More positive coverage from the usually anti-zoo Guardian. They must be sickening for something. If you go down to the woods today … will British bears welcome wolves?
I was informed earlier that I was the first to visit bear woods for its opening! The scale of everything is fantastic, and will write up a proper report later
Back home from my Wild Place visit (and a quick run around Noah's Ark). Bear wood seems to be a fantastic new addition to the collection! Whilst I have always been a fan of Wild Place, Bear Wood makes it more of a worthwhile place to visit if you're coming from afar (with the bears and wolverine adding something more unusual to the collection). There are huge walkways throughout the woodland, allowing you to look down into the large and natural enclosures for all 4 species (with the bear exhibit being the highlight). You first come to the Lynx and Wolverine exhibits on either side of the walkway (each made up of two sections). From there on, you come to the humongous bear exhibit with 3.1 very active bears, with a glass viewing area further on. The exhibit for the wolves is opposite the bears - I'm unsure as to whether they have been mixed yet, with wolves being the only species I was unable to see. The signage throughout is great, and not over the top. Overall, it's a great addition to the site - I have added photos to the media gallery for you all to take a look at.
Thank you for the pictures @ThomasNotTom - they're great. Love the bear in the tree, can't wait to get a look at the new area myself. Sounds like a great addition
What I like about this development is that it brings the dilemma of conservation to our doorstep. Often in zoos we are presented with the plight of animals in far flung places, tiger in Asia, Lions in Africa, jaguars in South America, and somehow it’s not our problem. We are not expected to live with large carnivores and all that that entails. Our kids don’t risk a dangerous conflict with a large carnivore on their way to school, farmers don’t have the problem of losing livestock to big cats, we don’t give over large tracts of land to preserve a wilderness that can support a viable population of large carnivores. As you walk through Bear Wood you follow a timeline starting when the British countryside was populated with wolverines, lynx, wolves and bears. As you progress the wolverines die out and so too the lynx and bears and finally the wolves. Then, before you leave there is a sign with information about the return of boar to the Forest of Dean. More could have been made of this but the return of these sometimes aggressive, often destructive animals brings them into conflict with the residents of the forest, so the challenge of living with other animals is just as much ours as it is someone living in rural India. And, if we are to live with boar why not lynx and wolves and bears? What right do we have to say that people in other countries should live alongside dangerous wild animals if we are not prepared to do so? I’m not sure every visitor gets such a message from their visit but I hope it challenges more people to consider the fact that we in the UK make next to no sacrifice when it comes to conserving the world's wildlife and that maybe we could play a much bigger part.
I visited today. Unsurprisingly it was the busiest I have ever seen the place. Bear Wood is a phenomenal exhibit. It is huge. I didn’t manage to get good views of the Lynx or Wolverine but the Bears are very active and their enclosure is vast. It will be even better once the Wolves move in. Well done to all involved.
I also paid my first visit to the Bear Wood exhibit today, joining a reasonably lengthy queue a few minutes before the site opened. They have done a fantastic job I think the timeline through history theme is very well executed and I'm very impressed with the size of the exhibit. Managed to get some good views and photos of the bears and lynx. The wolverine remained asleep on a tree stump which made it difficult to see and if it hadn't been for one of the staff helping to point it out to me I could have missed seeing it altogether. The very helpful staff within the exhibit area was another big highlight for me, they interacted well with the visitors, helping to point out where some of the animals were and they paid particular attention to answering questions from inquisitive children. I do hope that Wild Place sees a considerable increase in visitor numbers as a result of Bear Wood, especially if increased revenue can help them progress whatever their next exhibit may be. Presumably the soon to be empty wolf paddock could be repurposed for another mammal type species, especially as they've already got the enclosure area. I've uploaded a couple of my photos from today to the media gallery. with a preview of them also below. Eurasian Brown Bear by charliejb posted 27 Jul 2019 at 8:24 PM [ Eurasian Lynx by charliejb posted 27 Jul 2019 at 8:24 PM
I'm off to the zoo today as well, hopefully, it won't be too busy but then its the summer holidays now, i thought the price for the zoo was reasonably cheap considering now they have brilliant new additions, never been before so looking forward to it, considering its only 40 mins from where I live!!
