Silkie Frizzle

Freddie Frizzle, a silkie frizzle hybrid chicken, is one of the baby chicks residing with baby white ducks in the wildlife office at Leeds Castle.

The office is becoming rather crowded as the chicks join the baby hogs who are curled up in newspaper in a box with their smelly cat food. One would be forgiven for thinking Spring has arrived early!

'Freddie frizzle', as nicknamed by Hannah the Deputy Falconer, hatched from an egg in the new incubator on Christmas Day and has spiky feathers which are most unusual looking. Check out the extra photo!

Both the chickens and ducks are domestic breeds so will be kept in the wildlife pens away from predators, once they're big enough to leave the comfort of the heat lamp boxes in the wildlife office.

Assisting my pal James the Wildlife Warden on his afternoon rounds we spotted a couple of Whooper Swans who'd strayed from the Cascade Garden to the Pavillion Lawn.

It turned out a Mute Swan pair had taken over the Whooper's lake pushing them out. James told me the recent warmer weather has confused the birds and they're starting to become territorial thinking it's mating season.

In contrast as the temperature plummets again the birds will need more feeding as they need extra food and energy to fight off the cold. A bit like us with our comfort food!

Up in the Wildlife pens I helped catch the Guinea Fowl chicks who've recently moved over from the incubator to the outside. We successfully caught them and put them away in the shed for the night. They're not quite big enough to survive the cold nights just yet.

My Christmas tree now has a new home with falconry and will be in one of the aviaries later in the week. Tea and banter in the Falconry Office and some yummy chocolate cake as well as coffee and chat with my friend Education Manager LaLa AND a peek into the Curator's office to see the lovely Pete to hear about the latest Castle redecorations (you wouldn't believe the cost of replacing the wallpaper) made for a relaxed afternoon catching up with my Castle pals.

A quick hello in the Estate Office to deputy CEO 'Lord Lash' who looked as smiley as ever and 'hi' to my friend Wendy from accounts with a peek into the accommodation office to see my friend Chris (Owlman1975) and admire his lovely owl picture frame on his new desk!

Great to bump into the 'Culpeper Gnomes' (Sam, Nat and Andrew the Gardeners) too. They're busy tidying up the Lady Baillie Garden and preparing for the Spring. Hurry up warmer weather but in the meantime I'll enjoy visiting the Castle and having the grounds (almost) to myself.