I thought it would be interesting to create a poll to see which zoo had received visits from the most zoo chat members in 2019. I selected the 10 zoos which I believe to be the most widely visited due to popularity and location. If there is an obvious omission please let me know.
It would be interesting to see the annual visitor figures for these places. I imagine that Longleat, Edinburgh and Blackpool might be surprisingly high. Hamerton, though a great zoo and deservingly popular amongst the zoo geeks here, I doubt would be a top 10 zoo based on pure public attendance. If it's based solely on zoo nerd attendance then that would be somewhat different!
Yes I was tempted to place those three collections in the poll. However the location of Edinburgh and Blackpool ruled them out and Longleat would have been my 11th choice. I also, would be interested if anyone had statistics on public attendances for the different collections in 2019.
This sounds a bit subjective, given that Blackpool is closer to Chester than Paignton is to Bristol (the closest zoos on the list to each other, I think). Why not make a larger poll with more zoos in to include these and others which may prove surprisingly popular? Criteria could be as straightforward as including any zoo with it's own 2019 news thread.
I would but the maximum number of options on a poll is 10. I do understand where you are coming from in relation to Blackpool. Its exclusion was perhaps more to do with less activity on its particular news thread in relation to say Paignton. To add to that the current zoo with the lowest number of visits on the poll is Dudley which perhaps other than Twycross is the most centrally located of those in the poll.
Bristol and Paignton are 98 miles apart, there are loads of combinations closer than that: London - Colchester Dudley - Twycross Hamerton - London, Colchester, Twycross Whipsnade - London, Hamerton Cotswold - Bristol, London... That's just a start
I'm not initially sure but if I remember correctly the only animal collection I visited last year before being admitted to hospital where I've remained for the last 10 months was Dartmoor Zoological Park
Woops, my bad, I typed completely the opposite of what I meant to say. I think from that list Paignton is the most isolated of the collections listed, being 2 hours from the next closest collection in Bristol. Ahh, then I take that all back as well, I've never made a poll so I had no idea now many options were allowed.
Just a quick summary. Unsurprisingly Chester was the most visited collection last year as the UK's top zoo. Hamerton clear second, perhaps due partly to it hosting the IZES event? Bristol and London led the rest of the bunch, perhaps due to location in cities near public transport? Dudley some way behind perhaps due to inferior quality establishment compared to competitors in the poll?
I suspect it is more a case of location - it's not terribly far from several other collections on the list which have more to attract a zoo enthusiast; people living north of Dudley are probably likelier to visit Chester, east Twycross and south Bristol.
I went to all apart from Bristol, I probably would have gone to there after Slimbridge in October but Bear Wood diverted me to Wild Place instead! Nothing wrong with Dudley Personally, I think Hamerton would have been 2nd without the IZES event!!
Dudley is possibly my least favourite in that list, but I visited today and the new enclosures, as well as the lemur walkthrough revamp, have given it a little lift for me.