a quick review of the wild place it was a hot sunny day, and it was very busy but the queuing to get in wasn't horrendous to say, about 10 mins to wait until we realized there were two ques one for day guest and ticket holders, fast line to the ticket line as you do, I would advise anyone just to buy tickets online as they are normally cheaper so got in, lovely entrance, food on your left, big old JUMP thing on the right, same as bristol zoo nearly saw two reindeers in the shade don't blame them, nice paddock. secret congo brilliant paddocks, I have never been so close to okapi ever in my life, all three were feeding on enrichments equipment drain pipes basically great to see them all working hard to get the food, the male we saw first, all three were in separate enclosures, he was happily munching away, the next one was the female I am assuming she is heavily pregnant, or she's being overfed! the young male, the son all grown up, nearly tall as his dad now, he seemed happy in his own paddock wolf wood the wolves are still there they have not been moved into the bear wood as of yet, zookeepers were making them run for their snacks, they were seeing one wold had a bad leg as it was limping slightly, no worried for that wolf, running from side of the enclosure to the other for chicken feet, brilliant to see they were going full pelt, i didn't get too many pics of the wolfs, as i only brought my 500mm lens and they were so close to the chain mail link fencing, but it was fantastic to see such an active pack, and the zookeepers were using dog whistles to call for the pack. Walled Garden a lovey quaint part of the zoo, mererkat out and about but i didn't get too many pics of them, once you see a meerkat you've seen them all is my opinion! but a lot of enrichment, rollerballs, and cardboard boxes female hornbill showing really well, the male was sorting out the next box, did not see the other birds believe they were hiding in the shade, hot day, dik-diks were doing the same, the crowned cranes showing well and the weaver birds HOW MANY!! so many brilliant to see all singing and pulling grass for the nests, lovely little enclosure. Gelada Rocks no show, all inside sleeping Benoue National Parl the busy part of the park, but the animals were in their inside paddocks, i believe this may have been the heat and didn't want the animals overdoing it the two giraffes, arent they beautiful I'm not keen on giraffes, but these two were absolutely beautiful taking it leisurely and even greeting people, saw three plains zebras which were all fit and healthy looking and just casually walking around, i saw one eland very quickly as it went out int he paddock and did a lovely 180 and went back in, now show on the red river hogs as well. a large flock of helmeted guinea fowl marching around the paddock, well strutting funny little birds Cheetahs, saw three walking around the perimeter of the enclosure and stopped short of the pizzeria and sitting down got some brilliant pics of them, lovely natural looking enclosure, very big enclosure as well which was great to see. Discover Madagascar pygmy goats!!! i love goats! just two anyhoo to the lemurs saw a pair of mongoose lemurs busy in one of the bushes, ring-tailed lemures about 5 were in and out of the lemur house, further on were the black and white ruffed lemurs one outside and the rest inside the lemur house saw about three, quite impressed with the enclosures all seemed quite big and full of enrichment Bear Wood i was blown away by ti all in how the enclosures and walkway were built around the forest and used the natural environment so much, and how they left a little window of clearance so you can see the amazing view to the Severn bridge, lovely little touch, the enclosures amazing and huge, unfortunately the wolverine and lynxs were no shows the bears, were on full show, amazing animals, one int he pool playing, saw three of them, one-up the tree, they were just so busy and active, i really thought i would have not seen them, watched them for a good 30 mins, the whole place was amazing the time scales, and i really hope they will bring in more european animals, i would love to see moose and bison there my reommendation ts is a zoo for families so much for young children to do they have really thought about that niche in the market, I would advise bringing your own food, cost of two sprites £4.20! and then had sandwich, brownie and another drink £9.50ish eekkk! but it is a wonderful place and i will hold off until a few more hyears to see what the next development would be, they were building going on close the gelada baboons
We had our first visit to Bear Wood today and I can only agree with the previous posters - overall it is great. I enjoyed the timeline theming and the bear enclosure is a triumph. One thing I would say though is the wolverine section is great for the wolverine - but I can't imagine anyone getting great views of them as you're essentially looking directly down at the enclosure. The other sections are much better in terms of giving a few different vantage points - we had some great up close encounters at the bear lookout window. I do still find the park to be an odd selection of exhibits and it feels really disjointed for me. In a way I'd like them to continue the British Wildlife theme and work towards showcasing that more.
