PREGNANT FEMALE- SO EXCITING!!!!!!!

Hi All

We hope you are all well. 

Our summer field work and monitoring is in full swing. It is with great excitement that we show you this video. It is of a female we have been monitoring whose territory overlaps the area where Finlay was rehomed. We showed an image of her in the last post we did. The image showed that she was in peak condition: sleek and lithe. Well compare that to this footage we recently obtained here in early May. It shows that her abdomen is much deeper and swollen. Her walking also seems slightly more like a waddle. We strongly believe that she is pregnant in this clip. This also correlates perfectly with the timing of the wildcat breeding season. It means she would have been mated in early march which falls within the peak mating season.

What is even more exciting is that we have seen her on camera very recently and her body shape is now much slimmer than it was previously. We therefore have every reason to believe that she has given birth within the last month or so. Wildcat females are extremely secretive and den sites are pretty much impossible to find. We of course never actively look for them for fear of disturbance.

But it brings us great joy to think that out there somewhere in a wild, safe place, she will have a den with a litter of beautiful kittens. They will be completely hidden from view and nurtured by this wonderful female. Just look at her thick, blunt and perfectly ringed tail and look at that pin sharp dorsal strip that stops perfectly at the base of her tail. We hope you agree that she is absolutely stunning.

We hope she raises her litter and that at some point we get a glimpse of her priceless kittens on one of our cameras. What a thrilling moment that would be and we will of course share it with you all to enjoy.

It is all go and we will have a Clashindarroch update next week.

We thank you all for your ongoing support that allows us to find and protect the magnificent wildcats in the wild where they belong.

Many thanks as always

Emily and the Wildcat Haven Team.