A quick update of part of August and this is the final part of Nisha,Thylo and myself staying down in the South West of England area.Now our journey to our first zoo took us through Cheddar Gorge was fabulous to see early in the morning before all the hoards arrived to spoil the views,which made what was already a special day for me just that little bit more special! Exmoor Zoo 1/8/2016,Two visits in a year not sure I have ever done this place twice in a year,but I cannot complain about that as far as I was concerned the visits over the last few days had all about helping Thylo see collections and the country,so to the review since my first visit the old Blue-tailed Monitor had passed away,from what we latter found out having a chat with the owner a matter of weeks after my first visit.It was one of those visits in which everything was seen pretty much straight away,apart from the Potto(which I still haven't seen ever here) and the Asian Golden Cat which we did get a view of latter on.Now while viewing some of the many Amazon Parrots at the place we got talking with the owner,about the breeding they had with them this year,along with many topics like EAZA,Palawan Leopard Cat and the possibility of big cats being living wild in the UK,the first and last I will say no more on as it was a very candid chat,and just in case anything could cause a problem for the owner I will say no more.On the Leopard Cat despite it still being labelled it had in fact left the collection a matter of days after my first visit,but it is planned to bring the said animal back after the enclosures for it and the Rusty-spotted Cats that also lived in the complex have been rebuilt.Now we did have a little food break for some of the fabulous home made cakes they do in the cafe,Thylo couldn't decide which to have so ended up with 2,both of which he enjoyed greatly,which I was a little releaved about as I had recommend both. Now I did take a little detour between the 2 places to call in another place that I am more than a little passionate about,that being the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway at Woody Bay,I will not bore people about this place as I could,but I will say if you are in the area stop by and give them some support!!This did mean we followed the coast road into Tropiquaria which all passed us across the top of the Exmoor National Park,where we managed to see some of the famous ponys and a Raven. Tropiquaria 1/8/2016,I don't know what it is about this place but I seem to keep visiting this place on the this date,oh well fingers crossed for 2017 then.Cannot report much from this place since my first visit.But I can say that we did manage to lose Thylo down in the basement Aquarium,for a good period of time as he was enjoying seeing alot of very odd small fish,which was fine as I was having a good catch up with the owner who I have known many years,due to us both being members of the Bartlett Society.During this chat I was asked what was the one area of the collection that let them down the most,to which I replied the bird aviarys near the Tapir.To which the owner replied good thats our next project to rebuild,and in fact I believe it has now been started so I look forward to seeing it when it is completed. Bristol Zoo 2/8/2016,Yes we did arrive for opening at 9 and for once I parked in the zoo car park as it was cheaper than parking else where with it being a week day,given that we arrived more than a little early we took a gentle stroll round the outside of the zoo pointing out bits of it to thylo while we walked round.I think its safe to say we went round in the manner that I always go round in,and yes Thylo was impressed with the Nocturnal House and the species,in fact as far as I remember he was impressed full stop with the place.The only thing that we wanted to see but didn't was the European Sousilks and if you don't see them on a nice sunny day,first time you pass you have no chance. Now my journey to Noahs used to take about 35 minutes from bristol Zoo,but thanks to my new sat nav I have found a new route,which only takes about 15 minutes.It does however cost £1 to use the route as you have to cross the Clifton Suspension Bridge,what can I say but what a view from it and what a piece of engineering!! Noahs Ark Zoo Farm 2/8/2016,yes I know back again to this place,but Thylo wanted to see this much criticised place,and I did have a little bit of an event going on which might prove interesting,in the form of Peter Blake doing a venomous snake demonstration for this week only,and seeing as I knew some of the species he could be bring with him we called in.Now as a result of Peter been there I did add another 6 to my challenge total,that I wouldn't have seen otherwise this year in a zoo.I will not say too much about the demo given,but I will say that as far as I am concerned its an accident waiting to happen!! The biggest laugh I had was the fact that thylo had traveled all the way to the UK and he got a life tick for a mammal that is native to the USA in the form of a Beach Mouse! Slimbridge WWT 2/8/2016,Now part of the reason for visiting her was to try and see the Common cranes that have been re-introduced in the area,to say none of us could believe our luck when about 5 miles out from Slimbridge one flew over the car would be putting it mildly.Having arrived we got straight on with looking round and started with the very nice Amphibian collection in the main building,fron ther we preceded to see the captive stuff as thylo was a man on a mission to see all the flamingos,happy to say we very quickly managed to see every species of Flamingo.Because we arrived a little bit late we did get chased out a bit,but we managed to get round and see everything still on the captive side.I would have liked to have shown Thylo some of the wild reserve but there is always another time! I will now take a break so I can go and partake in the festive activity's!
