Beale Park Beale Wildlife Park 2022

I had a visit to see the new lynx enclosure. It does look great.

I had forgotten the baby hyrax had been mentioned in this thread. It was a pleasant surprise to see it sat between a couple of rocks.

Still seems to be a lot happening in terms of sprucing up enclosures, with different ones being worked on to what I recall from my visit earlier in the year.
 
I had a visit to see the new lynx enclosure. It does look great.

I had forgotten the baby hyrax had been mentioned in this thread. It was a pleasant surprise to see it sat between a couple of rocks.

Still seems to be a lot happening in terms of sprucing up enclosures, with different ones being worked on to what I recall from my visit earlier in the year.

Thanks for your kind comments.

You're lucky to see the baby. It's been around all summer and I've only seen it twice! (yesterday being one of them:D)

Lots more happening in the coming weeks. 7 or 8 more animal pickups to do this year, and another 3 new species coming out from off-show in time for Halloween! Defo taking a well earned holiday in November!
 
So now that it's been made public, here's a list of species included within "The Twilight Zone".

1.1 Grey slender loris (came from Longleat)
1.1 Ground cuscus (from Blackpool)
A bunch of Naked mole rats (from Bristol)
1.1 Rio fuerte beaded lizards (from Paignton)

Working hard to get it finished in time….it’s already looking pretty good:D. Animals moving in 17th, open to the public 21st.
 
So with only 2 more days of this build left, I’m wondering what the guys on here like to see with a nocturnal house? Not as in animals, cos there’s nothing we can change about our species list at this point, but as people with an enthusiasm for zoos I feel there may be suggestions covering everything else.:D
 
As the song has it, paint it black!

What sort of size, design, etc so far? It's difficult to offer suggestions that may turn out to be ineffective.

Mine would be darker colours in the public areas to reduce reflections when peering in at low light or red or uv light enclosures.

Cage labels lit by pushing a button? Interactive for kids and not intrusive on the animals by being on all the time.

If you've got the space, a painted or photography background of the night sky, maybe put some luminous stickers up.

I know you said no animals, but maybe some scorpions or some cave fish, both inexpensive, would be good tank fillers/space fillers if you need them.

Decent air ventilation. Too many nocturnal houses
smell a bit funky due to the flaps or doors designed to keep the light out, also keeping any fresh air out.
 
As the song has it, paint it black!

What sort of size, design, etc so far? It's difficult to offer suggestions that may turn out to be ineffective.
I'm certainly not going to give it all away. I'm more interested to see if my plans are ticking the boxes!

Mine would be darker colours in the public areas to reduce reflections when peering in at low light or red or uv light enclosures.
Well it's all dark and the same colour, but it isn't black.
Also, there's no red light brothel style lighting!:D And the only UV happens when you'll be in bed. The clue as to light levels is in the name of the project.

Cage labels lit by pushing a button? Interactive for kids and not intrusive on the animals by being on all the time.
Our signage isn't traditionally lit up signs.

If you've got the space, a painted or photography background of the night sky, maybe put some luminous stickers up.
There's definitely a some sky going on, and also a luminous feature in one enclosure, but not silly star stickers.

I know you said no animals, but maybe some scorpions or some cave fish, both inexpensive, would be good tank fillers/space fillers if you need them.

Decent air ventilation. Too many nocturnal houses
smell a bit funky due to the flaps or doors designed to keep the light out, also keeping any fresh air out.
Could possibly smell of animals at times, but surely that's part of the charm? Especially as some of the animals aren't kept in traditional nocturnal house glass boxes. It sort of has a walkthrough feel. But their heating requirements prevents the use of air con (which is too pricey for us anyway!:D)

Thought I'd answer each point for you above;)
 
You could create a faux rainforest/rocky outcrop design out of wood or lightweight materials, in the interior of the NH where guests walk through, given if there's enough space? Adds to the exotic mess
 
Thanks for that…it’s good to hear what people like and hopefully we’ve managed to hit a few of these.

it’s been a very long 3 weeks +, but coming to an end now. The only thing left to do it install the mole rat enclosure and do the front cladding tomorrow morning and then move the animals into their new homes in the afternoon!

