JM, I hope you didn't think I was dismissing your opinion of Wingz coz I certainly wasn't and much appreciate it. I was just very surprised by such differing opinions. Exmoor is definitely staying on the list.
That's you and Johnny Morris suggesting dropping Dartmoor. If I do then after visiting Living Coasts on the Monday morning I will be heading all the way to Hayle (Paradise Park) as I'm also dropping Porfell and Wingz. Think I need to post a new itinerary.
No, i didn't think that. We all have different opinions, i personally can't figure out how someone could stay all day at Wingz, but there we go. Can i throw in a suggestion for on the way back from Bristol if you can, try and visit Cotswold Wildlife park. It's one of my personal favourites.
Can't remember if I've said this already, but Newquay has Black Wildebeest, Owston's Civets, four species of Mongoose, Pink-headed Fruit Dove, Hoffmann's Sloth, Blue-crowned Laughingthrushes, and a host of other gems. Exmoor is likewise stuffed with goodies and I wouldn't miss either.
If it can be fitted I to your plans, I fully concur with JM, this is one of my favourite of all the UK has to offer, all round it's excellent. But maybe a bit off course, regardless it should be on anyone's top few to visit.
I think ParrotsAndrew is in the minority, possibly of one, as he seems to manage to spend whole days at places most people would be satiated with after a few hours (especially where birds/parrots are involved). I'm genuinely impressed by his passion/obsession with Sewerby park such that his deluge of intriguing/quirky photos is now greater in number than those posted for Edinburgh and many other bigger, better known, collections.
I'm starting to see that the venues that are going to interest me most are in SW England (also a greater density of venues), so when I get a quiet moment at work tomorrow I'm going to look at reversing the trip and heading west from London instead of east and perhaps leaving Canterbury and its attractions to another time.
Whoops, I did not manage time to go online yesterday and I've missed a bit. I like Wingz very much. It does have a very nice collection of birds plus a few mammals. My preference is for smaller collections anyway, but if Jackwow or anyone else likes visiting friendly places and having a good chat with proprietors and/or keepers Wingz is an ideal choice. I am a big fan of the collection at Paradise Park, but it is a much busier place and more formal (at least at the time of my visits - all in September) and so there is less opportunity for chatting other than at the end of the Free Flying Bird Show when there is usually a queue of people with questions anyway. Back to Wingz, I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in birds.
I do like smaller collections and happily spend all day at Wingz, Tropiquaria and Axe Valley. If somewhere has a few aviaries of parrots I am deliriously happy. Of course visiting places by public transport means it is often impractical to go to two places in one day in any case (the last time I did this was in 2006 when I went to Brean Down and Noah's Ark when it took me ages getting between them and much of the day was wasted walking along the beach in the first instance and country roads in the second), but I should be horrified at leaving any of the three places I mentioned before closing time anyway. A zoo professional and fellow parrot enthusiast once asked me how could I spend all day at Tropiquaria, but is is quite easy. Similarly the proprietor of Filey Bird Garden, where I normally spend just the afternoon, asked me "don't you get bored?" (the collection is much smaller than at the three places above), but I don't - just as I spent the maximum time I had available at the Jungle Zoo last year: 4 1/2 hours when most other visitors were out in half an hour. Sewerby is a bit of a different case as its staff and volunteers are amongst my closest friends and it is the only zoo where I have worked, plus I try to help out when I can. It is my second home. P.S. I forgot I went to Shaldon and Paignton on the same day last year as per my later post.
Well here it is, the new itinerary, which I think is more balanced and panders more to my interest in birds and I also think is a bit less rushed. Thanks of course to all you guys, without whose advise I wouldn't have got to this point. Further comments still welcome of course. Tue, 30 Sep - Arrive Heathrow, pick up hire car, drive to [High Wycombe?] (40 min) Wed, 1 Oct - Day at Birdworld Thu, 2 Oct – Day at Cotswold Wildlife Park. Drive to Gloucester (50 min) Fri, 3 Oct - Day at WWT Slimbridge Sat, 4 Oct – Day at Bristol Zoo Gardens. Drive to Barnstaple (2 hrs) Sun, 5 Oct – Day at Exmoor Zoo. Drive to Newquay (2+ hrs) Mon, 6 Oct – Part day at Newquay Zoo. Part day at Paradise Park Tue, 7 Oct – Drive to Paignton (2 hrs). Day at Paignton Zoo Wed, 8 Oct - Part day at Living Coasts. Drive to Southampton (3 hrs) Thu, 9 Oct – Couple of hours at New Forest Wildlife Park. Rest of day at Marwell Fri, 10 Oct - Part day at Hawk Conservancy Trust. Drive to Chesham to visit my brother (2 hrs) Of course none of this takes any account of the weather, but no point really, it will be what it will be.
Can i give one more suggestion? Pop into Shaldon after Living Coasts.It's tiny but in my opinion worth a visit. And that sounds like a great tour 3 collections i haven't visited. Wish i was doing it.
Oh and one more thing a Paignton membership would get you into Paignton, Newquay, Living Coasts and Marwell, might be worth looking into.
I second that suggestion, if you arrive in the afternoon at Shaldon you'll have a higher chance of seeing the Owston's palm civet as well; the feeding time is 4 pm and I plan on doing just that!
Thanks, will look into that, but may be tricky with me not being in the UK until the start of my trip.
A single adult membership of Paignton is £50 at the moment - I paid mine yesterday, not that I shall be using it unfortunately. Shaldon is a place even I do not spend long at, but then I saw only four bird species there last year. At least they were all psittacines! It is a nicely done little zoo though.
Shaldon added. Tue, 30 Sep - Arrive Heathrow, pick up hire car, drive to [High Wycombe?] (40 min) Wed, 1 Oct - Day at Birdworld Thu, 2 Oct – Day at Cotswold Wildlife Park. Drive to Gloucester (50 min) Fri, 3 Oct - Day at WWT Slimbridge Sat, 4 Oct – Day at Bristol Zoo Gardens. Drive to Barnstaple (2 hrs) Sun, 5 Oct – Day at Exmoor Zoo. Drive to Newquay (2+ hrs) Mon, 6 Oct – Part day at Newquay Zoo. Part day at Paradise Park Tue, 7 Oct – Drive to Paignton (2 hrs). Day at Paignton Zoo Wed, 8 Oct - Part day at Living Coasts. Short visit to Shaldon. Drive to Southampton (3 hrs) Thu, 9 Oct – Couple of hours at New Forest Wildlife Park. Rest of day at Marwell Fri, 10 Oct - Part day at Hawk Conservancy Trust. Drive to Chesham to visit my brother (2 hrs)
