Excellent day at Whipsnade today, warm but rainy and a bit overcast but lots to see. There were apparently 2,000 schoolkids visiting today but I found it all quiet, even earlier on.
The Langur and Babirusa house was closed for some work on the surrounding paths
but both species made up for it by being outside for much of the day (I was visiting the crane chick a few times, so a trip around monkey forest each time seemed a good idea). The Langurs were hanging about in the trees and enjoying the sun and stayed when the rain came down in sheets. I'd only seen them spend time outside for feeding before dashing back inside on previous visits, so it was good to see them making full use of the space, including for a group nap in the sun not long before closing.
Got good views of new tiger Miron who is a fine hefty looking cat. It's been a while since we have had a fully grown adult male tiger at Whipsnade and he certainly has some presence. He was roaming about and didn't seem concerned about using the whole enclosure.
Was good to see the pool full with the new pump system running
and the water filling in the pool without leaking out into the old waterfall area. Having seen Rob Cadd's excellent Miron in the pond photos, I was looking forward to seeing it working, having watched the construction. The outlet at the top is covered in by rocks and the pleasant sound of flowing water makes for a nice background while waiting for the tiger to wake up.
I've found the pool a little folorn in recent years (though watching the three brothers rolling their ball around the dry basin was fun) as it filled a bit with rain water or had a congealing muddy mess in the bottom, so it's good to have it back on form.
Elsewhere it was great to see the red crowned crane chick coming along nicely and the Visyan warty piglets were showy in the space outside the house, with the rest of the family racing about in the main paddock. The blue cranes are sitting on their second round of eggs, so hopefully there will may be a good result this time round. The young rockhopper penguins are now at the half fluff half feathers stage which was fun to see.
The camels have also shed their winter coats and they were right near the fence on the monkey forest pathway. In the forest area the male Anoa was paying court to the female but she wasn't having much of his mating attempts.
Seeing the wolverines being fed and watching the bison rolling around in their enclosure was also fun.
Had a good view of a kestrel hunting in the long grass before the penguin pool picnic area too, always good to mix in a bit of wildlife.