucket was leaking, which wasn't helpful! The little harvest mouse was up in one corner, looking across at me with its beady but adorable eyes! One animal, the gambian pouched rat, is not accessible unless you are a senior keeper, as it can be quite vicious. It was nice to see the four-toed hedgehog and tenrecs settled in, and Pippa the ground squirrel is in there too.

After I had finished up here, Sam came to check I was ok, and then it was lunch time. We had a nice long lunch in the sun. There was a steady stream of visitors, as ever.

In the afternoon, we helped Neil out by moving some items from one shed to another, and then we did various small tasks such as sweeping up some bark. It was quite an easy afternoon really so we were happy to enjoy the weather. I had heard earlier that morning on the radio that Hindus thought it was an auspicious day, and so I had a sneaking feeling it would be lucky for me too. Sure enough, as Ariane and I were heading back to the kitchen, what should we see but the elusive beaver, out in the sunshine, munching something. I have to admit, I was very excited. I could not believe it really existed. We even saw it again on the way back from somewhere.

The day ended by putting the animals away, it always seems a shame when people are still walking round looking at them. The woman and her son who were looking at the guinea pigs were amazed (as I was) that the guinea pigs all trot into their house at night, without much encouragement! She said her boy should take note and go to bed when he is told! There is always one grey guinea pig who tries to hide, and this time hid under the little ramp into the house!

Week 9

Ariane and I began by letting out the turkey and peacock (who displayed his tail quite beautifully), guinea pigs and rabbits. All 7 soay lambs were out in the field, looking delightful. We swept all around the guinea pig area, and then fetched a bucket and cleaned all the glass and the windows around the guinea pig enclosure. There are always sticky finger marks to wipe off! Then it was breakfast time for them all, and the guinea pigs started squeaking in unison - it was quite funny. I distributed cabbage leaves and carrots, and left them their dry food in their house - Kate explained the guineas have food with vit C because, like us, they cannot make their own vit C.

We had a nice break, sat in the sun, and everyone was quite chatty this week. Amy was tired but she was being quite amusing, and Alex was chatty too. I suppose now we are comfortable enough with each other to chat quite easily.

Our next task was the rodents. Ariane and I and fed, watered, and cleaned them out. One rat was determined to escape, and nearly made a successful attempt, so we left this one and I told Kate we'd not been able to do it, and she did not mind. I swept the floor and we took the rubbish sacks to the skip.

I had a look round at lunchtime and discovered that the mouflon have had their lambs! Two lovely caramel coloured lambs, who are already quite big. They stayed towards the back, as if they were shy of the public.

In the afternoon, we took some sacks of birdseed back to the rodent house, and then went round and filled up all the feeders. Following a successful ploy we had used earlier in the day, I distracted Sid the goose by standing in front of him, on the other side of the fence, whilst Ariane went round the back and nipped over the fence. She was then able to fill two feeders that hang in his enclosure. I signalled to her when it was safe to move! We felt quite smug to have tricked him. The alternative is upsetting him so he runs at you and attacks... 

Amy was all smiles because she had had the chance to feed a lemur. She and Alex had been working with Colin, a full time member of staff, who had returned to work after having an operation. He seemed glad to be back, and was very friendly and chatty, asking about where I worked and saying he had been there 25 years. It sounds like there is a bit of politics that comes from the council (who run the centre), so not much different from the university really... We were all in the kitchen, chatting, and I was cleaning out a particularly gungy bird feeder. Alex had to get 2 frozen rabbits out of the freezer and was trying to fit them into the box but one rabbit's ears were too long! It was the first time we've been allowed near meat or food, so perhaps Colin has the authority to let us do a few different things.

Still no sign of the beaver: one man asked me where the lynx were, as he'd been five times and never seen them. This is the same for me and the beaver. I think he was too early - the lynx were all out by the afternoon. 

Lastly we went to the soay sheep to replace their bedding; Colin said he wanted to keep it nice and fresh for the lambs. We shovelled up the straw and muck and hay, and replaced it with fresh straw and new hay for eating. When I returned with the hay, Amy and Ariane were away at the skips. The ram came to investigate, and went for me - I put the bag of hay between me and him and he butted that instead. Thank god I had it! He did this again, when, luckily, Amy and Ariane returned, so I had back-up.

Once we had finished we headed back for more duties, but Kate had already put the animals away, so we were free to go a bit earlier.

I was told about some mentions of the new animals at the NC on Twitter, so I followed this up and contacted the tweeter - happily there seems to be a lot of devoted nature centre fans, who have been really positive about the blog and suggested ways of getting involved. I am hoping to post a video clip they have of the otters, and also find out more about setting up a Flickr account for the Nature Centre! The NC goes Web 2.0!