Right I will crack on with the rest of my review after a rather long break from it.I will finish up the rest Thylos time with me in this part. Whipsnade Zoo 3/8/2016,After a nice night back in my own bed we set off early to Whipsnade,once Ophidia had arrived at mine and with picked up Bongorob on the way.Thanks got to zoospud for providing some complimentary entrance tickets,for us,so the only cost we had was the car which we took in,as from experience we knew it made life alot easier.I am a fan of Whipsnade it just has a feel to the place that I like,also pretty sure Thylo had never been round a place like here before,as it has bits that can only be seen from a car and bits that you get the best view of from a narrow gauge railway(I am never going to complain about that),pity we didn't have time to go on the railway!That might have had something to do with bongorob sorting out a little visit round the now closed bird garden,during which the only specie we didn't see was the 1 species of Hornbill that Thylo wanted to see!But these things happen,we did see the Brown Bear enclosure and the bears in it,which I still find hard to believe was first built in the 1930s and it still looks more than okay today.I think from memory Thylo saw more than a few things for the first time at Whipsnade,as for the challenge I added another 3.Which now mean't my total stood at 233. About an hour after arriving back at mine from Whipsnade a strange knock at the front door,was heard in the form of a Javan Rhino,how was going to be sleeping on my sofa ready for the next day of zoo visiting. Crocodiles of the World 4/8/2016,Now we did arrive an hour or so early here,but we had a plan as we were expected and the owner had kindly agreed to let us in early,and show us round and have a chat with us.Well since my last visit the large crocodile house had been extended,and when we arrived and met up with Shaun his first words were do you want to start up top,that really was a stupid question did I yes I wanted to see his False Gharial as I wanted to confirm what I already suspected,that they were bigger than Chesters and indeed they were,and on top of that they are far better looking such a shame Chester never took the chance to get the ones they could have got!Now it was entering the Big Croc house that I noticed that they had a Slender-snouted Croc on-show and was informed it was one of the ones from Colchester,that had to come back after they went back to Colchester due to them fighting in the new enclosure!A very pleasant few hours were spent round here either with Shaun or ourselves,before we departed to CWP.As you gathered I add 1 to my challenge total and had a very good time catching up with Shaun and his staff. Cotswold Wildlife Park 4/8/2016,Not sure what I can say about this place a part from its good no its excellent.Sad thing is we arrived 6 days early for the opening of the new small African mammal complex in the old zebra stalls,but what we did see looked good(All I can say is next time Thylo).We caught up with a friend of mine that works in the Bird section and some how I ended up helping to clean the Penguin pool,so for once on a zoo visit I was making myself useful.Had a pleasant surprise in the fact that since my last visit Gidgee Skink had been added to the herp collection,so my total was now pushed out to 235,slowly closing in on the magic figure of 250! Cotswold Falconry Centre 4/8/2016,Again I have to say thanks to the owner and the staff here for making Thylos day by giving him the chance to hold an American Bald Eagle,along with more than a few other birds.This place saw thylo add a round a dozen species to his life list,so I think we can safely that even the smaller lesser collections had a very good reason to be done in Thylos mind! Now we had planned to do 3 places on the 5th but Thylo and myself decided to drop the first of them so we could have another hour in bed! Linton Zoo 5/8/2016,Now this place was done purely for 1 Lemur species that being White-collared!But we did both have a surprise when we discovered that 2 male Wallaroos had arrived since my last visit,a very nice addition to the collection.I must thank the staff (1 of whom I have known since my days in TZA) here yet again for letting Thylo and myself get a better look at the Wallaroos and the big male Red Kangaroo,that did a pretty good job of making Thylo look small,which is no small achievement!Now Linton isn't the biggest place in the world but it does have some very nice Lemurs and also has a pretty good collection of Tortoise. Hamerton Zoo 5/8/2016,Now this place was very much on Thylos wish list of places to visit,as he is very much somebody that enjoys seeing some of the lesser seen species,which is just as well as they have more than most places so this place was a day of 2 types of Aardwolf,Tayra,small cats and Corsac Fox.But what I think will stick in Thylos mind was me asking a member of