UPCOMING EVENTS
Keep an eye on these pages for upcoming events...
FEBRUARY 9th-17th In celebration of Darwin's birthday. FREE ADMISSION for anyone wearing a hairy beard (man womand or child.)
MARCH 16th&17th National Science Weekend. A science workshop with touchy feely specimens for your perusal. Bring along your wildlife curios (fossils, seashells and that mistery thingy that you inherited from great unce Arthur and we'll identify them for you - or at least try to!)
MAY 25th -31st Love Your Zoo Week - in collaboration with BIAZA.
APRIL 13th&14th Our 21st birthday! (Actually on the 11th.) Lots of fun and games for old and young alike.
JULY 20th -30th Wildlife photography exhibition.
JULY 20th -21st Summer crafts weekend.*
AUGUST 5th - 11th Big bug bonanza. In celebration of bugs in collaboration with BIAZA.
SEPT 7th Barbeque for members and season ticket holders.*
OCTOBER 31st Halloween - a chance for a spooky nocturnal visit to the oasis. Not for the faint hearted!*
NOVEMBER 23rd & 24th Cakes and crafts weekend. A chance for little people to try their hand at making and decorating cakes as well as various other crafts.*
DECEMBER 7th, 8th, 14th, 15th, & 18th -24th. Santa's grotto.
DECEMBER 7th, 8th, 14th, 15th and 18th -24th. Santa's grotto.
*Numbers to these events are limited and require pre-booking. Please phone to book or get a confirmation by e-mail.
The first peep at the big wide world was captured on camera when the latest baby squirrel looked out of its nest box. We knew we had babies, because the female squirrel was obviously nursing, but how many and how developed there were, that was a mystery. Like most small mammals, squirrels do not appreciate any disturbance with their nest, so you just have to let mum get on with it. As you can see, junior is not that much smaller than an adult as he contemplates his first foray into the great out-doors. Now we just have to wait and see if any brothers or sisters pop out.

Thanks to Mr Birtwistle for the lovely picture.
Its official, as of the 11th of April, the Lakeland Wildlife Oasis is 21 years old and has come of age. There have been many changes over that time, lots of development and many creatures been born here and sadly, more than a few have died. Though there are creatures which are direct descendents of some of those original animals, there are some that were here in person, if not on our opening day, in our first few months. The lung fish is certainly one of those early residents and 21 years later, he is still going strong. Some of the tin foil barb were mere hatchlings in the community tank in our first summer, and are now venerable fish in the pool.
Some of the original people are still here too, though the centre is now a registered charity and no longer a private business. There will be many new and exciting changes ahead.
Here’s to the next 21 years!
The BBC has just filmed footage for a major new animal drama series at the Lakeland Wildlife Oasis.
They worked with our tree shrews, an active intelligent little creature that at first glance appear quite squirrel like – though they are no relation. They are not related to shrews either, in spite of the name, but are in a family all of their own.
Naturally wary, tree shrews are suspicious of changes, so, to enable the camera man to film them behaving normally, someone spent the best part of a month in the shrew enclosure feeding them titbits (crickets and mealworms are favourite) or just sitting still and becoming part of the furniture.
All this time spent in the tree shrew's enclosure paid dividends because the shrews behaved like stars, quite un fazed by the cameras, and enjoyed themselves exploring the various mini rainforest sets built in their greatly enlarged enclosure.
As there may be further filming in the near future, we have left the tree shrews in the larger space for the time being.
