Sunday 19 January 2014

Dippy’s Spring Clean


Dippy Feb 2011I woke up bright and early this morning, it was still dark outside at 7am so I waddled through the Park to the kitchen. I made myself a very large bowl of creamy porridge and drizzled runny golden syrup all over it for a very tasty breakfast. It warmed my belly on this very chilly January morning and would hopefully give me lots of energy for my mornings work. Today I was off to Freshwater to help my two fox friends Flora and Fern do some Spring cleaning at the Coastguard Cottages up on High Down overlooking the Needles.
I popped my yellow marigold gloves, apron and feather duster into my rucksack and put on my waterproof mackintosh and wellingtons. By now the sun was beginning to rise and I carefully made my way across the slippery rain wet floor over to the penguin pool lighthouse. The small wooden door wouldn't open at first due to being so wet and swollen from all the winter rain, so I gave it a big strong pull and then stepped inside and closed it behind me. The lighthouse began to whirl around, twinkling sparkles appeared in the air above my head, the magic was happening, transporting me to the Needles lighthouse at Alum Bay.
Once I had arrived I made my way up the cliff using a climbing rope the foxes had left for me, which was secured tightly around a large tree at the top. At the Coastguard Cottages the foxes had already began and the Spring clean was in full swing. Fern was polishing the furniture using bees wax from a tin and a soft leather cloth, the dark wood gleamed and the smell was wonderful. Flora was busy brushing the floorboards with a strong tall bristled brush. My job was to wash the floors. I filled the large round red bucket with hot soapy water, bubbles bounced into the air when I dipped the mop in, swished it round and began to wipe the cottage floors super clean.
Next we scrubbed the bath, cleaned the net curtains and made the beds up with clean ironed white linen sheets. At midday we sat down completely exhausted from a very busy mornings work. Fern poured out some homemade fish soup from her thermos flask into three bowls which we ate with some crusty bread. Absolutely delicious!
My fox friends thanked me for helping with the big clean and said they would come and visit me soon at the Park. I packed up my rucksack and set off towards home looking forward to an afternoon dip in the pool with my penguin friends.
Check out more of Dippy’s adventures online at

Wednesday 15 January 2014

Albert and Arthur our two new male Black Turkeys


Today we welcomed two new residents to Pets Corner, Albert and Arthur two male Black Turkeys. The Black Turkey, sometimes referred to as the Black Spanish or the Norfolk Black, is a breed of domestic turkey. The "Norfolk Black" is generally considered the oldest turkey breed in the UK.
These boys seemed to have already settled in with our gang here. Here are a few photos taken of them this afternoon.
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Welcome to the ranch boys!

Friday 3 January 2014

Winter Storms at Seaview

The Island along with most of the South coast has been battered by lots of very strong storms over the last few weeks.
An incredible amount of rain has fallen and many areas of the park were flooded including the lower lake which at times looked like a giant river as the pathway has completely disappeared!
Here are a few photos of some of the flooding, as you can see the lower lake was very full (which all the geese and ducks are always happy about!). From the park we also have a good view of the Hersey Nature Reserve- which as you can see from the photos got to a very high level!
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In between the storms we did however have the odd sunny day with beautiful clear blue skies:
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