staff I know well how something was doing that I shouldn't know about,to say it was a look of shock was an understatement,followed by how do you know that,followed by a reply of friends in low places!I cannot say what this is yet but I will say as soon as they go on show I will be visiting!Almost forgot add 1 more for the challenge,still not close to the 250,but that would come soon enough! Wingham Wildlife Park 6/8/2016,Before I start I would like to thank Ophidia for doing the driving on this mental day out.Now this might seem a strange p;ace to travel all this way to see but,despite it being very ABC zoo and very child friendly,it is also very much a zoonerd collection,with an odd sub-species of Tamandua and an Armadillo,Spixs Douroucli and Little Red Flying Fox.So you can gues that the 3 of us had alot of fun viewing this place,don't think Ophidia will forget how he managed to view the Armadillo in a hurry!!Now as for the challenge the place gave me 11,which out of a total of 51 species on show isn't bad,in fact its more species on show than any collection in the UK,and that also includes more venomous species on show than in any other collection in the UK.While this is very nice to see its very sad that a place like this has more species on show than can be seen in London or Chester,and even more sad is that it has a better venomous collection than either of them! Howletts Wild Animal Park 6/8/2016,Now this place wasn't planned but seeing as we were passing and we had enough time to still do the other we planned on doing we dropped in.When we arrived we did plan on a very quick run round so thylo could get an idea of the layout,for a visit he planned on doing latter on his trip by himself,but as we were going round we soon realised that everything that he wanted to see we were seeing without any problems,so things like African Wildcat and various Langurs and Ratels and North Chinese Leopards,all became species seen and in many cases photographed with out any problem,but no moment we all realised there was no point in rushing was when we manged to catch a very fleeting view of a Heck's Macaque in their off show enclosure,I think it was at this point Thylo realised that as a result he could free up a day to do something else latter on his trip,so we decided to relax and not rush round,as I knew as long as we got to the other place before last entry seeing it all would not be an issue.Now while we were here Thylo saw and witnessed something that only seems to happen here or at Port Lympne,and that was for me to sit down and watch Gorillas,something I don't tend to do any where else,but just watching them her is something special,as they just get on with family life and be Gorillas,yes the enclosures don't look like a rain forest but every inch of the enclosure can be used,and boy do they use it have to say I enjoyed a very pleasant 20+ minutes just watching then be Gorillas! Hemsley Conservation Centre 6/8/2016,I think now anyone that has visited this place will know why we didn't need to rush Howletts,boy was I glad we didn't. When I visited here in 2015 I thought this was a place to watch,now I am not sure,it very much has the feel of a place trying to run before it can walk,and cramming far too much stuff in FAR TO SMALL AN AREA.All in all the only positive I can say is they have a very nice pair of South American Tree Porcupines and it gave me another 3 for the challenge which mean't I had at long last hit the 250 total. Reaseheath Zoo 7/8/2016,Since my first visit in the year the extension had opened while not fully occupied it looked okay and you could see what they were doing with it,not alot had happened in the rest of the collection.But they had changed things round a bit on the herps which did mean I picked up another unexpected 1.So on leaving herer Thylo,Ophidia and myslef swung by to pick up Nisha and then a bit latter on bongorob on the way to Twycross. Twycross Zoo 7/8/2016,Nothing had really changed since my last visit but it was nice to catch up with Shorts who joined us at Twycross and how also kindly agreeded to drop Thylo at Derby Station so he coud catch his train to go and join TLD on the next leg of his adventure.Great fun was had and alot of catching up done,while enjoying see Thylo see a very nice primate collection,a few of the species he was seeing for the very first time.As always seems to happen here there where a few dodgy zoo guidebook exchanges done in the car park after the visit.Along with fair wells to Thylo from the people travelling in my car,on a personal note I was actually sad to see him go,as I had a great time visiting all the places I did with him,as he was excellent company to go round with and a joy to be with as he shared a very real passion for doing what I enjoy doing in my spare time,which is visiting collections and seeing the many wonders that they have to see! Final note my challenge total now stood at 251.
