A busy week for our sanctuary Vets!

As a sanctuary, we would be lost without the support of our vets, and today we’d like to highlight the work of our amazing vets at Meadows Farm who have had a busy couple of weeks with us here! They rushed straight out to us when Geraldine the sheep gave us a scare with the first stages of bloat, and has since been seen twice - we’re happy to say that final checkup gave her the all-clear and she was able to go back out with her friends! Following this worrying event, vets Frances & Sophie gave our team a training session on what to do if we have a sheep or goat with bloat again - bloat is very serious and left untreated, the animal will die, so it is critical that we are able to step in to provide this first aid while we’re waiting for the vets to arrive!

Geraldine waiting for the all-clear so that she could be reunited with her pals!

They have also given Ollie the goat a check-up (he’s fine!), as well as Jax and Evangeline the Sheep who we have been a little worried about and now receiving treatment.

We also had a very busy day vaccinating all of our sheep and goats, helping to keep them safe and healthy over the winter - a particularly critical time for many of our older animals here!

Evangeline having a check-up

Auntie having her vaccine.

A dental check-up for Jax.

Roma having his vaccine.

Waiting for their vaccines.

Rachel leading the rams around

Lydia moving Jake's group.

The team at Meadows Farm are always at the end of a phone any time of day if we need them for help or advice, and we know our rescued animals are in the best hands when they need that extra care that we can’t provide.

You can help to support our animals’ veteriary care by making a donation (please let us know that you would like it to be used for this) and helping us to purchase the veterinary medicines and supplies needed to keep our animals healthy and happy, and help to make our poorly animals better!

National Reptile Awareness Day

This Thursday the 21st is National Reptile Awareness Day, where reptile enthusiasts all over the country will be celebrating and talking all things scaly.

Herpetology is the study of both reptiles and amphibians, our four-legged tetrapods that have walked the Earth for around 400 million years and came about during the Devonian period. The Greek word ‘herpeton’ refers to a creeping animal, a term generally used to describe these cunning creatures.

Reptiles are cold-blooded vertebrates identified by their scales, leathery/hard-shelled eggs, and a bony skeleton. This includes turtles, lizards, snakes, crocodilians and even birds!

Evolution and Dinosaurs

Of course, we can’t forget dinosaurs! The ancient reptiles that dominated the land around 201 million years ago during the Jurassic period. Around 65 million years ago, most dinosaurs became extinct except for some archosaur species that included crocodiles, alligators, and “feathered dinosaurs”.

A fossil of these feathered dinosaurs is shown in the picture below, and these eventually evolved into birds. Currently, modern-day birds are a very diverse group with over 10,000 species globally.

Fossil cast of a Sinornithosaurus millenii

Human Threats

One of the main reasons for the decline in UK reptile populations is a loss of habitat. Reptiles are terrestrial organisms that like to live in woodlands, grasslands, wetlands, and shrubs. However, due to urbanization, poor agricultural methods and pesticides, these natural areas are becoming destroyed.

Groups such as turtles and terrapins are particularly targeted by predators taking eggs from their nests as well as by humans when reptiles are trapped in fishing equipment.

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Common UK Reptiles

Common Lizard

(Scientific Name: Zootoca vivipara)

böhringer friedrich, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Conservation status: least concern – wide distribution, tolerates a range of habitats

• Protected by national legislation

• Current population trend unknown – more common in some European countries than others

• Conservation actions for land and water protection

Native to Ireland. Population found in Dudley.

Habitat: Terrestrial. Forests, grasslands, wetlands

Diet: Small invertebrates

Threats: Habitat loss due to agriculture, urbanization, tourism facilities

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Barred Grass Snake

(Scientific name: Natrix helvetica)

Grass Snake rescued by Proteus Reptile Trust and released at Brockswood Animal Sanctuary

Conservation status: Lower risk/least concern

• Current population trend unspecified, lack of reliable information. Protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

• In 2017, the barred grass snake was found in the UK to be different to the grass snake found in other eastern European countries. So, it was reclassified as a separate species.

Diet: amphibians, fish, small mammals, birds, worms, tadpoles, newts.

Habitat: Terrestrial. Wetlands, dry grasslands, freshwater, farmland, damp woodlands.

Threats: Habitats in decline (egg-laying sites), amphibian prey in decline

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Adder

(Vipera berus)

Benny Trapp, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Conservation status: Least concern – tolerates a wide range of habitats

• Large global population, this varies based on country and habitat. Population is decreasing in Germany and extinct in Italy.

• Protected by national legislation

• Recent population declines in central England

• Native to Europe.

Diet: small mammals, lizards, amphibians, birds.

Habitat: Terrestrial. Forests, grasslands, wetlands, cliffs and mountains.

Threats: Habitat loss due to urbanization, agricultural methods.

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Red-eared Terrapin

(Trachemys scripta elegans)

Conservation status: Least concern - globally widespread, tolerates a range of habitats

Native to the USA and Bermuda

Diet: Omnivorous. Insects, plants, fish.

Habitat: still and slow-flowing freshwater.

