A visit to Howletts Wild Animal Park

Monday dawned a little dull- and got duller as we headed back along the A2 toward a wild animal sanctuary called Howletts Wild Animal Park. It is an amazing place to spend a few hours - or all day!

Wikipedia says: 

Howletts Wild Animal Park (formerly known as Howletts Zoo) was set up as a private zoo in 1957 by John Aspinall near Canterbury, Kent. The animal collection was opened to the public in 1975.To give more room for the animals another estate at Port Lympne near Hythe, Kent was purchased in 1973, and opened to the public as Port Lympne Zoo in 1976. 

The collection is known for being unorthodox, for the encouragement of close personal relationships between staff and animals, and for their breeding of rare and endangered species. 

Since 1984 both parks have been owned by The John Aspinall Foundation, a charity. Following his death, Aspinall was buried in front of the mansion house and a memorial was built next to the grave near the bison. A later extension to Howletts was an open-topped enclosure for black and white colobus, just behind the entrance. 

The park has the largest breeding herd of African elephants in the United Kingdom 

The park is most famous for having some of the largest family groups of western lowland gorillas in the world. It is also home to the largest breeding herd of African elephants in the United Kingdom and has one of the largest breeding groups of lion-tailed macaques in the world. 

The weather soon turned warm and we had a glorious day. What follows are a selection, but by no means all, of the animals that we saw that day. Some were difficult to photograph as the netting was in the way. 

Eastern Bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus isaaci) - IUCN Status: Critically endangered

The largest and heaviest of the forest antelopes, Howletts are currently home to 7 bongo, one male and six females. Bongo have brown coats, beautifully marked with 12 to 14 narrow white stripes, providing perfect forest camouflage. The black and white crest running along the spine and lyre-shaped horns are equally distinctive. Eastern bongos are one of the world’s rarest antelopes. They now only occur in small. Fragmented populations in Western Kenya.

Wild mountain bongo populations have suffered huge declines, and are now restricted to a handful of small, isolated populations, all in Kenya

Eastern Black Rhino (Diceros bicornis michaeli) - IUCN Status: Critically endangered

At Howletts are two female black rhino, Salome and Damara and their two calves, a male called Kasungu and a female called Mizi. Kasungu is the first black rhino born at Howletts in 40 years and we were delighted when Salome gave birth in the autumn of 2016, to Mizi.

Black Rhino are critically endangered mainly due to poaching. They are killed for their horns and in recent years the increase has been driven by a growing demand, mostly from Asian consumers who use it in folk remedies, despite proof that it has no medicinal value at all.

The closest living relative to the rhino are tapirs, horses and zebras. They are part of a group of mammals known as odd toed ungulates or Perissodactyla. Rhinos generally have poor eyesight, but they make up for this with their incredible hearing and strong sense of smell.

Despite their size, black rhino are capable of reaching a top speed of around 35 mph and will charge when threatened, lowering their head and using their horn for maximum impact.

African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) - IUCN Status: Vulnerable

The African elephant is the largest and most powerful of all living land mammals. Adults can measure up to 11 ft high at the shoulder and weigh in excess of 6 tonnes! Adult African elephants can eat 150kg or more of foliage, grass, small branches and fruit in one day and also drink 135 litres of water! In the wild, elephants live in herds of related females with their calves led by the oldest cow or ‘matriarch’. Bulls are solitary, leaving the herd at puberty and living in bachelor groups; they join the cows only to mate.

Dhole or Asiatic dog (Cuon alpinus) - Endangered

Asiatic wild dog, red dog, and whistling dog, all names for the same animal. It is about the size of a German shepherd but looks more like a long-legged fox. This highly elusive and skilled jumper is classified with wolves, coyotes, jackals, and foxes in the taxonomic family Canidae. Found in eastern and southern Asia, from Siberia in the north to the Malay Peninsula in the south

Dholes are unusual dogs for a number of reasons. They don’t fit neatly into any of the dog subfamilies (wolf and fox, for instance). Dholes have only two molars on each side of their lower jaw, instead of three, and have a relatively shorter jaw than their doggie counterparts. Also, female dholes have more teats than other canid species and can produce up to 12 pups per litter.

