Beale Park Beale Wildlife Park 2022

mrcriss

mrcriss

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
5+ year member
Hi there,

Thought it pertinent to start a new thread as there's a lot happening this year.

So far in 2022...

Arrivals:
2.0 new shetland ponies
New female lynx joining the male
2.0 serrated casque headed iguanas
2.2 azara's agoutis
1.4 guanacos, including the only viable females in UK zoos.

0.2 Short clawed otters born (back end of last year, but still worth mentioning)

Several species moved to new areas of the park, allowing geographical zoning.
Ongoing updating of current enclosures and building of new ones.

Many more new exhibits to come.;)
 
This is not a new park, nor a rebranded Jimmy's farm. This is an entirely separate facility.
 
Embu said:
Sorry to sound stupid, but is this Jimmy's Farm renamed or a new park?
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Nope, been around a while, it’s in Berkshire.
As for the news, the guanacos are exciting, they’ve really ramped up developments during the pandemic.
 
mrcriss said:
Couple of very cool new species arrived this week. One is held off-show for now so I can't say anything about that, but there are now 0.1.1 Rio Fuerte beaded lizards in the reptile house which came from Paignton.
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best to keep things secret you know mrcriss
 
mrcriss said:
Couple of very cool new species arrived this week. One is held off-show for now so I can't say anything about that, but there are now 0.1.1 Rio Fuerte beaded lizards in the reptile house which came from Paignton.
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Rio Fuertes are the ssp. recommended in the breeding program of sorts. I have been told the European offshoots started with the AZA surplusses.
 
I visited for the first time today despite living less than half an hours drive away. I had known about the place but the species list never inspired me in the past. When I looked it had previously been mostly domestics/farm species with a few exotics that are commonly seen elsewhere. That seems to have been changing lately so I thought I would give it a go.

My thoughts
- The site was a lot bigger than I expected from the size of the animal collection. A lot of the land is dedicated to lakeside walks, there are 4 or 5 lakes and I found them very pleasant.
- Regarding the wildlife park, I would still regard it as a small collection, no more than 1/2 days visit but very interesting. Some interesting and unusual species such as tayra and chacoan mara (although unfortunately both no shows today). There are some larger animals such as zebra, tapir and lynx. They are held in decent sized enclosures.
- I get the impression they are preparing for new arrivals. Keepers were working on sprucing up a couple of enclosures which didn't have any signs suggesting they were currently occupied. A couple of other enclosures didn't appear to be occupied and had no signs but looked as if they had recently been prepared for something.
- I hope this is a sign of new arrivals. The place looks to have a lot of potential and there is lots of space to expand into if they so desire.
- I am glad I went. I will definitely return and keep an eye out for further news.
 
Thank you so much for visiting and for your kind words.

We are in a state of development right now as we have a relatively new team and we're all keen to take the park to the next level. Obviously this means that everything is in a chain of events waiting to happen (as ever governed by money and time), and the next one can't happen until the animals have moved out of the first one. So very soon we're cracking on with a BIG new lynx enclosure (which will eventually form an area of the park devoted to cold climate carnivores), and an exciting new species to come into the old lynx area. There are other plans right across the park and expansions into the land outside for both new species and improving the habitats for old, so defo keep an eye on us! (I don't think I've given anything too secret away here!:D)

I'm really surprised you didn't see the tayra....Silas spends all day whizzing around! Hopefully a female joining soon.

As for the chacon mara, if you don't see them in the outdoor enclosure, there's a window into their shed around the back.;)
 
Another 2 new species arrived last week. One has to remain off show for a while until we complete a new development, but the other is an 11' male Burmese python.....he's a right handsome devil!:D

6 more animals of 3 species coming next week!;)
 
mrcriss said:
Another 2 new species arrived last week. One has to remain off show for a while until we complete a new development, but the other is an 11' male Burmese python.....he's a right handsome devil!:D

6 more animals of 3 species coming next week!;)
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I presume that's 11 foot and not 11 inches! :) Unless he's a right baby .
 
Do we know when these new species are going on show? I have to visit a friend in Maidenhead next Thursday and wondered if anything will be on show by then and worth popping in. I can't actually remember if I have ever been to Beale Park, driven by it loads of times on the back roads from Blewbury to Reading, but don't think I have ever visited.
 
mrcriss said:
Another 2 new species arrived last week. One has to remain off show for a while until we complete a new development, but the other is an 11' male Burmese python.....he's a right handsome devil!:D

6 more animals of 3 species coming next week!;)
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new animals arriving eh ? that's amazing
 
zootrippingdaily said:
Do we know when these new species are going on show? I have to visit a friend in Maidenhead next Thursday and wondered if anything will be on show by then and worth popping in. I can't actually remember if I have ever been to Beale Park, driven by it loads of times on the back roads from Blewbury to Reading, but don't think I have ever visited.
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There are only 3 species we're holding off show for now. 2 of which are secret as it would give away what our development will be (probably sometime between Easter and Summer). The non-secret ones are the agoutis which will be going into our large south American aviary next week.

All the other newbies picked up this year (bar a few inverts) are already on show.
 
Update on the new arrivals this week.

0.3 highland cattle from the Scottish Deer Centre on Monday
1.0 cape porcupine from Africa Alive on Wednesday
1.1 miniature horses from Wingham Wildlife Park today.

Busy week! More in the weeks to come!:D
 
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