Threats: Habitat loss, crab pot trapping, nest predation, road mortality, insecticides and herbicides used around wetland habitats.

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Conservation

Species such as the barred grass snake sometimes lay eggs in compost heaps, as the high temperatures during decomposition make a good environment for incubation. Making your own compost heap in your garden would both provide more egg-laying sites for grass snakes and allow you the possibility of seeing a wild snake!

The adder can be susceptible to collection for the pet trade as the UK’s only venomous snake. Conservation of this species includes monitoring populations in nature reserves, habitat management as well as raising awareness of adders and what to do when you come across one. Adders are generally non-aggressive to humans, but they should be treated with respect and left alone if found.

Red-eared terrapins were transported to the UK from the USA to be used as pets in the 1980s during the ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ show. They are classed as an invasive species, as they could possibly outcompete and threaten native species to the UK, and the public are encouraged not to release them into the wild.

When nearing the 5th of November, small mammals and reptiles alike are looking for a suitable habitat to hibernate in over the Winter. It is around this time people are usually building bonfires, which also make suitable woodpile homes for wildlife. For this reason, it’s best to build bonfires right before lighting them. Always check underneath your bonfire for resident wildlife!

Dog Show 2021 - What a Pawsome Day!

Now that we’ve had a little chance to recover, we’d like to say the most enormous thank you to everybody who helped to make our Annual Dog Show the most successful event we’ve ever had at the sanctuary! As this was not only our first independent dog show, but also our first event following the pandemic, we really didn’t know what to expect, but you amazed us all. We were absolutely bowled over by your support and the sheer number of you who came out – a record number in fact!!

Best Paw Shaker © Georgie Willetts

Thank you to every one of you who came from near and far. YOU helped to make this day so special, a day that we are all still talking about here!

Thank you to our sponsors, the amazing caring team at Home Instead Sandwell & Dudley. They have been as excited about this event as us from the beginning and it was wonderful to finally meet the team (thanks for the goodie bags, sweets, and calming pep talks!). We’d also like to say an enormous thank you to Lillie at Moo Dog Training who sponsored our rosettes, donated treats for our goodie bags, and was with us every step of the way with help and advice – and a surprise puppy visit before the show to make us all smile! We couldn’t have done it without these amazing people.

A very special thank you to Lisa our Judge who kindly volunteered her time for the day to meet all of you and your wonderful dogs. It’s a tough job choosing between them and while we believe they’re all winners, someone must choose – we think she did a wonderful job! We’d also like to thank Nicky who kindly gave her time to help her out.

Thank you to our stallholders; all local businesses, crafters, and charities – buying from these stalls supports local small businesses and this is so important now more than ever. One of our stalls even sold out before the end of the day thanks to your custom, and you also helped the very deserving Little Paws Cat Haven to raise an amazing £443.50 towards their work!

Thank you to Rainbow Mutts Agility for their amazing agility displays and have-a-go agility fun throughout the day. They also kindly raised funds for our animals and the very worthy Kelpie Welfare UK fundraising page. Keep an eye out for more from these in the future.

Rainbow Mutts Agility © Keith McManus Photography

In a first for the sanctuary, Hrafn Vaeringi, our resident Viking re-enactment group invited groups of visitors into their village to proudly show you their hard work behind the scenes so far, a little insight into our colourful history, and what they hope to achieve in the future with your help – there is still much work to be done! These tours of Hrafnsaeti viking settlement proved to be so popular, they ended up having to cancel their planned battle to be able to take even more people around the village. Again, we can’t thank you all enough for your interest and support, and the group – all voluntary, for their hard work!

Our thanks to Alastair of Wild Times Adventure School who was probably the coolest of us all set up in our shady woodland walk, demonstrating some of the woodland/bushcraft skills you can learn with him here at the sanctuary.

Thank you Annice Bradford Photography who volunteered her time for the day to take photos for us – as we were so busy for much of the day we missed a lot of the action and it has been wonderful to look back at some of what we missed. If you took photos, please feel free to share them with us, we’d love to see them! You can see more photos on our Facebook page (look for our Dog Show 2021 Album).

Thank you as well to a couple of our fantastic neighbours, who when our car parks became completely full, kindly let visitors park on their drives - if this isn't community spirit, we don't know what is! Thank you for your kindness and for helping us in your own way.

We’d also like to say a HUGE well done to our amazing team of staff and volunteers who worked around the clock to make this event a success. We have lived and breathed this dog show for weeks and we’re so proud of what we achieved together! While we did have the odd technical hitch, we’ve learned a lot and can’t wait to make our next even better for you – see you next year!

…because most of all, we’d like to thank YOU!! It was a pleasure seeing so many of you here, especially after a very long lockdown earlier in the year. We also can’t begin to say how wonderful it is to see so many happy dogs here. So many breeds, ages, shapes and sizes. As a sanctuary sadly unable to rescue dogs, we love seeing them here. Don’t forget we are a 100% dog-friendly site and your waggy friends are always welcome back.

Thanks again, from the Brockswood Team!!