Lakeland Wildlife Oasis Lakeland Wildlife Oasis News

Well yesterday I made my way to one of my favourite small collections in the North and there have been huge developments on the building going on since I went in November.

The Parma Wallaby exhibit is now finished and looks really good. Sadly having been promised 3 Wallaby's from a local collection, the other party went back on their word and they are now trying to source 2 or 3 Parma Wallaby's. The enclosure is great, and the plan is to keep them inside for a few months to a year and let them get use to their surroundings before allowing them to be free roaming around the park. They will then look to house another new species in the current Wallaby area. They were initially going to have 3 males from another park but after that park has now decided to keep them, they are on the look out for a male and a female or a male and two female's from other collections. They are hoping to have some within the month.

The park has also been given the all clear by the stud book to breed the Snow Leopard's again. Obviously there is no guarantee they will be successful but a few years ago they had two cubs, so they are hopeful that at some point this year they may have cubs if breeding goes well.

The Red Squirrel open top enclosure and new house is coming along very nicely and they hope to have it completed for Easter. They have already removed the tree tops from the adjoining tree's to prevent them from escaping and it will be good to see them naturally and not kept in a fully fenced exhibit. I believe it will be the only open top Red Squirrel exhibit in the UK which is great for a small park.

The former Lemur area has now been completely empty and cut back with plans to build a new exhibit here later in the year. The park had previously looked at Penguins or Otter's but given the area is prone to flooding they have gone against that as they wouldn't want a Penguin disappearing off onto the M6!
They have possibly considered Red Panda's (but the wait is a long one) and they are likely to go down a similar route. The chap I spoke to said it's a nice size area so they hope to get something which will bring people in. Another small carnivore or something along those lines will be possible.

Work is starting in the history area to add something into this area, whilst I was happy to see the Harvest mouse outside his bed for once! Such a cute little animal!

The Fossa's were inside as was a bit cold for them and the female is quite old now. The Park's male has very strong breeding lines and they will look to bring in a breeding female when the current female passes on.

The talks have now changed around for the winter schedule and the Potoroo's are fed at 12, and are cute little things and you get to see them fed worms and fruit. Now at 1pm the Meerkat's are fed, with the same sort of feed, and they allow the visitors to throw a piece of veg to the Meerkats to eat when it's quiet which is fun. There is then a gap until 3.30 for the Fruit Bat talk, but this is really interesting and gives you a chance to see them up close, rather than hanging from the sealing.

For only a tenner entry it's a cracking little place with some unique animal's (especially in the reptile house, as they are the only collection in the Uk to have Garter snake),

I took some pictures and they will follow.

 

They are the only collection in the UK (and indeed in Europe) to have Thamnophis scaliger, the short-tailed Alpine garter snake. There are various other garter snake species at other UK collections.

 

Further to my earlier posting;

Parma Wallaby Exhibit

Wallaby Exhibit (awaiting Wallabys) by Zooreviewsuk posted 31 Jan 2018 at 9:41 AM

Wallaby Exhibit (awaiting Wallabys) by Zooreviewsuk posted 31 Jan 2018 at 9:41 AM

Red Squirrel Open Top Exhibit

New Red Squirrel House by Zooreviewsuk posted 31 Jan 2018 at 9:41 AM

Red Squirrel Open Top Exhibit (Open for easter) by Zooreviewsuk posted 31 Jan 2018 at 9:41 AM

Red Squirrel watching his new home being built by Zooreviewsuk posted 31 Jan 2018 at 9:41 AM

Some of my better photo's from yesterday's visit.

Clownfish (Nemo) by Zooreviewsuk posted 31 Jan 2018 at 9:51 AM

Axolotls by Zooreviewsuk posted 31 Jan 2018 at 9:51 AM

Black and White Argentinian Tegu by Zooreviewsuk posted 31 Jan 2018 at 9:58 AM

Asian Water Dragon by Zooreviewsuk posted 31 Jan 2018 at 9:51 AM

Jamaican Boa by Zooreviewsuk posted 31 Jan 2018 at 9:51 AM

Leaf Cutter Ants by Zooreviewsuk posted 31 Jan 2018 at 9:51 AM

Harvest Mouse by Zooreviewsuk posted 31 Jan 2018 at 9:58 AM

Snow Leopard by Zooreviewsuk posted 31 Jan 2018 at 9:58 AM

Fossa by Zooreviewsuk posted 31 Jan 2018 at 9:58 AM

Fossa by Zooreviewsuk posted 31 Jan 2018 at 9:58 AM

 

The British Wildlife Centre has had an open-topped walkthrough exhibit for red squirrels and Reeve's muntjac since 2010, so not quite the first in the UK:
Red Squirrel walkthrough at the British Wildlife Centre 14/03/10 | ZooChat

Red Squirrel walkthrough at the British Wildlife Centre 14/03/10 | ZooChat

 

I love a good fossa! Very nice photographs!

