Top 10 Zoos in Liverpool, Merseyside - Yelp gives a list of animal collections around Liverpool, but the only 'zoos' are those at Knowlsey and Chester.
There is also Seaquarium in Rhyl, I've not been but my little nephew and his parents and my sister enjoyed a visit there recently.
Blackpool has the only Bell's hinge-backed tortoise listed in ZTL and the only black-headed weavers in the UK, while Newquay is the only other zoo that has the Pontianak Prevost's squirrel.
Hi JoeDK14, After Chester, my favourite two 'local' zoos are definitely Dudley Zoo and Yorkshire Wildlife Park. Do you have your own transport, or are you relying on public transport? If you have your own transport then both are well within 2hrs travel from Liverpool / Warrington... I just checked Google, Dudley takes 1hour 39mins, YWP takes 1hr 44mins from Warrington. Set off at 8am, you'll be at either before 10:00AM opening times for a full day out!
Thanks for the suggestions everyone, I really appreciate them. I think I'm going to go for the falconry centre on the way up, possibly trying to do Birdland in the same day depending on the species in the shows at the centre. Sunday will then be the two aquariums, then Saturday for the two places around Telford, and Sunday for Hamerton. This might be a bit nuts, but is it possible to do Hamerton and Woburn on the same day? My Bristol Zoo membership gets me a free ticket, so that might work out quite nicely...
If you like reptiles, there is a private collection in Birkenhead on The Wirral that offer 90 minute private encounter sessions. Family Encounter Sessions - EXO TEACH
Little update to this, I've managed to do a little compression to squeeze in more places, which is allowing me to do Dudley and Twycross tomorrow, Hamerton Sunday. Very interested in seeing how Twycross has developed, my favourite 5 species there last time were the pied crows, pied cormorant, Vasa parrot, striped hyaena and Patagonian sea lion. I have a bad feeling they've all gone... Quick one sentence thoughts on the places I've been: Birdland: really pretty collection, some very neat species, probably a higher average standard than Birdworld but not as exciting. Highlight - plantain eaters. Cotswold falconry: not quite in the same league as ICBP or the hawk conservancy, but great displays with good, personal commentary and some great species, though the golden eagle wasn't flying on that day grr. Highlight - pygmy falcon. Bolton aquarium: lovely small aquarium thankfully specialising in freshwater, couldn't find a couple of species I went there to see and there was some renovation going on so it wasn't at it's best, but still well worth spending an hour in. Highlight - pygmy glass danio. Sea Life Manchester: the most commercial aquarium I've ever been to, lacking a solid tangible conservation message, and with hideous bowed glass nearly everywhere which ruined the enjoyment of seeing some of the awesome species on show. Highlight - Japanese giant spider crabs. Exotic Zoo: very young place added to a garden centre, well worth the low entrance fee, some nice species in hit or miss enclosures but clearly somewhere still developing and investing. Highlight - thick tailed bushbaby. Hoo Farm: not really a zoo, more farm park with a superb collection of small mammals, enclosures again hit and miss but would benefit massively from a nocturnal house. Highlight - brush tailed possum.
Tbh I don't know for sure, but they are down as a former holding on zootierliste. They do still have the pied cormorant and Vasa parrot listed as present, but I rarely stop at the bird sections there. The Hyena and sea lion are definitely gone though.
I can't recall seeing pied crows or pied cormorant on my last 2 visits. The Vasa parrots were still there though . Hyaena left last year and no sea lions for about 5 years.