Dholes are incredibly athletic. They are fast runners, excellent swimmers, and impressive jumpers. These skills are critical when the pack is hunting. In some protected areas, they share habitat with tigers and leopards.

Colobus (Black-and-White) Monkey (Colobus guereza kikuyuensi)

Black and white colobus monkeys are old world monkeys. This term describes monkeys from Africa and Asia. These primates have distinctive black and white colouration with long white fur on the back and tail. Babies are born pure white and gradually change to their adult colour as they get older. It is not always the mother who carries her baby. In the wild, this gives the mother time to look for food offer younger members of the group the chance to practice at caring for a baby.

The word 'colobus' is a Greek word meaning 'mutilated'. This name refers to the fact that over time these monkeys have evolved and lost their thumb. This is often common amongst forest primates and is believed to allow the monkeys to travel more easily through tree branches.

Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) - IUCN Status: Critically endangered

Sumatran tigers are the smallest subspecies of tiger and we look after a stunning pair named Indah and Amir at Howletts. Habitat loss caused by the expansion of palm oil and acacia plantations are the biggest threat to the survival of this species. The illegal trade in tiger parts for traditional medicines and the depletion of its prey base is a contributing factor to the dramatic decline of this beautiful animal.

Capybara

Capybaras are the largest of the rodent species. Weighing as much as a man, these oversized, pig-like animals are highly adapted to an aquatic lifestyle and even mate in the water. Capybaras are found over much of South America. Efficient grazers, they are able to crop even the short, dry grasses left at the end of the dry season. They are capable of a range of vocalisations and can purr and bark. Like rabbits, they eat their own dung to extract maximum nutrition from their food.

Gelada baboons (Theropithecus gelada) - IUCN Status: Least concern

Gelada baboons at Howletts share their large open topped enclosure, near the Gatehouse, with our group of black and white colobus monkeys. Whilst they live together in relative harmony, occasionally a young gelada, full of mischief, will pull the colobus’ tails and run away, which obviously causes a bit of an uproar!

Whilst referred to as a baboon, geladas are actually the last surviving species of a once widespread group of grass grazing primates.

In the wild geladas can only be found on the rocky highland escarpments of Northern Ethiopia. By night they sleep on rocky outcrops and during the day, they graze on the lush grasslands.

Lemur

Lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus) - Endangered

The lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus) is a primate that spends most of its time up within trees. These Old World monkeys have lengthy, tufted and slender tails that resemble those of lions, hence their naming. Lion-tailed macaques have rather meek and reclusive dispositions, and because of that do not generally travel very far out of their forest home ranges. In terms of lifespan, these creatures often exceed 30 years in age.

The Brazilian or lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris) -Vulnerable 

Currently home to three males and a female, visitors can often see them enjoying their pools in the summer months and warming up in their cosy sheds in the winter. Brazilian tapirs have remained virtually unchanged for over 20 million years. A relative of the horse and the rhinoceros, tapirs are mainly active at night and use their prehensile upper lip to browse on aquatic plants, twigs, foliage and fruit.

Females give birth to a single calf, after about 13 months. Youngsters are born with stripes and spots on their coats, which help keep them hidden against the forest backdrop

This is a great place to visit, as it is far more than a zoo. The program of breeding the Western lowland gorillas has been very successful, for example, and other breeding programs a helping to keep some species from disappearing altogether.

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The first weekend of our Kent holiday

Kent Was our destination for the week, a converted dairy on the nearest farm to France! (So the war time history said) It was in fact in Reach Court farm in the village of St Margarets-at-Cliffe, Dover. Within a few minutes walk of the famous white cliffs.