Might seem like I’m tooting me own horn here, but it’s bloody good…a whimsical and modern update to a nocturnal house. Can’t wait for people to see it.:D
 
Thanks for that…it’s good to hear what people like and hopefully we’ve managed to hit a few of these.

it’s been a very long 3 weeks +, but coming to an end now. The only thing left to do it install the mole rat enclosure and do the front cladding tomorrow morning and then move the animals into their new homes in the afternoon!

Might seem like I’m tooting me own horn here, but it’s bloody good…a whimsical and modern update to a nocturnal house. Can’t wait for people to see it.:D

Looking forwards to paying my first visit to check it and the new lynx enclosure out!
 
Well it opens on Friday. (Might try a soft opening on Thursday if we’re not busy)

if you see a stressed and tired looking guy in a flat cap, then say hello.;)
 
Had a really lovely day out at Beale today. Mostly sunny with just a couple of showers late in the day. First visit and I enjoyed it a lot. The gardens were great with good paths and ponds / lakes. Lots of places to sit with a coffee and the whole place feels mellow and a good space to chill as well as see some interesting animals. Lots of play areas for kids but well separated so best of both worlds in that regard.

Enjoyed the variety of animals on show. As a mongoose fan the banded mongoose were great as I haven’t been able to get good photos of them before. I liked the layout of the raccoons, prairie dogs, meerkat, mongoose and Guinea pig enclosures which all run opposite the llamas - good sized spaces with lots to do and easy viewing. There’s also a good platform to see the spaces from.

I very much enjoyed the large free flight aviaries with the variety of birds - lots of activity in all of them. Well laid out and lots to see.

There is obviously lots of work going on with some enclosures labelled as animals coming soon - so things to look forward to. Enjoyed seeing the amount of development with a recent looking enclosure for snowy owls a nice example. Some enclosures are a bit garden fence / shed edge like but it didn’t spoil the enjoyment as the animals still have good spaces with lots to do. The only animals that didn’t get out of bed were the raccoons - got good views of everything else from porcupines through otters, capybara and lemurs. I’d never seen a young rock hyrax before so that was great.

The Scottish wildcats were very nice to see and have a spacious area with several different enclosures to go between via some wired walkways - got some good sightings of them.

The new nocturnal house was a definite highlight - well laid out and I found the enclosure design excellent. I’d say small and perfectly formed. A chest height transparent wall to each of the big spaces means you can see into the enclosures to admire the cuscus and the slender loris without any glass glaring back at you at all.

First sighting for me of the slender loris in particular - lovely. Once eyes had adjusted to the dark there were some really active animals to enjoy. The naked mole rats are very well lit. Obviously the beaded lizard is completely enclosed as opposed to in a part open enclosure but it was still easy to see in.

The lighting in the ceiling has a sort of star effect and coupled with some cluster effect lights (that look a bit like nebulous clouds with little storms going on in them) they lend the whole thing a good ambience. The background night noises are atmospheric without being madly loud or intrusive. I enjoyed the electronic screens displaying the animal information - really easy to learn all about the animals without being too bright or intrusive or hard to see. All round excellent new house and I’d recommend a trip to see it.

The other highlight of the day for me were the lynx in their spacious new enclosure - spent a lot of time there in between park circuits and was lucky enough to see them being fed which was a treat. Lovely cats in a great setting - enjoyed the mix of rocks and trees and there were lots of places for them to hide and choose to be visible or not which I like (indeed the female lynx Nox was in a tree nearly the whole time but fortunately emerged for her turkey dinner).

Overall a great day out. I do enjoy a well done, well cared for smaller animal collection in a lovely setting and I’ll be back for this one.
 
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Enjoyed the variety of animals on show. As a mongoose fan the banded mongoose were great as I haven’t been able to get good photos of them before. I liked the layout of the raccoons, prairie dogs, meerkat, mongoose and Guinea pig enclosures which all run opposite the llamas - good sized spaces with lots to do and easy viewing. There’s also a good platform to see the spaces from..

Oh @mrcriss will not like that haha. He is very precious over his Guanaco haha
 
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