Right now for the end of August and which ever bits of September I can get to before the need for sleep hits me! Peak Wildlife Park 28/8/2016,Well yes I know a panned this place when I visited earlier in my review,but I was interested to see if the Capybara had returned or if they were still gone from the collection,and to see what they had done with the newly arrived Vietnamese Sika Deer!Having been I have to say no sign of Capybara and signs removed,suspect they were yet another victim of the locations unique micro climate!As for the Sika Deer they have a huge area in which to roam,but I do hope they have some good winter housing!Now they had changed the cafe a bit and during the summer a new outdoor area was in use,have to say the toasted sandwiches are very good and I think good value for what you get. Monkey Forest 28/8/2016,I must be mad this I believe is now my 4th visit to a place that only has 1 species,that said I blame Nisha for being on a guidebook mission!Not alot I can say about this place a part from Barbary Macaques big walk through. New Forest Reptile Centre 3/9/2016,Wasn't sure what to expect here a part from pits with native herps in,and yes that was what we got!Cracking place well worth a visit was lucky enough to pick up 3 for the challenge would have picked up more if the Grass Snake hadn't dies and not been replaced yet,and we had visited earlier in the year. Libertys Owl and Raptor Centre 3/9/2016,Best described as a strange place,but it has the making of a very nice place.The new owners seem to be slowly putting right years of no new building.Have some very nice Birds of Prey,the herps are mostly pet shop species but still managed to pick up 1 for the challenge.Having never visited before I will be back in the future to see if they continue to improve! Marwell Zoo 3/9/2016,Now Marwell gets stick from some on here,I still say wrongly but that is their view.Loved the new exhibit for the Rhino,Zebra and Oryx,vast improvement from what they had a great looking exhibit smack in the centre of the zoo.Had a good chat with the herp keeper in the Tropical House,while sheltering from some rather heavy rain!Suffice to say she wasn't a fan of this site,as she put it too many arm chair experts that know bugger all about running a zoo!That said we did have a good chat about the new Tropical House the idea sounds good,but then so was the idea of Monsoon Forest at Chester,until it got shrunk to save money.That said I still think it will be a much needed improvement in the future for Marwell!Picked up another 2 for the challenge fetching my total to 257. Heythrop Zoo 18/9/2016,Had a quick visit to support my friends here after the year they had they deserved.For those that don't know they got attacked by the antis in the press and Chris Packham,funny he never raised any concerns when he used their animals in the past!As ever things had changed in the 12 months since my last visit,new Penguin enclosure is a very nice addition,the re-furb of part of the Reptile House also very good.Now if somebody had let this place count for the challenge would have added another 6 for me!! Birdland 18/9/2016,I like this place and it has a great setting very nicely done.The penguin enclosure had a few new viewing areas done and it opened up a few interesting photo chance for other parts of the place.Always nice to see King Penguins in numbers but they could do with a few more!Not the collection it used to be but still has to be one of the top bird collections in the country.Quite a few new aviarys had gone up since my last visit and very nice they are.Nice little cafe here but they stop serving hot food far to soon in the day! Cotswold Farm Park 18/9/2016,If you want to see Rare farm breeds this is the place to visit,its great for kids and the education displays are very interesting,as they explain how farming has changed through the ages.For me its always a joy to visit as I do enjoy seeing breeds like Gloucester Cattle and Kerry Hill Sheep,and I love the fact that places like this are keeping them going.If you want some very good locally produced meat,the shop is the place to go,they also do other foods like Cheese but for me sausages and burgers that you can buy here are excellent quality!