Having had a good journey, only 130 miles, we settled into our cottage and took ourselves on an exploration of the area, by foot of course. 

This was our home for the week. You can just see our red door on the right. 

This area around Dover has a large amount of history associated with the second world war in particular, but being close to France, previous invasion attempts as well. We passed numerous reminders of this history on our way to the cliff top/ walk, in the form of posts and notices reminding us of the legacy of the great conflict. 

We arrived at the cliff edge and were treated to spectacular views of the coast line including the entrance to Dover harbour, just along the coast. 

Part way along the walk we came to South Foreland Lighthouse. As a national Trust property we had free access, today being an open day - lucky us! Our guide was very knowledgeable and passed on a lot of information, not only of this lighthouse, but an insight into the life of lighthouse men in general through the ages.

This particular lighthouse was the first one anywhere in the world to use electricity to power its light. Prior to this, it had gone from a fire on the top of a tower (1635 possible), to oil fired lamps (1793) using whale oil, and onto using a similar oil as Rapeseed oil. The first electric light was simply a spark jumping between two carbon rods before moving onto the primitive early bulbs in the early 20th century. The electricity was first generated by a steam generator which had to be specially built. This was in the days before mains electricity.

The need for a lighthouse here is mainly due to the Goodwin Sands, notorious for its many shipwrecks.

Sunday dawned very dull so we did not travel very far before lunch. We booked sunday lunch in the village at the White Cliffs pub and it was a great roast beef lunch. Then we headed a short distance along the coast to Deal to see if I could get a hot water bottle, as I was very cold last night! No joy, but by this time the misty cloud was beginning to lift so we headed back to St Margarets Bay to take a few images and see if a walk along the cliff top would produce any butterflies. Rosey managed to find one that she had not photographed before, which was worth the walk. 

Some properties were a bit more humble!

Some a bit more elegant 

Some of the properties built along this cliff are amazing, and the view! - well amazing in all weathers, I would expect.

We ended our walk here, by the Dover Patrol Monument. The Dover Patrol Monument is a war memorial designed by Sir Aston Webb to commemorate the Royal Navy's Dover Patrol of the First World War. Two identical granite memorial obelisks, 75 feet (23 m) high, were erected near Dover and Calais in 1921 and 1922. A third was erected in Brooklyn, New York, in 1931. The UK monument became a Grade II listed building in August 1966, promoted to Grade II* in August 2015.

The Dover Patrol was formed in July 1914, around a nucleus of the 12 Tribal class destroyers. Through the First World War, a variety of craft served in the patrol—cruisers, destroyers old and new, submarines, mine-sweepers, armed trawlers and drifters, armed yachts, motor launches and other coastal craft—as well as a variety of aircraft - flying boats, aeroplanes, and airships. From time to time, French destroyers were included in the patrol.

he patrol covered the southern part of the North Sea and the eastern portion of the English Channel, including the Straits of Dover. Its duties included escorting merchant ships, hospital ships and troop transports; anti-submarine patrols; sweeping for German mines, and laying British minefields and anti-submarine nets; and bombarding German land forces on the coast of Belgium and northern France. It was commanded by Admiral Reginald Bacon from 1914 until his retirement at the end of 1917, and then by Vice-Admiral Roger Keyes. Six members of the patrol were awarded the Victoria Cross in a single action on 22–23 April 1918, for their part in the Zeebrugge Raid to block the entrance to the port of Bruges-Zeebrugge and so prevent German vessels from leaving port.

Some 2,000 members of the patrol lost their lives during the war. A committee was formed in November 1918 to raise a public subscription for the erection of a monument in memory of the patrol. Over £45,000 was raised, including £1,000 donated by King Albert and Queen Elizabeth of the Belgians

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Suffolk Wildlife Trust`s Fox Fritillary Meadow

Fox Fritillary Meadow is an ancient floodplain. It is the largest of four remaining sites for the snake's head fritillary in Suffolk, and it was to here that we booked to visit to see these beautiful wild flowers. Visiting Fox Fritillary Meadow is by prior arrangement only, and visitor numbers are restricted, so we booked some 2 months back for this year.