Week 8

Can it be week 8 already (even if I missed one?)! As usual, I really enjoyed the day, although for once it was not sunny but cold. I leapt at the chance to do the rodents again, as it is usually warm in there. Pippa was not in her cage, and I discovered that the rodent house is now open again after its refurbishment! I went along and had a look in the lunch hour, and it looks great. There were lots of creatures I did not recognise, and no spare places, so I asked Kate where all the rodents would go. She explained that they had too many, so some would be off to other places. I said I'd grown quite fond of them! After providing the various mice and rats with clean water and fresh food and bedding, I swept up the sawdust, and took Pippa's cage outside to wash it down. After this, I went into the veterinary room, also nicely warm, and cleaned out 5 units there, two of which I believe had had snakes in and smelt fairly bad... One poorly snake was sitting quietly in its vivarium.

After lunch, Amy and I were given the exciting opportunity of going in the "preds" or predators' area. This involved carefully unlocking and locking one door, before opening another, with Kate's words ringing in our ears about not wanting to let an ocelot loose on the public... In fact, we were just working along the corridor, which runs at the back of all the enclosures opposite the cafe. We had to clean up and replenish food and water for the red squirrels, then clean their window and the sides of their enclosure (metal). This involved ducking beneath some carefully positioned branches in the centre of the enclosure. There are 4 squirrels, and we saw them briefly when we were first there, but they are shy creatures and they soon hid in their boxes for the rest of our stay. Hence no photos of them.... Here is a baby wallaby instead.

Once this was done, we had more cleaning to do in the back of the rodent house. I found out the parrot is called Oscar; he is looking better. Amy stayed to cut some lettuce up for Adam's reptiles, and I did some sweeping and tidying in the back of the rodent house. I mentioned to Kate how nice it was that they were all so grateful and offered praise so regularly. She seemed surprised that not everyone experiences this at work, and I wonder if Les has encouraged them all to be so positive.

Once again, there was no sign of the beavers. But the coatis were quite active, and I enjoyed watching them running up and down. The red pandas may have been popular, but I think their replacements will be just as appreciated.

This time, I was pleased to be able to take some photos of the soay lambs - they have all survived. I was also amused to hear the lemurs making a right racket from across the way. No baby lemur as yet for the ring-tailed family...

look at what's there

Forgot my camera this week, which is really annoying because there were some beautiful soay lambs! Just a week or so old, with one only a couple of days, which Kate was worrying about. The mouflon are also due. The youngest lamb was absolutely tiny, really gorgeous. But apparently, Kate was saying, the soay did not seem to be that great at being maternal, so they had spent a lot of time looking after the lambs. The lambs will probably go to another nature centre as the enclosure is not big enough to support more sheep.

It was another lovely sunny day, on and off, and the centre was busy again. We seemed to do a lot this week, starting with giving the water and food to the rodents, and then doing the bedding for the giant rabbits. I started work with Ariane, then we moved on to join Amy, who had already done the guineas, as Kate called them. It seemed to involve a lot of sawdust this week, and whilst the smell is nice, it gets everywhere and goes up your nose.

We then moved on to the birds which are behind the rabbits. There are some beautiful parrots and some reeve's pheasants which are beautiful, but which were a bit over-inquisitive. Kate warned us that they would attack our feet, or try to mate with them, and that we could either ward them off with a bucket, or, as she did, just go round with them on our feet! One of them puffed himself out and Amy had to warn me a couple of times when he got close. Between us we topped up the food, water, and spot-cleaned, and I raked over the chippings to keep the floor tidy. The parrots flew overhead, squawking, and we all wished we had our cameras so that we could have taken a good shot. Amy sounds like she has always liked being with animals and said how she used to wish she was on the inside as a member of staff, instead of outside, looking in at them.
After we'd finished this, we went over to the rodent house, which is still being refurbished, although I noticed the kangaroo rat is already in. We were asked to tidy it up and give it a really good clean, as they were painting and Kate said she kept finding bits in the paint. It's quite sandy and dusty in there, from the new sand and sawdust and so on. So we tidied up, swept the floor, vacuumed the sand up, and then mopped it down so that it was as clean as possible. It is nice to be able to see that you have made a difference, although it is quite hot in the rodent house so none of us wanted to stay in there too long.

Our last task was to wash some stones for the rodent house. We all looked at each other, trying to figure out why we were washing them, suspecting that Kate had run out of things for us to do, and one member of the public asked me why we were washing stones. I said something about rodents needing things to be clean. I'm sure someone said that they were quite susceptible to things. It was fun though. We then finished up by cleaning the kitchen area and I gritted my teeth and washed up two trays that had evidently had "blended chicks" on... We were looking at the food preparation lists on the wall, how the predators get blended chicks...good protein, I imagine. Talking of food, Trigger was out basking in the sun, with Alex, this week and he was feeding the lovely iguana some dandelion flowers.

