Bird collections in UK/Europe

I am heading to UK/Europe next year and have 2-3 weeks to see some zoos , in between boring castles etc.. I am predominantly interested in waterfowl, groundfowl, softbills and pigeons and have a free pass from the missus for three zoo visits . What is worth seeing and when is the best time to see it?

Danny

 

Bird collections in UL/Europe

Can I suggest you make time to visit Jersey? Durrell Wildlife Park has Bali Starlings, Blue-Crowned Laughingthrushes, Montserrat Orioles, Red-crested Touracos, Shamas, Fairy Bluebirds, Hooded Pittas, Thick-billed Euphonias, Black Bulbuls, Rufous-bellied Niltavas, Visayan Wrinkled Hornbills, Meller's Ducks, Madagascar Teal, African Pygmy Geese, African White-backed Ducks, Pink Pigeons, Mindanao bleeding-hearts and Congo Peafowl among others, all breeding. You may also be interested in their Sumatran Orangutans, Lowland Gorillas and extensive marmoset/tamarin collections, as well as one of the most exciting herp breeding setups anywhere. The island also has enough 'history' [particularly around the Second War German occupation] to satisfy anybody; and the odd castle, AND wild Green & Wall lizards.

 

Thanks. Its one place thats on my bucket list. I heard its very expensive to visit though once you pay for the ferry etc.

 

Europe? birds? It has to be Walsrode the greatest avian collection in the world[with respect to Durrell,which is a good suggestion].If you dont know,Walsrode is in Germany between Hamburg and Hannover on a direct train line.

 

Oh...and for the worlds greatest zoo experience in general[and plenty of birds] then Berlin and its two zoos.

 

I only didn't mention Walsrode because I thought somebody else would. Can I suggest you build your itinerary around Walsrode, Jersey and Blackbrook?
Paignton/Living Coasts is well worth a look, & London is worth seeing for the Blackburn Pavilion alone.

 

Hi,

Biggest two bird collections in Europe are Vogelpark Walsrode near Hamburg and relatively unpublicized NOP/Papageeipark in Veldhoven in the Netherlands (giant collection of rare birds from all groups, for the reason unknown pretending to be just for ex-pet parrots). For the 3rd place, there are several competitors: Chester Zoo, Slimbridge, Berlin Zoo, Berlin Tierpark, Praha Zoo (they have incredible number of fruit pigeon and laughingthrush species), some bird parks in smaller towns...

Check website zootierliste.de which has good listings - especially as you can extract all kinds of queries from the database.

Sorry for FBBBird, but Jersey Zoo is probably not among top 10.

 

There's always Loro Parque which is still technically in Europe...

 

Vogelpark Avifauna in the Netherlands is also worth a visit along with Pairi Daiza in Belgium.

Vogelpark Avifauna - Vogelpark Avifauna

Accueil - Pairi Daiza

 

I would have to say Blackbrook as a great collection of waterfowl and ground birds but I would have to suggest Slimbridge wwt this as a wonderful collection of birds both in captivity and the wild you can view from hides well worth a visit

 

Thanks everyone. Looks like I have some Googling to do - I was told Blackbrook was in financial difficulty and had lost some of it's glamour and sold off a lot of birds - can anyone confirm?

 

So what is the best time of the year to be there - particularly from a waterfowl perspective??

 

They were in financial trouble and yes some species have left,but the waterfowl collection was not effected by the changes,and they still have the largest collection of Cranes in the UK,and it cannot be far off still having the largest number of species of birds in the UK.

 

Excellent news.

 

Probably a bit late for this thread but nobody mentioned Villars des Dombes (Parc Oiseaux) in France. It has a pretty hefty collection of birds - one of the largest in Europe is just under 300 species.