Hi All
Thank you so much for all you recent support for our ongoing efforts to stop the Clashindarroch windfarm. We are very pleased with progress and will update on timescales for the Public inquiry and things to look out for, next week.

So many of you have contacted us about the Finlay, and apologies for the gap in news. We have been flat out, but here is the latest news about him.

Finlay was found as an orphan last October at only 3 weeks old. After a very nerve-wracking few months of intensive care and rearing, he survived. Thanks to your generosity we built him a huge, naturalistic enclosure, where he could learn the skills he needed to survive. He has been in that enclosure since late March. The aim has always been and still is to return him to the wild at the earliest opportunity. Initially we had hoped to release him this summer, but with hindsight, that was just too ambitious. Of course, we could have taken a chance and let him go, but in our heart of hearts we knew he wouldn't survive. It was just too soon for him. He has had to catch up on his lost growth, develop all the skills needed to survive in the wild and learn to be a wildcat. For any release to work, we would have had to get him out in early summer so that he could acclimatise before winter. As you all the know, the Scottish summer is brief and winter comes quickly. Finlay just wasn't ready in June/July and it would have been reckless of us to try. Becasue that window was missed, there is no other choice but to release next year. For obvious reasons it would be foolish to release him during this autumn and winter.

It is worth noting that Finlay is still not yet a year old, his birthday will be soon. For all the reasons above we have decided to release him in springtime next year. This will allow him to reach his full size, continue the development of his hunting skills and crucially, experience his first winter outdoors. He is doing fantastically well, and we are very excited to tell you that he has now started to successfully hunt in his enclosure. The enclosure is full of natural vegetation and the large mesh size allows birds and small mammals to easily pass through without impediment. We have found evidence of kills of a variety of different prey types which is incredibly encouraging. He is of course now more elusive and has settled into a behaviour pattern of sleeping during the day and coming out at dusk. This is exactly what we wanted to see. This also of course explains the lack of daytime videos and pictures and we have only managed to grab a few.

We have learned so much from Finlay and we remain committed to ensuring that he has the best chance when he returns to the wild. We were so tempted to release him, but we are very confindent that we have made the right decision to delay until next year when he will be full size, winter hardened and a more proficient hunter. We are sure that all these factors will hugely increase his chances of survival. We will only get one chance to get this right and we take that responsibility very seriously. He is so important to all of us and you, on a number of levels.

Here is the latest video we managed to take of Finlay, it is in the news section of our website. It is short but sweet. Just look at those lovely markings and the way he slinks away. He is wonderful.

https://www.wildcathaven.com/news

More updates will follow.

Very best wishes as always

The Wildcat Haven Team and Finlay