A few people this week asked for animals that weren't there, such as pigs (they used to be), tadpoles (?) and the aquarium (they must get that map updated). It occurred to me, that this shows you should live in the present ie look at what is there, not what is not.

An RSPB stall was there, with two men asking for signatures and promoting the cause. I said I'm already a member etc. One man was asking me about my work at the centre, and then saying it was not too late to make a change to work with animals/with the RSPB etc as he had only recently changed. So that was encouraging.

Week 6

Sadly no Nature Centre this weekend just gone, as I was cough cough coughing and it would not have done to cough all over the animals, staff and visitors. Plus I needed to rest.
So I missed my animals, of course, and look forward to catching up with them next week.
Meanwhile, some information on the tamarind monkeys. 

"You've got a lovely job!"

Several people said this to me this week, when I was in the first enclosure, and they had just come in. I was busy scooping sheep poop, so I know what they meant. But in fact, yes, I do have a lovely job! I am now looking forward to Sundays, which come around quite quickly. I may have been scooping, but it's not such an offensive job, and the sheep were a bit closer this time.  I responded in various ways to the public, but always with a smile and a positive answer.

MOTs done here
I think I'm quite slow at some things, however, and worry that I'm taking too long. Mind you, they always have to think up a task for us, so maybe nothing needs rushing. I was using 2 shovels this time, which was a better scooping technique (I'm learning), but by the end of the morning both hands were absolutely aching. Either I was holding the shovels funny, or it was just building up my muscles. Either way, I thought I would not be able to scoop much longer. The sun was out as well and I felt a bit funny by mid-morning. A cup of tea and a twix really helped. Back to scooping, and I watched a steady stream of visitors entering, all carrying boxes. In them were tortoises of various sizes. The Centre was holding a Tortoise MOT day, where a tortoise expert checked over people's pets and gave them advice. I saw a few tortoises of varying sizes peaking out of the boxes. I had no idea there were that many tortoises around - as I understand you can no longer buy them.

After doing the sheep, it was on to the sitatunga again. This week the male mouflon was in the field that you have to go through to get to the sitatunga. I waited a while because he was watching me and I did not want to be charged! I decided to go for it and made it quite safely into the other field. The male sitatunga seemed to be getting braver, and came a little closer to me than before. I found it harder to scoop in the sitatunga pen, as there is a lot of mud on the side, so I could not scoop up half a ton of mud as well. I hope it was ok.
It was a busy day again at the centre, especially with the tortoises, and while I was on lunch, someone asked me if I enjoyed working there.

People kept asking (ok, two people asked), where the aquarium was - but the fish have actually been replaced by the new tamarind centre. I had started the day by cleaning the tamarind glass - I'm not that great at cleaning glass yet, but years of watching the window cleaners from the bus stop, doing Bearwood High Street, should have given me some clues.


Afternoon
In the afternoon I did a small bit of fence painting, with Amy and Ariane. This involved braving the goose pen to get to the shed to get the paint. Luckily Sid was busy hissing at the public, so I ran in, and ran out again with the paint. The girls had done most of it and had got paint on their faces, not sure how! When we'd finished, we went round to the rodent house, which is nearly finished, and Les thought of some new jobs for us.

Sam asked if I could water the plants in the sacred Ibis enclosure - she advised me that they get spooked easily which they did - there are 6 of them (I counted 7 so I was a bit worried one had escaped!) and they were flying over my head, flapping. I gave the plants some water and made sure I locked up after them. There was minor excitement when a police helicopter flew over and landed in the park. Not sure what was happening.

We ended the day by putting the peacock, turkey, rabbit and guinea pigs away. We also bravely went over to put Sid away - he clearly did not think it was bed time - it did feel early, as the sun was out again. Ariane took two sticks, and I found one too, and we guided him into the shed. He kicked up an awful noise when we shut the door. We left the guinea pigs until last, because there had been lots of people there looking at them. They are so funny how they trot in to their house, but one or two tried to hide under the houses!

When geese attack

As the weeks progress I am learning various lessons, which makes a really refreshing change. It is great to be learning new things, not only about the animals, but about what I can do and about how to do things. I am quickly realising that animals have different animal natures.
Take, for instance, the dog, the night before. Something was bothering him, and in my naive belief that a kind word and a pat can make everything okay, he must have felt threatened, and hung on to my arm with his teeth. So I could be forgiven for thinking, the next day, that all animals were being affected by something. Perhaps the scent of spring in the air? I was on rodent duty again, which I was not unpleased about, as it meant I knew what to do and could work through without having to ask lots of questions. I thought I would try to be more methodical this time, and change the water and give them their food (unappetising looking nuggets) at the same time as changing their bedding. Although I decided to call it "flooring" as they use it in the daytime too... It must have been my presence disturbing them, but at one point all the rodents seemed to be scurrying about, squeaking, biting the bars and generally being frantic. Hence I thought that the animals could sense something that I could not... But this was fanciful and the real reason, I am sure, is because I was upsetting their peace and quiet.
It seemed to take me ages to do all the cages, but there were a few extra to last week, including some hairless rats, some baby rats, two chinchillas and some degus. However, no one comes to say, why are you taking so long, so perhaps I worry for no reason. Sawdust goes everywhere, so I am getting quite good at sweeping. I am becoming quite fond of Pippa, the gopher, who is the largest of the rodents there.

