Arthur The New Arrival At Swinton Green

Happy April everyone, the clocks have finally changed which makes a huge difference here at Swinton Green; it means we can spend more time with the animals and also in the paddocks getting them ready for the summer months ahead.

If you’ve been following me at Hannah, Little Alf and friends for some time, you’ll know that later this year I’m planning on opening a visitor’s centre at Swinton Green. The centre is planned to offer experience days, courses, education and also therapy intervention programmes with the animals.

I’ll be offering hands-on experiences such as alpaca walking and meeting Little Alf alongside the rest of the animals who feature with me online and in the books.

It’s been all systems go to get ready for visitors. My parents are a key part of the projects and all of us have been getting our hands dirty since moving.

Before Easter we collected a new stable for the alpacas new paddock before they arrive in early May. I’m really looking forward to learning more about them as a species and also training them.

Writing about our new arrivals, last week the first sulcata tortoise arrived. Did you know that sulcata tortoises are classed as giant tortoises? They are the third largest tortoise in the world and the biggest mainland tortoise. I’ve always been fascinated by them as a species and have been researching into sulcate for some time.

The new arrival is called Arthur and he is a male and settling into life well. Sulcata tortoises graze on grass and hay for 90% of their diet and also weeds, so since his arrival he has been enjoying munching on the leafy greens in the field. He also eats dark leafy greens such as gem lettuce and kale. Arthur's species originates from Africa. Our climate conditions here in Yorkshire are a lot different to Africa so we have to make sure he is kept nice and warm on the colder days and if it’s below 10 degrees he needs to come indoors to heat up.

Over the Easter weekend I built Arthur a rockery inside his new pen so he can explore and use his instincts as he would in the wild. It’s really important to provide him with plenty of enrichment.

I’m still learning lots about Arthur and excited to see his personality develop as we get to know each other.