A couple of pieces of news from Wild Place: The first, coming from the Park's Facebook page, is that the five European grey wolves moved over to Bear Wood today. They are going to be kept in their separate enclosure to settle in for now before they are allowed to mix with the brown bears. Also Wild Place has now welcomed its 200,000th visitor of the year, making this their most successful year since opening six years ago and daily admissions have exceeded 3,000 for the first time. In their first year of operation, Wild Place had 69,000 visitors, which grew to 160,000 in 2016 and 217,000 for the whole of 2018. The reason for the record-breaking admissions is believed to be the opening of Bear Wood. More information is included below: Wild Place Project welcomes record number of visitors - Wildplace
I visited WIld Place today and was pleased to see how busy it was. Bear Wood has definitely been a huge hit to visitor numbers and understandably so. The female wolverine was more active during my visit, and interestingly she appeared to be trying to dig her way into the adjacent enclosure where the male wolverine is; hopefully they will be able to bring the two together in due course. Was also pleased to see the female lynx using one of her raised platforms to sit, making some easy photographs as a result, again it would be nice if the two lynxes can be paired up in the future at some point. A key positive aspect of the increased visitor numbers is that hopefully it will provide the revenue to enable the next exhibit(s) to be progressed, whenever that may be. Wild Place certainly feels more like a growing and progressive wildlife park nicely supplementing the content at Bristol Zoo and importantly having the space necessary for some of the larger species that cannot physically be housed there.
I think and feel the dynamic at Wild Place is decisively moving forward with Bear Wood possibly being the game changer for years to come!
It is a rather strange mixture. The original plans contained about five(?) major geographical zones with many ABC species, but financial restrictions meant that never materialised. Instead, the slower development started with species like the Okapi from the Zoo site, plus various other species added in a seemingly random fashion. But Bear Wood seems the first deliberate attempt to have a large-style exhibit or 'zone' connecting several species, as was reflected by the original plans. It seems to have been very well received too- the marketing and presentation have been well thought out. Perhaps they will be able to continue in this vein now, so that eventually, Wild Place becomes more like what was originally envisaged.
Bear Wood is indeed practically identical in both species list and design to the 'British Ancient Woodland' habitat planned for the National Wildlife Conservation Park when the plans first became available. The original plans were for ten such habitat sections (British Ancient Woodland, British Habitats, China Montane Forest, Congo Tropical Forest, Costa Rica Swamp House, Georgia Wetlands, Indian Ocean Coral Reef, Nepal Grasslands, Sumatra Rainforest and Tanzania Savannah). Also, for those interested, it seems that the next issue of the BBC Wildlife Magazine (available from 26th September) will have a feature on Bear Wood and whether it represents the future for zoos. They have certainly managed to get a lot of marketing mileage by opening when the rewilding bandwagon is so strong.
Noticed on the Bristol Zoo website that they have published the Bristol Zoological Society's plan to 2025 which covers the main zoo and also Wild Place. Have extracted a portion of the text which talks about their plans for both sites. Unsurprisingly it does not give any specific details but it is encouraging that they refer to Wild Place being a focus for 'large charismatic flagship animal species'. The success of Bear Wood will hopefully help move those plans forward as revenue continues to grow. Extract from the plan (see below): Our zoos We will develop Bristol Zoo Gardens and Wild Place to be more distinct from each other through the delivery of a bold and compelling new vision for Bristol Zoo Gardens and the continued development of Wild Place. Both must recognise and exploit the increasing value that consumers place on ‘experiences’ and the opportunity to escape everyday life. Bristol Zoo Gardens will become Britain’s first animal discovery centre, where visitors can learn to live as animals do and experience what it is like to be an animal living in a particular environment. A series of fun, immersive and interactive ‘life zones’ will encourage visitors to dive in and understand how animals have adapted to survive in different habitats and help determine what the future for these animals might be. Each ‘life zone’ will be highly immersive, with walkthrough exhibits of charismatic animal species; opportunities for visitors to test their ability to adapt to different environments through play and interaction; and a significant use of theatre and drama to ensure that each has a distinct character and personality. In contrast, Wild Place will continue to develop as Britain’s global wildlife adventure, where visitors will be transported as explorers to discover animals in the world’s wild places, learning about the importance of their habitats and what the future of these might be. Each wild place will be a naturalistic habitat, with large, charismatic ‘flagship’ animal species that visitors ‘discover’ as they explore. Link to the plan
How likely are the different geographic plans going to happen especially the Sumatran rainforest which (though tigers are more likely) would be great if they got rhinos which I know is pretty unlikely but the Nepal grassland sounds more promising for Indian rhinos. Also is there any news or possibility that Manatees would feature in any of the plans?
