Sale now on in our retail department!! Up to 70% off throughout all departments including Ponden home and gifts, as well as ladies and gents clothing.

Hi guys, New for 2018 the Scottish Deer Centre is launching an online video blog called Deer Diaries! This blog will be updated monthly and is designed to provide a keeper’s-eye view of life behind the scenes at the SDC. It will be a useful resource for anyone who wants to know more about our animals or what it is really like to work in a Zoo. If this sounds like you, please like and share this post and come and join the discussion on our new page! Our first blog Entry is called Let Sleeping Bears Lie and is all about hibernation. I hope you find it interesting and enjoy the video of our sleepy bears. ( And yes, that sound is Nelly snoring her head off!) Andrew https://ahodgkinson25.wixsite.com/deerdiaries

With 13 species of deer in the park and our array of carnivores, we can hear quite the variety of noises from our animals every day! One of the strangest is from our Barasingha Deer, which has been likened to everything from a car alarm to a farmyard bird scarer!

ANIMAL OF THE WEEK NAME: Ned SPECIES: North American Elk / Wapiti AGE: 2 years old BORN AT: Private collection, Preston ARRIVED AT SDC: October 2016 ANIMAL ANTICS: Ned arrived with us as a newly 'mature' 18 month old, however our resident females Agnes and Maggie were less than impressed by his small stature (at the time!) and he found himself easily bullied, much to his disgust! The tables did turn however, and he eventually won Maggie round, with the end result being the birth of calf Deirdre in August! With an impressive almost-2-month-long rut this autumn past, it's safe to expect at least another Ned junior to come this year! Ned is our resident hooligan, and in true Wapiti bull fashion, loves to vandalise everything in sight, from his log swing to fence posts! He's can be particularly bad-mannered and likes to make sure everyone knows he's not to be messed with, although has shown his softer side with young Deirdre... and in his attempts to woo her mum and Agnes! Like his predecessor, Willy, Ned is partial to a bit of interior design, and will contentedly spend hours on end trying to position logs of various sizes on his antlers and depositing them somewhere better. We have had to ration some of his bigger logs however, after his many attempts to use them to cause more destruction were giving our maintenance team even more work to do! He's grown into an impressive male, who can be seen across from the neighbouring hand-rear enclosure, as the raceway around his enclosure is currently closed to the public for safety reasons whilst he's in hard antler.

** VISITOR NOTICE ** If you plan to visit us today, please be aware that the park will again open at the later time of 11am and will close at 4pm, as per Boxing Day. Normal opening hours will resume tomorrow, Wednesday 3 January.

With the sun now up on 2018, we'd like to wish all of our visitors and supporters a very Happy New Year! Thank you for all of your support over 2017 and we look forward to seeing many more of you again over the coming year!

***CUSTOMER ANNOUNCEMENT*** Please note that due to high winds our woodland areas are closed to the public today. We will continue to monitor the conditions and update you with any changes.

The sun is out here in Bow of Fife and it's set to stay all day - perfect for a family day out in the park! Make sure to keep an eye out for Northern Lynx Agnetha basking in her favourite sun spots!

ANIMAL OF THE WEEK NAME: AK SPECIES: American Kestrel AGE: 3 years old BORN AT: Private collection, Aberdeen ARRIVED AT SDC / RAPTOR WORLD: 2014, aged 6 weeks old ANIMAL ANTICS: AK is currently the smallest bird of prey at the park, weighing in at just 4oz! She's an incredibly sweet bird, though is not to be underestimated: she's a fantastic flyer, is very quick in the air and is excellent at catching her own food. She's also very brave and is one of the only birds our local crows are afraid of, as she's not afraid to challenge them and they're well aware that taking her on would be too much hassle! AK likes to eat various insects, including earthworms pulled up from soil, and her personal favourite - earwigs! She's also very fond of chasing butterflies, although has yet to catch one yet! Her eyesight is typically very acute for her species, and she can frequently be seen head bobbing whilst she keeps an eye on what's nearby. AK's is as fond of her falconers as they are of her, and her favourite place to perch is atop falconer Viki's head - where she can get a good view and keep an eye on the food bag, as well as taking advantage of the safety of being up high! Despite being given time to catch her own food after displays, she usually still prefers to return to the security of her falconer's glove, or head! AK is one of the many stars of our daily bird of prey flying demonstrations, and is a wonderful bird to watch showing off her skills. Maybe you'll be lucky enough to see her on your next visit!

** VISITOR NOTICE ** If you plan to visit us today, please be aware that the park will open at the later time of 11am for Boxing Day and close at 4pm. Normal opening hours will resume tomorrow, Wednesday 27 December.

Merry Christmas everyone, from all of us here at the Deer Centre! We hope you're all having a wonderful time, however you're spending your day!

Good afternoon everyone. Please note Santa's Grotto is now sold out for this, it's final day this year. We apologise for any disappointment this may cause, however would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has made it along to see Santa here this year. We hope you all enjoyed yourselves, and look forward to welcoming you back again in the future.