Wild Discovery Wild Discovery - Lancashire Preston

Okay I couldn't find a prefix for this little Zoo but I went here today. It's the first time I've been here and I had a lovely afternoon.

The Zoo is small, but they have room for some developments and there are Developments planned.

You enter the Zoo and in front of you is a old stable block which has been converted into a Reptile House / Nocturnal House, with outdoor access as well. In here you will find a few species of Reptile including Egg Eating Snake, Jamaican Boa, Red Eyed Tree Frog's, Marmosets and Red Fronted Lemur's.

This section is going to soon be developed into a full Nocturnal set up, which will have Bush Babies and lead through into the Bat Cave. Currently in the Bat Cave you will find Epauletted Fruit Bats, Straw Coloured Fruit Bats and Greater Egyptian Jerboa which have just had babies.

Upon leaving the exhibit, you will find Meerkat to the left and in front of you, you'll find a pair of Pardine Genet.

The Marmoset also share their exhibit with Three Banded Armadillo, whilst the Red Front Lemur share their exhibit with Six Banded Armadillo.

As you follow the path around the outside, it leads you past an aviary with African Spoonbill, Little Egret, Black Faced Ibis, Masked Lapwing and Yellow Necked Francolin. There is also another Aviary that houses a Verreaux Eagle Owl.

Opposite the birds is a Tortoise exhibit which houses Sulcata Tortoise.

You now come round into the Farmyard section, where there are Sheep, Pot Bellied Pigs, African Crested Porcupine, Guinea Pigs and the entrance to the Bat Cave. There are also Reindeer in the side paddock.

In this section they are currently building a tropical house, which will house some tropical birds, and maybe some reptiles when completed, with the aim of having Dwarf or Philippines Crocodiles housed as the main attraction in the Tropical House. This is the current development which is being done and then it will be the Nocturnal House.

As you go out onto the Grassland section, there is a nice sized enclosure for Dwarf Mongoose, which is opposite the Asian Short Clawed Otters. This sits next to a good size exhibit with a pool for Patagonian Mara and Capybara.

The path leads you to an exhibit with 2 Kirk's Dik Dik named Dick and Dom, before you come to the Pelican Enclosure.

Through a gate you finally come to a paddock with Bennett's Wallaby and Parma Wallaby and one of the Bennetts Wallabies has a joey, who has apparently just started leaving the pouch.

There is a nice sized grass paddock at the end which used to have Alpaca and Rhea but these have been moved on and they are looking to add in a new and better species into that paddocked enclosure.

There is a good bit of grassland which they can develop on as well as areas for where structures can be put up, and the Zoo in the near future plans to add Margay and Serval to the collection and possibly Lynx, but the other exhibits are ahead of these.

I must say for £7 entry fee it wasn't bad, and the staff are all friendly and chatty. The talks are all hands on and informative and the staff are pleasant and great at their job. It is small and you could go round it all in an hour, but talks every 30 minutes extend the visit and with good staff you can talk to the day can be carried on to 2-3 hours which is what I spent there.

All of the animals are very visible and the enclosures are of a good build and good size. Plans to add a Tropical House, Nocturnal House, Small Cat Enclosures and other outdoor exhibits suggests this small Zoo has plans to grow and develop into a nice family attraction.

I had an enjoyable day, and for anyone who enjoys small collections it's worth a visit. When the tropical house and nocturnal house are finished it will be even better, and the introduction of small cats and other outdoor exhibits in the future makes plans quite exciting for a small park and their keenness to expand and have a good variety of animals will see them on the map in no time.

If in the Blackpool / Preston area and you have a couple of hours on your hands and want a nice morning or afternoon out, where there are good photo opportunities, good talks and interactive sessions, friendly staff and nice animals to see, there I thoroughly recommend a visit.

Photo's will follow in due course.

 

Trying to add some pictures to the gallery but I can't as there is no set prefix for the Zoo. Can one of the mods/admin add a Prefix for the Zoo so I can upload pictures please.

 

post a request in this thread

Open - New Gallery Request Thread 2018

 

Just done that, thanks Mr/Miss/Mrs/Ms Panda.

 

You forgot Sir/Lady/Rev/Dr

 

Images now in Gallery.

 

Collection on Facebook putting up clues regarding a new arrival which looks a nocturnal animal of some description. Apparently only also held at London Zoo.

My guess is a Potto, which I know is also down as being at Birmingham Nature Centre, but could have well moved to Wild Discovery, as struggling to find many other species only held at London which fit the look.

 

Zootierliste says that London Zoo is the only UK holder of the Moholi galago, so it could well be that.

 

To me that definitely looks like a moholi galago

 

Yup looks like a Galago. I thought it was something bigger by the images but you’re right about Pottos hands, they’re different.

 

Moholi bushbabies, now breeding as part of the EEP.

 

6 new borns at wild Discovery

Asian short clawed otters born at the beginning of November are now starting to venture out of their holt.

 

Recent additions include Scottish wildcats, Philippine crocodile, binturongs and baby kirks dik dik.

 

1.0 Toco Toucan has arrived from Sandwich Wildlife Park:

Log into Facebook

 

They now have 2 lesser flamingo from sandwich wildlife park.