My next task was to fill the bird feeders, of which there are quite a few around the site. As it was Easter Sunday, the centre was busy, and so I was asked various questions, as I walked around filling the feeders with seed and nuts. Luckily I already have a good knowledge of where animals are, so I can direct people; and having watched wildlife programmes over the years, I have picked up enough knowledge to answer basic questions. One man asked why the cranes did not fly away. I hazarded a guess that their wings are clipped. The red pandas have now moved to Wales and in their place were some coatis, so I was pleased to be able to advise a visitor what they were. One woman asked me what some flowers were; unfortunately I had no idea. As a member of the public, you expect staff to know everything, or at least to be able to find it out.  I really like seeing the public enjoying the nature centre.

What I like about the work is that it is of a totally different nature to my day job at the university. I enjoy figuring out practical problems, and it must use a different part of my brain, as I can feel that this part has been under-used recently! It took me a while to figure out how to get a bird feeder back on to its bracket (it was a simple case of removing the top first, or it would not fit back on, but it took me a while to work out). One member of the public insisted on helping me, but I had to encourage him to continue looking round, as it would not be appropriate for a member of the public to be doing my job.


Visitors were excited to see me with two buckets, walking in a meaningful manner, as they thought I was off to feed some animals. I had to explain that I was feeding the birds. I reached one group of feeders that was in the goose's enclosure, when a little boy and his family asked what I was doing. "We'll stay and watch!" they said, just as I was having second thoughts about entering the pen with the goose. After they said that, I felt obliged somehow, to please them, and foolishly ventured forth. I'd heard things about Sid, the goose - how he was vicious and defensive, but then I had naively said to Ariane, "oh all geese are like that!" However, no sooner had I opened the gate, Sid rushed at me, wings puffed out, and before I could think twice, he bit at my leg with his beak, then went again for the other leg! It felt vicious and sharp, and I had visions of gaping wounds...(no damage done, surprisingly!) Backing off as quickly as I could, I wasn't fast enough to shut the gate and Sid came out into the outer grass pen. I went out and shut the gate, realising that I would have to call for help to get him back into his area. The little boy was clearly entertained by all this, although his family were concerned for me, and I explained he should keep away from the goose so he didn't get pecked.  Val at reception called for assistance, and as Kate was coming to help, I saw that Sid had made his own way back, so I hastily shut the gate on him. She apologised for him and said that he hates some people but doesn't mind others. She is one of the lucky ones. Back at home, it dawned on me that he must be called Sid because he is vicious...

To make up for the goose attack, the day ended nicely. Alex was the other volunteer on, and he is quite calm and pleasant. He said that he'd been attacked by one of the mouflon sheep one day and that a crowd had cheered it on! Talking of crowds, the sun had been out and a crowd had gathered to watch the lemurs, who were sunbathing in the most comical positions, one of them stretched out as if doing a star jump.

Sam is a full time worker, who is in charge of feeding the animals. She let me go in with her to the ring-tailed lemurs enclosure. Here is a family of three, with a baby lemur due any time soon. To my delight, Sam let me feed each lemur a piece of banana - they eat a predominantly fruit diet. I held out a piece of banana, and the male lemur reached forward from his branch and took it from me. The female did the same. It was an absolute privilege to be this close to such beautiful creatures. I got chatting to Sam and she said she had done the animal care course, with her placement here, and then got a job (although still on a temporary contract). She thought that experience counted for a lot, rather than doing degrees in zoology or something. It was useful to hear her experience. She said she worked 9-5 and that everyone in the centre got on well, which is something I had picked up, I think. It is a nice atmosphere and everyone is pleasant to the volunteers. They do seem busy.

To finish the day, we went to the rodent house, which is still being refurbished. Les, the manager, was busy getting things ready and asked me to clean some plastic panels that would be re-used in the displays. Alex had already been cleaning them so he advised me how to remove the old coating and wipe them with white spirit. He is very helpful like that. I didn't mind doing this, as it feels like anything you do there is contributing towards keeping the centre going. Unfortunately there was only time to do one panel before it was home time, and Alex and I went to put the guinea pigs, rabbits, peacock and turkey away for the night. Sensible Alex took a broom to shut Sid the goose away, but luckily Kate had already put Sid into his shed!