So in late August you had some jolly good toasted sandwiches at Peak Wildlife Park and there are some excellent meat and cheese selections at Cotswold Farm Park. I am enjoying all of these reviews and I actually like the added touches in regards to the culinary delights of England. Would Cotsworld Farm Park even count as a legitimate "zoo" or are there only farm animals there? Are there any lemurs or meerkats lurking about?
Cotswold farm park is just domestics well that is if you discount at small group of common quail, that they keep in the encounter barn. I very much doubt they would bring anything that isn't a native rare breed of domestic. They also have produced many guidebooks , all of which are listed on the Bartlet society website, and I know cfp are very pleased that they are listed on it.
Right the rest of September and the start of October. Chester Zoo 25/9/2016,Just a standard monthly visit to Chester,went to see what if anything had changed,work had started on the new Sun Bears,Malayan Tapir,Palawan Binturong and Bird aviary in Islands.Looked a promising start.Food in junes had improved but now have to by a drink separate from your burger,and the price has stayed the same despite the drink no longer being in the cost of the meal! Chester Zoo 2/10/2016,Went for a catch up with a few people at the zoo,nothing to report a part from I had to by a coffee!! Colchester Zoo 9/10/2016,What can I say great collection still don't like all the glass.Today was a happy day for Bongorob as he got to see his second ever species of Duiker,so this made it a good day as I have been with him every time he has seen a Duiker species for the first time,a lot had changed since my last visit,the Butterfly House which is small but I think very well done.Now they had opened up the indoor viewing for the Chimps and the Slender-snouted Crocodile,Chimps indoor changes look okay,but why oh why did they give the croc a pointless outdoor enclosure with no pool and on a side of the building that will get little or no sun!!The indoor enclosure however looks very good and is a vast improvement on what was there before.Picked up another 2 for the challenge which put me on 259. Shepreth Wildlife Park 9/10/2016,Dropped in for a quick visit on the way back from Colchester,a lot of building work seems to be going on here but I have no idea what for,since my last visit they had built an extension to the tropical house which was a purpose built for herps,the old herp exhibits were at present still empty in the Tropical House.Highlight for me is always the Crab-eating Macaques as they aren't that common these days.Nothing was gained for the challenge. Chester Zoo 10/10/2016,Don't recall anything of note new round the zoo,but did find out that the zoo had solved its problem with Islands!So hopefully the current building work will open on time and in budget! London Zoo 15/10/2016,Visited to attend the Bartlett society agm in the zsl library but did have a chance before and after to view the zoo.Shocked at just how many exhibits in the reptile house were empty,and how many duplicates were on-show.I needed to have visited about 4 months earlier as I would have doubled the 5 I picked up if I had.The aquarium was as good as ever.Now Land of Lions what can I say well its themed,but sorry London you have been ripped off its not worth what you paid,to me though the biggest problem is the none Asian they have put in it,and as for the accommodation pods,yes they might bring in money but they lost what could have been another decent size exhibit,and to me are a waste of money!Now when visiting London I expect to be ripped off on food and drink,but you can imagine I was more than a little shocked to find out that a bottle of fizzy drink is only 2p more expensive than at Chester after members discount is taken off.So all in all that little nugget shows what many of us have been saying for awhile now about Chester and that is all they are bothered about is MONEY! Also was during this time I worked out what an un labelled turtle was at Wingham so my total now stood at 265.
