This was my main reason for visiting Marwell, and was one of the highlights of the day.

This beautiful creature is Ascha, a female Amur Leopard.......and proud mum!  I had been dying to get to the zoo, in the hope of catching a glimpse of her rare and precious cub, ever since I read that it made its public debut at the end of February.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/02/28/ealeopard128.xml

If you have time, please read the links below.  The Amur Leopard is on the verge of extinction in the wild, due to a combination of reasons and events.  There are estimated to be only thirty living in the wild, and only five or six of them are female.  The conservation work being done by zoos is crucial, carefully planned, and strictly regulated.

As for the photograph...well, this was the best of a bad bunch.  It was dark, overcast and just about to rain.  This was taken through very thick, and not very clean glass, and she was in deep shadow.  The colour version is just too grainy, and converting to mono helped bring out some of the detail.   Even so, I had to post it, as it is part of the story of the day.  I just can not tell you how wonderful it feels to have an animal like this look you full in the eye.  That contact is just so special.

As a little `aside`, I seemed to be in competition with two other photographers who, with their tripods, giant lenses,  bags of gear, camping stools, flasks of tea etc., were totally hogging the only spot from which the female could be photographed.   Generally, I find other photographers to be reasonable friendly.  These two guys were not.  They were not professional photographers (I know because I asked them), but they were `camped out` waiting for a glimpse of the cub.   When I asked politely if I could possible squeeze in to take a shot or two, one of them did begrudingly stand up and move an inch to the right, allowing me the slightest of opportunity of a shot, if I could avoid his left ear.   He did `warn` me not to touch his camera, because it was all set up for his next shot, and with a snort of derision, pointed at my camera and said that I would not get anything with that!

Well, as it happens, I did not get much of a shot of her - but I was entitled to try! 

http://www.marwell.org.uk/amurleopardbirth.asp