 

Thanks, isn't that a private collection only open to the public at certain times? I think they said they were the only Zoo to have one, so surely they would be correct given the British Wildlife Centre is mainly a private collection that only opens to private visits and open days?

Thanks

 

Just looked it up and it does seem that they are only open at weekends, bank holidays and a few days in the school holidays (that was news to me). So you are right in that this is the first zoo with relatively normal opening hours to have an open-top squirrel walkthrough in the UK.

 

BWC is open to the general pubic all year round at weekends and during school holidays. I think it qualifies as a 'zoo'

 

Escot Park have a huge open top Red Squirrel enclosure (Wildwood).
Wish more Fossa were in the U.K.!

 

Me too. They are absolutely stunning animals.

 

On their Facebook page, the Lakeland Wildlife Oasis has announced the birth of a new snow leopard cub. It is now around six weeks old and is starting to emerge into the main enclosure.

 

oooh, might be worth remembering next week on my way up to HWP! I haven't visited yet and am sure it is worth a couple of hours at least.

 

A Gambian Pouched Rat is now onshow.

The new Snow Leopard cub has been sexed - it's a boy

 

After a lovely trip to LWO yesterday, I have come home feeling very positive about the place.

I always love the feel of small collections, but this one may have just become a favourite. Jack, the gentleman in charge, was wonderful and showed us around the place, and even let us target train the fossa!

Which gets me to my next point... FOSSA! It was my first time seeing the species along with seeing a few of my usual favourites such as Red Squirrels, Snow leopards and Long-nosed potoroos.

The young Snow leopard is gorgeous, and very active! We spent a good long while watching him play with his mother. There are also some great future plans for this exhibit!

The whole zoo seems to be heading in a great direction with its new builds, and the future plans seem to be sticking to that.

If you like "typical" small British collections... But want somewhere with something a little extra... Lakeland Wildlife Oasis is the place to visit.

 

Do you know what these future plans are?

 

I do, but I wouldn't want to say as I'm not sure what they would like it to be public knowledge yet. I hope you understand.

 

Five female Barbary striped grass mice have recently arrived at Lakeland Wildlife Oasis - according to Zootierliste they are one of only two UK public collections to house this species.

 

Popped into Lakeland Wildlife Oasis yesterday (pictures in gallery).

Had a nice long chat with one of the staff there (always really friendly) and the place is going from strength to strength. Number of plans are up in the air at present but they involve, filling in the pond and working on the paddock next to it. Currently Mara and Pheasant's and Cranes have access to this, but this will change over the winter for a new species to be added to the collection, but an exciting development for the Zoo.
This will mean the area where the Blue Pie are, is affected, but the Blue Pie will move into the old Red Squirrel houses.

The Zoo since I last visited now has Zebra mice, Large Rat and Parma Wallaby. There is talk of moving the Long Nosed Potoroo into the Wallaby enclosure, which brings me onto the second phase of winter development.

A big change will be a massive renovation to the inside area, where the reptiles and amphibians are. Plans are afoot to improve and change many of the exhibits in this section and bring in new species into the reptiles section. One possible option was a change to the Axolotls exhibit, which would see it improved, to contain an upper section where the Garter snakes would be moved to, so they would share the enclosure.

I love the Jamaican Boa here, as she is one part Purple and the other part normal Boa colour. If you look at her you would be forgiven for thinking it's two snakes, but it is in fact one snake that changes colour halfway down it's body.

I absolutely love this place and they have got 5 baby Meerkats at present, whilst the Marmoset has 2 babies as well (both clinging onto the back of their mother at present). The young Snow Leopard named Snow Crystal (Chris for short) is adorable and is very much a mummies boy. He wasn't too playful yesterday but got some great shots.

Was nice to see Purdy the Fossa out and about playing in her exhibit, as she tends to spend a lot of time indoors these days, given she is a very old girl.

So having already in 2018, given the Red Squirrel's enclosure a major revamp, brought Parma Wallaby's to the collection, Large Rat, Zebra Mice added to the collection, and some of the other animals moved into new exhibits, the plans of growth and redevelopment continue and there will be more work done over the winter.

This really is a great place, and I'm not just saying that because it's local, but they have some real rarities in their collection and the people there are so friendly and will stop and chat to you, show you stuff and really make your day so enjoyable.

It also has in my opinion the best cafe in any Zoo I've come across.

It's only a tenner to get in, and they do 20 minute animal encounters at only £10 a time (Meerkats, Lemurs or Tamarins) where you get close to the animals and feed them. You can also pay £59 and help a Zookeeper for the morning, or £75 and help with Fossa training in the afternoon and hand feed the Snow Leopards.

If you've never been, if you're heading up the M6 it's a must visit. It's definitely my favourite small collection and tbh it's one of my favourite places to visit. Photo opportunities are great, and the future plans are exciting.

I stumbled upon this place by accident around 16 months ago, and I must have been 15-20 times since, it is bang up there with one of my favourite days out, and every time I go, something new is planned or happening, and there is something different to see and do.

If you've never been it's a must and I guarantee you'll love it.