"Damn charities; after money to do good with all the time. Oxfam are just the same." Sorry, I just find this a really odd criticism - you're objecting to a charity you support making money, and making it selling something that you can perfectly well buy at a supermarket and bring with you if you think it's too much. I've been overcharged for a bottle of pop in all sorts of places - I seldom object to any price under £3 at a zoo - particularly a charity zoo - because at least if I really want to buy it the overcharge is going to something I support (as opposed to service station shareholders, or whatever). On a more zoo-y note - London's repetitions are far more concerning than the empty exhibits, I think. Not just stuff like meerkats, but right down to Red-bellied Piranhas. All those lovely characins, but the aquarium feels the need to duplicate the Red-bellies in the Clore. I'm sure Colchester's croc outdoor seemed a good idea at the time, but like yourself I struggle to see it getting much use - maybe at the height of summer it might just about be baskable but other than that, why would the croc bother?!
I have to agree with Maguari here, at least by charging extra, in Chester's case they are actually doing stuff to the zoo and bulding exhibits for animals and such, I will agree when I first heard about LOTL pods I didn't like them, they made little sense and took away from what could have been another exhibit for example. I believe if a zoo uses that money for animals, for enclosures and such we should be happy about it! I don't mind spending double the price on a drink I can get at a corner shop, as long as it goes towards improvements for the animals!
Without joining in the argument over the price of a bottle of pop, all I will say is that I am delighted with Zoogiraffe's assessment of Land of the Lions, as it conforms totally with my & many other assessments before & after it was built! The number of duplicated species in the Reptile House & elsewhere also agrees with many previous criticisms, London Zoo could be so much better! That comes from someone who genuinely loves this zoo as his first memory
It is because you expect to pay more in London,but not that much up north.Unless it is now showing that since brexit the north south divide is closing in favour of London!!
I would agree that Chester's catering is massively overpriced - certainly in comparison to other zoos in the region - and this combined with the queueing times (particularly in June's) makes for a poor experience for customers. On the other hand, the zoo has a captive - and growing - audience, so they can essentially increase prices as much as they wish without damaging demand. It's not brilliant for regular visitors, but it makes sense, and as mentioned above the money is at least going to a decent cause.
A note about your Chester visit on 16th October. A certain bongo tried a sneaky visit on his own, but you still found him.
Right a very quick one to complete my travels for October. Welsh Mountain Zoo 22/10/2016,Ophidia and myself had a quick little visit to see if anything had changed since our visit earlier in the year as a few exhibits,in the reptile house were being worked on and I wanted another look at a turtle that was bugging me,well nothing had changed and the Turtle on looking again was a wonky looking Yellow-bellied Slider!We decided to eat in the zoo,the food was basic but edible!There was however a far more important reason for me visiting as,my little sister lives about 15 minutes drive away and it gave me a chance to swing by and see my little nephew for the first time. We also swung by RSPB Conway as it is very close to WMZ,cracking little reserve worth a swing by if you are in the area. Blackpool Sealife Centre 30/10/2016,Probably one of the better slc,but that is only because of the main shark tank which for the UK is pretty big,highlights being a Horseshoe Crab and the number of Shark and Ray species on show.They also have a pretty impressive Queensland Grouper although it is still a baby,so they should be able to keep it for a few more year before they will have to move it on,due to the size they can reach. Blackpool Zoo 30/10/2016,Well cannot remember too many changes a part from an exhibit for Thailand Water Dragon in the Orang House and a couple of new herp exhibits in the Monkey House,but I always find its a very pleasant place to walk round.Food wise its does basic well and if you wait till later on you can have less choice but get a bigger portion!!
