From their Facebook page; Our brand new REPTILE HOUSE opens THIS SATURDAY! We can't wait to show you what we've been working on! So many new animals to meet! Beat the queue and grab your pass online now! http://ow.ly/maKF30k9MTv No details of which reptiles but in the picture attached does include a crocodile!
Had a nice visit recently and seen they have a few "zoo animals" such as tapir, capybara, cioati, raccoons, meerkats skunks and now they have a reptile house with crocodiles but that wasn't open when I visited. It will be interesting to see this place grow over the next few years.
Just had a peek at the website. Am I reading this right. Reptile House and Aviary. In the same 'house'?. Surely i'd worry about the croc or pythons getting a little snappy and peckish with a few of the birds letting their guard down for a few moments??
The website is a little misleading with the photo of the boa on the railing. The boa, tegu and Morelet's crocodiles are all in enclosures within the reptile house. There are free flying birds - budgies, canaries, cockatiels, zebra finches, speckled mouse-birds, diamond doves and Bengalese finches that share with Sulcata tortoises and an alligator snapping turtle. On my visit today, the raccoon enclosure was empty and the sign removed and the meerkats were off show due to a recent birth. One of the education team said that they are planning on getting a female tapir soon, which will be house next to the male.
Took a visit to Jimmy's Farm & Wildlife Park today. They now have the following; Selection of ponies and donkeys 2 species of rare breed pigs Pygmy Goats Goats Sheep - Domestic & Cameroon Meerkats (There are 2 babies as well) Chickens Skunk Alpaca (Plus a rare large goat in paddock) Numerous Geese and Ducks Raccoons Caribou (2 females are pregnant and due to drop near the end of March) Coati (Three new ones have arrived not long ago from Marwell) Capybara (Two arrived from Marwell) Morletts Crocodiles Tegu Boa Constrictor Sulcata Tortoise Two Lowland Tapir - They are hoping to breed these soon Darwins Rhea Bennet's Wallaby Emu Peacocks Butterfly House currently closed, but work being done on it to house a number of Invertebrate species which will go on show when the Butterfly House opens in Easter. In the Tropical House there are a number of free flying birds, a couple of these will happily land on you and let you touch and hold them. They have Budgies, Canaries, Doves, Zebra Finch, Cockatiels and White Rumped Mannikin's in there, plus a few Red Throated Conures who have not long arrived. The park also has the best restaurant I've come across at any zoo or park, although it is pricey but 100% worth it. Over the course of this year new exhibits will include Invertebrates in the Butterfly House, a small primate free roaming in the tropical house, and possibly the addition of Otters but this may end up being next year as the Tropical House was a big expense last year. There will be outside exhibits created for some of the tropical house collection and possibly the addition of a couple more reptiles. In the long term plan for the park, they want to build an African themed paddock on the grassland behind the Raccoons and Coati's. Only a small collection but worth a visit. Coati exhibit is really good, and Tropical House is impressive and the free flying birds which happily land on you and let you stroke and hold them is really really good. Easily could see it all in an hour or two, but definitely worth a visit. Annual Membership is only £25 and that gives you 50% off entry in another 8 zoo's within a hour or so radius, and gives you 10-15% off the other things at Jimmy's Farm which includes a cracking farm shop and the brilliant restaurant.
