The founder of invertebrate hobbyist website BugzUK, Martin French, has given notice to submit an application for a zoo license. The zoo, which is planned to include a shop and restaurant and open with 15-20 exhibit areas for different types of invertebrates, would cover five acres and be on the former site of the Norfolk Wildlife Park in Lenwade. Once the park has opened, a new invertebrate exhibit area would open each year until there are around 40 in total. The zoo would have a one-way system, with the option for visitors to bypass rooms so that they can avoid species that may be frightened by. More information can be found in the link below: Five acre insect zoo to open in Norfolk countryside
5 acres just for invertebrates? Call me negative, but if this place even opens I expect it won't last a year!
5 acres for 15 to 20 bug exhibits; they'll certainly have plenty of space... The Norfolk Wildlife Park site is just off a decent and busy road, so presumably the shop and restaurant will be the key, as in any garden centre.
But is it the old Norfolk wildlife park site, because to me it sounds like the site that used to be Lenwade zoological gardens, used to be on
I assume by 15 to 20 exhibit areas they would mean different houses. So one of the areas would be a spider house with a dozen or so species. Then a butterfly house, or maybe native invertebrate area. A bee garden? I don’t know. But while I agree 5 acres is ambitious, I like some ambition! Floating by with just meerkats and lemurs is a bit boring. To me this is one of the most interesting ideas for a zoo I’ve heard of in a while. Hopefully it comes to fruition.
I also think that each exhibit area will contain a variety of similar species; certainly in the news article it mentions at the end that there could be a room with 20 or 30 tarantulas in it. I'm also unconvinced by the argument that invertebrates are not interesting by themselves - certainly in the autumn 2017 edition of EAZA's Zooquaria magazine, it is stated that the butterfly house at ZSL Whipsnade was the highest-scoring exhibit for visitors (I've included that at the bottom of this post; the mention of Whipsnade is on page 23). I certainly hope that this project gets off the ground because I would be very excited to see the end result. https://www.eaza.net/assets/Uploads/Zooquaria/ZQIssues/Zooquaria-98-web.pdf
Also, I will add that I do think the bypass sections are a neat addition, and would certainly prove useful to people like me who have arachnophobia.
It says clearly Norfolk Wildlife Park, not Lenwade Zoological Gardens - but news reports are not known for their perfect accuracy. The villages of Lenwade and Great Witchingham merge together within the Great Witchingham parish, and coming cross country at least both are (were) not signed on the roads.
Does Shepreth still have a separate 'bug' area, charged for at an extra entry fee so people can avoid it if they want to?
No, the separate area was closed about 3 or 4 years ago. That area is now a cafe. An extension was built on the tropical house for reptiles and invertebrates
Some years ago a raft of stand-alone butterfly houses opened in the UK. Very expensive to build, high maintenance and high running costs. They were often just a 20 minute visit not counting the cafe and play area. Very popular initially, most added other animals later to keep the public interested. Then when the building needed major maintenance some years later, a huge financial barrier loomed. Such a building as an extra exhibit in an established zoo, be it Shepreth, Whipsnade or Twycross, is a completely different scenario. .
Aren't they both the same place? I seem to remember seeing their village sign reading; Great Witchingham (Lenwade)- or vice versa, but maybe that is because it embraces two parishes rather than actually two names for one village?
You're correct about the village sign. Never understood what it meant so maybe I have an answer now. Also, the EDP is not known for quality and accuracy so the site could literally be anywhere
I never understood what the village sign meant either, its the brackets I found unusual, which is sort of why I mentioned it here...
According to good old Google Great Witchingham parish contains the hamlet of Lenwade - which would make a sign with Lenwade in brackets logical. I actually think this plan has excellent potential if the site is setup as essentially a very elaborate nature walk with additional kid friendly play areas / activities, some good food & drink options and can offer families reasonable season passes. The additional kid friendly stuff is what will bring people back for repeat visits. As a macro photographer I love the idea personally - and they could certainly make money off of offering photography days where you get the opportunity to shoot various invertebrates.
From my memory of driving to the Norfolk Wildlife Park in the old days, there were no road signs coming cross-country for Great Witchingham. When we got to the village of this name shown as such on the AA maps (way before sat-nav) it had a village sign saying Lenwade. We hit the main road and luckily turned in the right direction. We visited every year in its heyday, so soon knew the way. I do remember that Lenwade Hall is in the village of Great Witchingham! I think in deepest Norfolk, the terms of 'parish', 'village' and 'hamlet' may be a little more flexible than Google may have it...?