According to Suffolk Wildlife Trust:- The Snake's-head fritillary is a most unusual looking wildflower and the UK's only native fritillary species. When in bloom in spring, this flamboyant wildflower is unmistakable. Its nodding purple and sometimes white flowers have distinctive chequer-board markings resembling a snake’s skin. Before it flowers its presence may be overlooked as the foliage is grass-like, but once in flower it is a spectacular sight, forming a wonderful purple haze across the meadow. The number of local names, including Snake's-head lily, Crowcup, Leper's Bells and Chequered Lily, suggest that this was once a common countryside sight

Its first recorded presence in the wild in England was in 1736 and its origin has been debated by botanists ever since. Opinions still vary. Some say it is native, others that it was introduced by the Romans or escaped from Tudor gardens. Whatever its origin, we do know that in the early 20th century it occurred widely in Suffolk's river valleys.

Unfortunately, this attractive plant has gradually disappeared from the countryside as meadows have been fertilized, ploughed, drained or built upon. As they thrive on land that has never been subjected to intensive agriculture, they are now nationally quite rare. Thankfully, we are lucky to have in Suffolk four semi-natural grasslands where it occurs in the wild - three of these sites are SSSI’s and Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserves. 

The Trust manages these sites traditionally by hay cutting and aftermath grazing by sheep and this careful management maintains the habitat in which the fritillary can flourish. 

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RSPB Minsmere

Minsmere is a great place to spend some hours, which we have done on numerous occasions. Today being one of those days, albeit with large numbers of other people!

The Wikipedia entry gives a brief description of the place:-

RSPB Minsmere is a nature reserve owned and managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) at Minsmere, Suffolk. The 1,000-hectare (2,500-acre) site has been managed by the RSPB since 1947 and covers areas of reed bed, lowland heath, acid grassland, wet grassland, woodland and shingle vegetation. It lies within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and the Suffolk Heritage Coast area. It is conserved as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Special Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar site.

The nature reserve is managed primarily for bird conservation, particularly through control and improvement of wetland, heath and grassland habitats, with particular emphasis on encouraging nationally uncommon breeding species such as the bittern, stone-curlew, marsh harrier, nightjar and nightingale. The diversity of habitats has also led to a wide variety of other animals and plants being recorded on the site. 

Before becoming a nature reserve, the area was the site of an ancient abbey and a Tudor artillery battery. The marshes were reclaimed as farmland in the 19th century, but re-flooded during World War II as part of preparations for possible invasion. 

The reserve has a visitor centre, eight bird hides and an extensive network of footpaths and trails. Entry is free for RSPB members. Potential future threats to the site include flooding or salination as climate change causes rising sea levels, coastal erosion and possible effects on water levels due to the construction of a new reactor at the neighbouring Sizewell nuclear power stations. 

Most of these images were taken with a Sigma 150-600 mm lens - hand held. So quality a little suspect at times. 

Spotted, (rather `heard` first) this Chaffinch sitting in the gorse bushes.

From one of the hides, or viewing points, these Canada Geese went about there endless feeding 

We had hoped to see the sand Martins, and we did. Getting the picture was another thing! However, after numerous attempts, these were two of my better ones. A bit noisy, but an image at least. Amazing birds to watch as they display their speed and agility.

Unfortunately from a great distance, a Marsh Harrier swoops over the reed beds

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Winter brings floods to Layham & Hadleigh

Some years we appear to have a considerable amount more wet weather than others. During these times, Layham takes on a new look, and indeed, the whole area does. This year was one of the wetter ones, although not the worst we have seen. Here are some of the images I have taken when we have experienced large rainfalls.

The seat in the conservation area. You needed wellingtons to reach it, and the view was a bit different from normal. Where does the river start or finish?

