A bit bored and isolated up here in Inverness so looking to do a bit of a zoo trip. I did south west England last October and south east England in January this year, although that was not a great success due to the weather. So I was thinking about doing northern England, say from Chester Zoo and above. So what are the best / recommended zoos, wildlife parks, bird parks, aquariums, etc., in this region? I have been to a few already, e.g., Chester, Blackpool, Knowsley, but would probably visit them again as well as the best recommendations from the forum.
Lakeland Wildlife Oasis is only a small zoo but has the only Fossa in the north of England and a walk through plexi tunnel through the middle of the snow Leopard enclosure. The chestnut centre is worth a visit in my opinion too.
Chestnut Centre, however, isn't in the area in question Despite the "mixed" reputation of the collection on this forum, if you have not visited South Lakes in the past I suggest you probably should, if only to make your own mind up about the collection. Unlike the Northwest, which is relatively well-stocked with zoological collections, the Northeast of England is pretty starved of collections but there are still a few collections you should look into visiting: Kirkley Hall Zoo - a small zoo, affiliated with a local college and used by students on Animal Management courses and so forth. It is open to the public on weekends and - outside of term time - weekdays, and has rather a lot of nice little treasures, including a wide selection of unusual reptiles and amphibians, pure Rufous Lemur, New Guinea Ground Cuscus and a decent collection of cranes and ibises. International Centre for Birds of Prey (Duncombe Park) - a sister site to the long-standing collection falling under the same umbrella at Newent in Gloucestershire. Despite having been open for little more than two years, it is already the best falconry centre in the north-east as far as I am concerned, and contains a wide range of unusual taxa such as New Zealand Falcon, Booted Eagle, Lesser Kestrel and Verreaux's Eagle. Yorkshire Wildlife Park - a large collection growing by leaps and bounds, filling a niche which has not been filled in the area for a long time. Highlights of the collection include the only polar bear exhibit in England. However, unlike the previous two collections mentioned it has been much discussed on Zoochat so I can probably leave the description at that.
Just looking at their website, which includes a full species list: http://www.kirkleyhallzoo.co.uk/media/35386/species-list-december-2014.pdf. This includes "African Wild Ass, Equus asinus". What is this?
Thanks Waddi. Actually you've reminded me that I have already been to Lakeland, last March, although wasn't impressed with Snow leopard enclosure. I will look up Chestnut Centre.
Thanks for the suggestions TLD, I will look them all up. PS Chestnut Centre is north of Chester Zoo so is in the right zone.
Plotting any suggestions plus collections I've already been to on Google Maps as I find this is the best way to visualise the location of everything I'm planning to visit on one map and also to then plan the best route around them all.
I know its not every ones cup of tea but there is the Maryport Aquarium,its only small and can be done in a couple ours no problem,but it always seems to have something that you don't see very often in an Aquarium,and 99% of the time its an odd native species!
As I will be revisiting Chester and probably Blackpool, as well as a couple of WWT sites, I currently have the following list of possible collections (in a possible visit order). Kirkley Hall Zoo WWT Washington International Centre for Birds of Prey (Duncombe Park) Yorkshire Wildlife Park Chestnut Centre (old Blackbrook Bird Park not far away) Chester Zoo WWT Martin Mere Blackpool Zoo Lakeland Wildlife Oasis South Lakes Lake District Wildlife Park So any comments / further suggestions would be much appreciated.
You also have the Lake District Bird of Prey Centre near to Lowther,the place is worth doing if only for the one and only display they do during the day,I think it starts at 2:30 and finish when they either run out of Birds to fly or the Falconers voice gives up!!Neither of which I have seen happen yet!!!
The tropical butterfly house in North Anston ( less than 30 minutes from YWP ) is worth a visit. Plenty of interesting things to see, and there are lots of free -flying birds in the butterfly hall. Probably easy for you to see on the same day as YWP.
...given the cost of food, travel and accommodation in the UK, might you not be better off flying to Prague and spending some days there, Pilsen, Dvur Kralove.... Much as I love the north of England, reading these suggestions of - mostly - fairly unremarkable animal collections, and thinking of dodgy British weather, I can't help but think that if it were me planning a few days away, I'd prefer to look overseas....
