So I made the journey down from Birmingham on Thursday and (despite several train cancellations) I made it to the zoo for about 2pm. Not going to lie, thought it was going to be a bit of a rush to see the whole collection but managed it with a bit of time to spare. To be fair it has been less than two years since my last visit so I felt confident in skipping certain parts at first and just mopping up the bits I missed last time.
Stuff I thought of whilst walking around -
The colobus walkthrough is quite good, definitely the biggest enclosure I've seen for the species, but it is a bit of a pain having to queue (even though the queue was barely anything, just inconvenient when I was running late!) and if the colobus go inside then there really isn't a lot to see. Hopefully they will get something to go on the ground so there's always something to keep visitors engaged.
The invert house is great, I was impressed by a lot of things in there but the coral reef tank wasn't one of them... I couldn't get close to it due to two families taking up the viewing area and from a distance it was hard to see what was what due to cloudy water. The rest of the building is genuinely great though, the spider walkthrough was obviously the highlight but there's a lot to like here. I was particularly taken by the mosquito display, a whole family I don't think I've witnessed in captivity before.
The Clore is a bit of a mixed bag. Downstairs there is a lot of repetition but that's okay if you like Prosimians, not so great if your idea of a nocturnal house includes variety though... Upstairs is also not what it once was but I'm not turning my nose up at Narrow-striped Mongoose and Southern Tamandua...
The Aye-aye exhibit probably doesn't need red lights outside as there was plenty of sunlight peeping through the covers. Other than that the Aye-ayes and Gentle Lemurs were great, and the Ring-tailed Lemur walkthrough was quite pleasant despite being smaller than average. Shame there are all those side exhibits empty...
The reptile house still looked good despite a lot of empty enclosures and repeat species. Highlights were good views of the Chinese Giant Salamnder, seeing the bushmasters, and getting to soak up the atmosphere in there one last time.
Also good to see the new building in the flesh, much larger than I expected so I'm far more optimistic for the herp collection than I once was.
The giraffe paddock doesn't look terrible to me, and nowhere near as bad as some make out on here. It (now) appears far more spacious than Dudleys is and I think it works well for a non-breeding group. I will admit that the fence is a bit off-putting but there has to be some kind of compromise. The rest of the Cotton Terraces looked fine and it's always a treat to see warthogs nowadays.
The Mappin Terraces are wasted with that Outback display... I'm not a big fan of Giant Pandas as a rule, BUT if there was an enclosure and zoo in the UK where I'd like to see them then this is it. I know it was floated years ago, and I know pandas are a huge drain on resources but seriously, with a bit of imagination and optimism this might work. I know new indoor accomodation would be needed but I'm sure it could be feasible. That's enough of being an armchair zoo director for now...
Land Of The Lions might work in a bigger zoo but in London it comes across as over-indulging an ABC species when the space requirements aren't quite that great, and also taking up valuable real estate that could house a few more species... I like the langur enclosure and vulture aviary, I'm indifferent on the mongoose exhibit but I'd like geographically accurate species instead of what's currently there.
As for the theming, well yeah, it might come across as a bit on the nose in places but I stand by that it could work in a different (larger and more ethnographically themed) collection. In London it's just a waste of space...
Tiger, gorilla, Komodo, and penguin exhibits work great and at least two of them look like they belong in a world class zoo. Gorilla Kingdom on the other hand wouldn't look out of place in any mid to large UK collection, and some of the monkey cages do look a bit snug by todays standards. The Komodo Dragon exhibit is a fairly standard affair, doesn't stand out to me in any way, shape, or form compared to the ones at Colchester and Chester.
Blackburn pavilion was charming, really great to spend some time in there soaking up the atmosphere despite not really being that interested in the LBJs. Some pretty choice species in there though, especially in the individual aviaries. The Casson is completely wasted in comparison, Babirusa are nice but don't make up for all the unused space the building takes up.
Yeah, so I think that's it for my thoughts on London. As an outsider looking in I find it an enjoyable zoo but don't think it's a collection worthy of our capital city, in fact it would probably struggle to crack my personal top ten in the UK. But for a few hours visit it's great - just enough biggish animals (though there could be more), some choice species, loads of history, and a few great modern exhibits. Just a shame that compared to other European capitals it pales into insignificance...
That was far longer than I anticipated so if you got to the end then well done and thank you!
