Last Tues/Wed,I visited Golders Hill Park Zoo,I hadn't been for about 12 years, then it had Blackbuck,Wallabies and a fine herd ofFallow Deer,when I visited I saw one coati, one ring tailed lemur, about four fallow deer, a greater rhea and a few species of bird in aviaries,apart from quite a good waders aviary they had little else of interest .Instead of a donkey and a couple of maras in a paddock why not have a flock of Soay Sheep for instance?across the other side of the park was a disused butterfly house or it seemed to be on my visit.I know times are hard but I am sure thatthey can do better and makesure that people want to go, even if it is a free zoo.
I visited Golders Hill Park over the Easter weekend for the first time in many years. I was also very disappointed as the collection had been reduced since my last visit and compared to previous visits it looked generally shabby. You mention that you only saw one coati, a single ring-tailed lemur and a solitary donkey. I certainly saw several ring-tailed lemurs and two coatis; there were also two donkeys. Overall, I agree with you; the collection was nowhere near as interesting as it once was; with a little imagination, I am sure it could easily be improved. However, it is a free zoo and I assume finances are stretched so I guess we shouldn't really complain too much. The Butterfly House was opened over Easter.
The butterfly house closes early and is pretty low on stock. I miss the flamingos, they had a lovely collection up until ten years ago. They need a donation box on site.
When I first visited Golders Hill Park, back in the 1970s, the flamingos were living on the park's lake; on subsequent visits they were confined to one of the aviaries and now, of course, there are no flamingos there at all.
Yes I thought the Flamingoes made the lake,I hadn't been to the park since the late 1990a, then there seemed to be several varieties of waterfowl but when I visited early this month there seemed only to be Mallards,Pigeons and Moorhens,I know when there were the storms of 1987 they damaged the paddock where they had Blackbuck etc down at the bottom of the childrens zoo.