Thought you might like an updated species list. 0.2 Shetland ponies & 0.3 donkeys 2.1 Peafowl Various rare breed pigs: Mangalitsa, large black, middle white, oxford sandy & black, saddleback, gloucester old spot, berkshire, tamworth Various cows including British white, highland and dexter. Chickens: buff orpington, blue orpington, polish, araucana, cream legbar Ducks: indian runners, muscovy Geese: Embden, greylag, barnacle Rabbits & guinea pigs Meerkats 1.1 striped skunk 4.0 ferrets 1.2 capybara 3.0 alpacas 6.3 african pygmy goats 1.0 boer goat 1.1 golden guernsey goats 1.2 bagot goats 1.2 somali black headed sheep 2.6 cameroon sheep Various rare breed domestic sheep 1.0 greater rhea 1.1 lowland tapir 1.4 reindeer 0.2 north american raccoons 1.6 coatis 1.1.5 emus 2.5.3 bennet's walllabies BUTTERLY HOUSE: Giant african land snails Madagascan hissing cockroaches Several species of butterfly 1.0 red crested turaco TROPICAL HOUSE: 0.0.1 black & white tegu 0.2 common boa 0.2 morelet's crocodiles 0.0.1 florida kingsnake 0.2 leopard geckos 1.1 red footed tortoise 1.2 bearded dragons 0.0.3 royal pythons 3.3 sulcata tortoise 3.3 mandarin ducks 1.0 blue throated piping guan 1.1 red turtle dove 2.2 australian crested pigeon 1.0 white cheeked bulbul 1.0 red rumped parakeet Several other bird species inc. cockatiels, budgies, diamond doves, canaries, bengalese finches, and a conure. There are some exciting new additions arriving before summer too!
Visited last weekend for the first time and I certainly agree re the restaurant - we had brekky and it was blimmin lovely!! Also availed ourselves of the membership as we were on tour and did most of the other parks with the 50% off offer and will do the rest before it runs out. Excellent offer imo. In terms of news - Alice the camel had recently arrived from Yorkshire Wildlife park and the sign said she would be joined by a male 'Genghis' from Blackpool very shortly - he may have arrived this week. It was definitely a July date on the sign but I can't remember exactly when in July. The paddock is to the right of the Meerkats if you are looking down from the entrance hut.
Hi, Alice will be joined by Arthur (we've decided to stick with his current name when we found out it was Arthur) on Monday. And they're emu chicks, not rhea
My mistake - didn't see a sign at the enclosure and I've never seen the young of either before. I definitely prefer Arthur as a name.
Yeah I never got round to doing a sign 'cos they've moved so often around the zoo and lived with so many different animals. Besides, it gives the punters something to guess about and also encourages them to chat with the keepers who are always happy to pass the time of day for a natter Other new species include a pair of celestial parrotlets which will go into the butterfly house after quarantine, a sudan plated lizard, a large red foot tortoise and a pair of horsfield's tortoises. Kookaburras coming soon.
Additions in the last few months: 1.1 Red breasted geese (the male came from the RSPCA, and the female from Banham) 1.0 Redfoot tortoise (from Banham to join our other 2) 0.1 Red crested turaco (came from Paulton's Park to join our male) 0.1.1 Pink backed pelicans (came from Longleat) 1.1 Laughing kookaburras (from Linton). 1.0 Sudan plated lizard (from Kirkley Hall) Groups of Macleay's spectre stick insects and Pachnoda Sun beetles from Eccles college.
A tv series will air in a few weeks. A dates not been announced yet. Id imagine it will feature a lot of the working farm but might show some of the wildlife park too.
I can tell you that there's bit of the working farm in there, but it's mostly being filmed within the wildlife park. It's a bit more quirky than your average zoo TV show, so I hope there's something for everyone in there.
Dunno if anyone's spotted the TV ads, but the series starts on Thursday 30th @ 8pm on Channel4, just after the televised clapping bit. I hope you enjoy it
This will keep me occupied, thank you. I've not visited yet though I hope to this year, it is the only zoo in the 50% entrance annual pass scheme in East Anglia that I haven't visited (not counting Yarmouth sea life).
We look forward to welcoming you once this crazy time is over. Hopefully the show goes down well. We've put a huge amount of work into it, but we're all feeling nervous and hopeful as to how it's going to be received. The weird thing is, we're still filming so we'll be watching the first 2 episodes before filming ends! I hope it's going to show how a smaller collection manages to cope during this difficult period whilst also still being entertaining and providing some escapism from lockdown confinement.
I watched it! Really enjoyed it, when this is over I want to come visit. I haven't been for about 9/10 years...I was about 7 then and to my surprise I remember bits of it. Will we see any development on the extensions for the capybara and wallaby enclosures later in the series?
