KITTEN JOY AND SUPERDAD IS NOW SUPERGRANDAD

Hi All

It is with great excitement that we can show you some very special kitten footage. You will all remember last year, that we captured an entire family of Wildcats on camera. It was the first time ever, that a male wildcat had been observed with kittens. Five wildcats in one video. It made National news and we call the male ‘Superdad’. Well we are so pleased to tell you that Superdad is now a ‘Super Grandad’. His daughter from last year who we call ‘Willow’, has had her own kittens this summer and they are doing fantastically well. She is a first time mum but she is an excellent hunter and her kittens are thriving. They are little, beautiful bundles of energy and are loving exploring their forest home. So, we now have 3 generations of Wildcats at this site alone.

This all just keeps reinforcing our point that the Scottish wildcat is NOT functionally extinct and numbers can bounce back quickly if given protection and freedom from disturbance. In this site alone which is in the East of Aberdeenshire, we know of 11 different individuals. We have a dozen cameras spread across this site so we are building up a detailed knowledge of wildcat family life and social structure. It’s incredibly exciting and we hope you enjoy seeing them as much as we do. In the picture above you will see 2 beautifully striped kittens caught on camera at the end of august. The second kitten to the left is hard to see because it blends in with the vegetation so well. If you click on this link, you will able to see a video from September, of Willow and her 2 kittens enjoying life in the forest.

We will continue to monitor this special family and will keep you posted on their development. We also still await the crucial judgement on our case to save the Clashindarroch.

Keep watching and enjoy.

Very best wishes

Emily and the Wildcat Haven team