Had a couple of hours here yesterday, second visit. Seemed a bit downbeat compared to two years ago, I felt there were fewer species overall and most structures looked like they needed a coat of paint and some tidying up. The staff maximise the visitor experience with a talk every 30 minutes and this was well received. One event I did not attend was the Guinea Pig Fishing which sounded like fun.. They have built a new ring-tailed lemur walkthrough but this is not open to the public yet.
They still have a lot of Owls. Talking to the Owl Trust people they think they have a new permanent home and then some of the owls will leave but some will remain. The site is not ideal for the Owls as many are in enclosures that are in a fenced off area and you can not see the birds. The ones you can see are great though.
Rodbaston are currently doing some redevelopments and have welcomed some new species. They have two female Ground Cus-Cus, one on show and one in quarantine. They have also had some Prevost Squirrels arrive, also in quarantine at present. Work is underway on new exhibits for new animals and this will open up an area which has not been on show to the public before. The old Otter Exhibit and neighbouring house, is also planned to be demolished this year, to make way for new exhibits in that area, so it's nice to know that they are developing and expanding over the course of this year.
