Over 1,500 visitors discovered the ‘secret world’ of bats, hedgehogs and harvest mice at a local wildlife rescue centre’s open weekend.
The Bats and Bobs weekend held last weekend delighted visitors of all ages at Secret World Wildlife Rescue Centre near Burnham-On-Sea.
A bit of rain on Saturday didn’t deter over 500 people from coming through the gate, and on Sunday the sunnier weather brought in over 1,000 more visitors to enjoy wildlife talks and activities at the charity in East Huntspill.
Author and ecologist Hugh Warwick, right, entertained a packed audience on Sunday with a talk on hedgehogs.
Hugh encouraged visitors to create hedgehog corridors between our gardens to help these much-loved mammals whose numbers are sadly in decline.
Visitors met different species of bat, with talks throughout the weekend from North Devon Bat Care and Avon Bat Care. The centre’s harvest mice were also a popular attraction.
Children had the chance to help create a natural harvest mouse habitat, and hundreds of youngsters also made clay mice, spider conkers and wildlife badges.
Fundraiser Jeremy Duxbury told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “This is the first time for many years that we have held an open weekend at this time of year, and we were both surprised and delighted at the large number of people who took the opportunity to visit us.”
Local people in the Burnham-On-Sea area who would like to get more involved in the work of Secret World Wildlife Rescue can get in touch.
The centre is looking for enthusiastic and committed volunteers to help care for rescued wildlife as well as volunteer rescue drivers, reception staff, maintenance and fundraisers.
The centre will be holding several volunteer recruitment days on Saturday 14th November and Sunday 6th December where visitors can experience first-hand the work of a Secret World volunteer. Contact Secret World to sign up on 01278 783 250.
Also coming up is the charity’s Haunted Castle Auction and Ball on Saturday 28th November at the Webbington Hotel in Loxton in aid of Secret World. Tickets can be booked on the chartity’s website.
