For the end of August (this year) I am planning for a holiday in the UK. I am wondering what your opinion is about what would be (zoo wise) the best area? I am only going for a short holiday (7-10 days) and I am broad orientated species wise. I must admid that birds are my favorite, but also I have seen a lot of interesting bird species already, so not a lot that could thrill me anymore. Another hobby is photography of zoo animals, so I prefer enclosures that are not to much blocked by fencing or with too much human made backgrounds. What area would you advice? And in that area are there must sees/hidden gems that you would suggest to me to put high on my list? I am thinking about two regions: 1. South West Peninsula + West England 2. Midlands + East England Just a quick stroll on Zoochat and I found myself several zoos in those two areas. 1. For the South West Peninsula and West England I am thinking at Paigton zoo, Newquay zoo and Bristol Zoo. And with several others that I have to further investigate if they are interesting: Exmoor, Longleat's, Shaldon, Living coasts. 2. For the Midlands and East England I found Colchester (ok it's just in South East England ), Whipsnade and Hamerton. And others like: Twycross, Dudley, Banham, Paradise, Linton. Am I missing some must sees in those 2 areas? Thanks in advance for your reply!
If you are driving, then go up the A1 from Hamerton to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park. Not the highest number of species, but great for photography.
As @littleRedPanda has said, you don't say whether you are travelling by public transport or driving, as this might be a factor in your decision. The southwest has a great selection of zoos, Paignton, Shaldon and Living Coasts are all excellent, very close to one another, and all easy to access by public transport. Living Coasts is one of the most unique zoos I think I've visited, and it would be a shame to miss it! Bristol is also a great zoo, with an excellent nocturnal house. Although it's not a zoo, the Eden Project is a must-visit if you are in the area too. The east/midlands of England has good zoos too, Whipsnade especially is great for expansive views, although the animals can sometimes be quite far away across their paddocks. Colchester is a maze, but has a lot of animals to make up for that. Hamerton is a must if you are driving, lots of unique species, but maybe not so good for photography. If you are driving up from Dover, you could pop into some of the Kent collections, like Wingham, Howletts or Port Lympne.
Indeed, I forgot to mention how I will be travelling But it will be by car, so I am not limited in that wat.
Shepreth wildlife park in Cambridgeshire have an interesting small collection (same size as Linton, and herrings green farm in Bedfordshire have a large collection of birds of prey, just a thought
Also in East Anglia are Kessingland, obviously, plus Amazona Zoo at Cromer and, nearby, the superb Pensthorpe Natural Park. In the vicinity of Huntingdon (halfway between Linton and Hamerton) you'll also find the Raptor Foundation and Johnson's of Old Hurst, a farm shop with a free zoo containing a surprising assortment of taxa. The Raptor Foundation https://www.johnsonsofoldhurst.co.uk/
We have just been on a week long jaunt around Norfolk - we started in Reading and did the following en route: Sat: Colchester Zoo Sun: Jimmy's Farm to buy annual pass which gave 50% off of entry to all of the remaining zoo's mentioned. Spent afternoon at Pleasurewood Hills theme park (you might want to substitute something else for this obv!) Mon: Africa Alive! (also did the meet an Aardvark experience - it was very good and reasonably priced. You can book it on the day) Tues: Thrigby Hall Wildlife Gardens Wed: Amazona - we went for opening and then came out to have fish n chips and spend some time in Cromer in the middle of the day. Back to Amazona in the afternoon. Thurs: Banham Zoo Fri: Paradise Wildlife Park We do a good amount of Zoo tours - Devon is always a fabulous trip for us travelling along from Axe Valley / Shaldon / Living Coasts / Paignton / Dartmoor / National Marine Aquarium / Newquay. You could also start at Marwell / New Forest Wildlife Park or Monkey World or veer off from National Marine Aquarium and head north to Exmoor instead of going into Cornwall. You could then come back via to Bristol / Noah's Ark / Wild Place... and even Longleat on the way home if you want to do a big loop
I'm a zoo tog myself and in terms of photography I would say you're going to have the usual problems at most collections - it'll be worse at smaller places like Axe Valley and even Hamerton but then often the smaller places have the most interesting residents so it is a trade off! Whipsnade and Yorkshire WLP are probably the best in terms of large enclosures and lack of barriers - assuming you have at least a 300mm zoom? Chester is great just based on the size of the place and variety of subjects however I often come away from smaller / medium sized zoos with better shots as you have more opportunity to revisit enclosure and see more interesting behaviours. Chester can encourage rushing and unless you spend more than one day (we aim to do at least 1.5 days) then you may not even get around the whole place let alone revisit enclosures.
@Zia Indeed I have enough range with a 100-400, and if really necessary even a 1.4 converter (but due to image quality I use it as least as possible).
Having just done a West Country tour and as you have suggested birds are your main interest I would suggest : Cotswold WP Crocodiles of the World * Birdland * Slimbridge Wild Place * Bristol Exmoor Newquay Paignton Living Coasts * Shaldon * Axe Valley * Monkeyworld The * are all a 2 hour visit approximately so can be combined with others, I don't think any of the others needs more than 4-5 hours, there are other small zoos along this route too
If you’re doing Midlands it’s worth knowing Heythrop open days are in early September this year. It’s a really unusual place and only open a few days a year.
@pipaluk Last year I also visited the UK, and went to Port Lympne, ZSL London, Cotswold WP, Crocodiles of the World, Cotswold Flaconry Center, Chester Zoo, WWT Slimbridge and WWT Llanelli. Those didn't made my list to visit this year, because I want to explore new places, although I love to visit some again
@Devi Unfortunately I have to be back on the 1st of September. Never heard of the place before, but after using Google I found an intersting collection for a private facility.
First day is on the 1st September unfortunately. It’s really an interesting collection and obviously as they train the animals for film it’s very different to anywhere else. When I went they showed the long process of training zebra to gallop on demand in front of a green screen, they’re really dedicated to positive training methods.