The path through the trees is flooded, but the odd oasis produces the occasional surprise.

... such as crocuses still managing to produce some colour.

.... and snowdrops.

It's as well that this house is standing on pillars of brick, although this year the water was not quite as deep but near enough.

Facing the other way, the garden? and tennis court of the neighbours property.

The water as it thunders under the bridge and down the overflow beside the bridge.

Walking toward Hadleigh, this is the scene which greeted me. This is normally horse grazing area!

Anyone for rugby? Not much play on Hadleigh Rugby Club grounds.

In front of the Council offices. There is, believe it or not, a footpath under this lot.

However, the Royal Mail always tries to deliver.

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Hares of Havergate Island

Just off the mainland, south of one of Suffolk’s most popular tourist hotspots lies a rare and special landscape that most casual visitors probably have no idea even exists. The British coast boasts more than 6,000 islands, but only one of them is in Suffolk.

Across the River Ore from Orford Ness, it's far more obvious and famous neighbour, Havergate Island is, in many ways, a bundle of contradictions. Just a 20-minute boat ride from the quay at Orford!

These days, no-one lives on Havergate except an abundance of wildlife. It’s been an RSPB nature reserve since just after the Second World War – and what a reserve it is.

Along with Minsmere, it was the first place in Britain for avocets to breed in 100 years, and is a magnet for exotic spoonbills and migrant waders. 

Then there are the hares, probably first brought to the island as a food source when it was inhabited by farmers. Numbers were depleted in the storm surge of 2013, but they’re still a Havergate speciality.

It was to see the hares that we booked our place on the small boat to make the 20 minute journey, in the hope of at least a few photographs.

The small vessel we travelled on.

This shot taken as we were boarding to leave the island. Orford Ness in the background with it`s Cold War structures on it. 

Orford Ness was used a lot for military purposes but these are from the height of the Cold War when the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment and the Royal Aircraft Establishment (AWRE) used Orford Ness for development work on the atomic bomb. Continuing all the way through the 1960s ominous half-buried concrete structures were built to contain these most lethal of weapons.

A visit another day I think.

Well, we had been on the island for quite a while at the various hides, but it was hares we wanted to see. Arriving at the area where we were most likely to see them, we began to wonder if we would be lucky when suddenly - there they were. Where do I point the camera being the big decision!

Sometimes they were so close that I struggled to remember to quickly zoom in - resulting in several images with chopped ears and feet!

In the end I was quite happy with the resulting images. Even if I had taken nothing, it was a privilege to see them so close and in their natural surroundings.

A little history:

Before 1948 Havergate was farmed by local marsh keepers, who recognised the potential of its rich, silty soil.They built walls and embankments against tidal flooding, inhabited the island and introduced livestock to graze the site.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Havergate was owned by a Mr Fisk, and a cottage on the island housed the Brinkley family, who eked out a living growing crops and tending wildlife. In the early 1920s, a gravel company moved in to extract shingle, which was taken down to the shore in railway buggies powered by electricity and transferred onto Thames barges.

The remains of the extraction pits, tracks and some buggies can still be seen. By the end of the 1920s Havergate was no longer inhabited, but cattle were still brought over to graze in summer, swum over at low tide, until a barge was eventually constructed to ferry them across.

Throughout the Second World War Havergate was left unattended, something which is thought to have led to the failure of sluices that had been installed to prevent flooding and stop the island being reclaimed by the tide. The walls and embankments eventually collapsed, allowing the island to be flooded in several places.

Ironically, this flooding created perfect conditions for a bird that hadn’t bred in Britain for 100 years, the avocet. Avocets were discovered nesting on the island in 1947, leading the RSPB to purchase Havergate in 1948 and to appoint warden Reg Partridge, who began the task of rebuilding the river walls and creating the lagoons that can now be seen today.

It was a great day, and well worth the visit.

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