Axe Valley Wildlife Park Axe Valley Wildlife Park

Visited the other time for my first visit and wanted to just give the park it’s flowers

it was pretty impressive and the collection was decent

although in my opinion the enclosures could do with some work, some extending, some improvements all the animals looked so comfortable and happy

we were chatting to the person at the front desk and apparently due to the low footfall they are unable to sign the park significantly which was the one big thing that we and others believed was in the most need of improvement

so thought I’d just champion the collection here as it would be nice to have a boost to the collections footfall
 
Charles said:
Visited the other time for my first visit and wanted to just give the park it’s flowers

it was pretty impressive and the collection was decent

although in my opinion the enclosures could do with some work, some extending, some improvements all the animals looked so comfortable and happy

we were chatting to the person at the front desk and apparently due to the low footfall they are unable to sign the park significantly which was the one big thing that we and others believed was in the most need of improvement

so thought I’d just champion the collection here as it would be nice to have a boost to the collections footfall
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It is indeed a charming place, my local zoo so of course I’m biased. Currently parent rearing Grey Crowned Cranes, the Night Heron colony has its usual crop of young. Cereopsis and Barnacle Geese have both reared young. Seems to be an increase in the Parma Wallabies. Great small carnivore collection with one of the best Yellow Mongoose exhibits around, and eight small cat species, most of which have bred. Nice ASCO enclosure too, with breeding group.
 
Charles said:
so thought I’d just champion the collection here as it would be nice to have a boost to the collections footfall
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Not too suprised to hear this. I went past the other day( I quite often do) and I don't think there is any signage on the main road to advertise it, only on the slip road? A nice location but most people are on their way to somewhere and its not big enough to warrant a special excursion for many.
 
FBBird said:
It is indeed a charming place, my local zoo so of course I’m biased. Currently parent rearing Grey Crowned Cranes, the Night Heron colony has its usual crop of young. Cereopsis and Barnacle Geese have both reared young. Seems to be an increase in the Parma Wallabies. Great small carnivore collection with one of the best Yellow Mongoose exhibits around, and eight small cat species, most of which have bred. Nice ASCO enclosure too, with breeding group.
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What are the 8 small cat species ?

I think the last time I visited there was, Rusty Spotted Cat, Fishing Cat, Caracal, Lynx, and Leopard Cat. There was no Jagurundi on show, but that may have been temporary, but what are the other two?
 
Alwaysevergreen said:
What are the 8 small cat species ?

I think the last time I visited there was, Rusty Spotted Cat, Fishing Cat, Caracal, Lynx, and Leopard Cat. There was no Jagurundi on show, but that may have been temporary, but what are the other two?
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Wish I saw more of these on my visit, only saw the Caracal, Serval and Lynx in the end. I did see the caracals were seperated and one of the enclosures was pretty small, does anyone know if they were introducing a new pair?

Also to echo other people's thoughts, the vast majority of the exhibits were I thought up to a good standard and it was a very good species variety for a place of its size. I did think the tayra enclosure in particular was quite small, but I haven't looked at their requirements so take that with a pinch of salt.
 
Devastating news.
Visit a couple of times a year, a little gem of a collection with some good rarities and always seemed to be expanding or developing (meadow and nocturnal house) so to disappear so suddenly is quite a shock.

Not a very happy time for south west zoos both large and small;
Paignton seeking investment.
Bristol stalled financial sales from old site and allegedly redundancies also.
Combe Martin seem to have been building their seal pool for years and years.

Etc.

Get out visiting when you can!
 
Not counting Bristol as that is technically a relocation but I think this is possibly the biggest loss in the UK since Belle Vue in 1977!
Please nobody bother to mention Windsor SP or S Lakes
 
pipaluk said:
Not counting Bristol as that is technically a relocation but I think this is possibly the biggest loss in the UK since Belle Vue in 1977!
Please nobody bother to mention Windsor SP or S Lakes
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My local zoo, Axe Valley will leave a huge gap
 
Skukuza said:
Devastating news.
Visit a couple of times a year, a little gem of a collection with some good rarities and always seemed to be expanding or developing (meadow and nocturnal house) so to disappear so suddenly is quite a shock.

Not a very happy time for south west zoos both large and small;
Paignton seeking investment.
Bristol stalled financial sales from old site and allegedly redundancies also.
Combe Martin seem to have been building their seal pool for years and years.

Etc.

Get out visiting when you can!
Click to expand...

As well as the economic situation I think the changing demographic of the south west is also hurting zoos in the area.

I grew up in Devon, but moved to another part of the country due to a combination high house prices, low wages and poor career opportunities. So did the vast majority of my friends, only one or two stayed in the area. Exactly the same thing happened with my sister and most of her friends too. Out of all of my friends that went to university none of them returned to the area after graduating.

I did grow up in a small village but there was always roughly 15-20 school age children there when I was growing up. As far as I am currently aware there is only one family in the village with school age children. Whenever a house comes up for sale it almost always goes to a retired couple moving from another part of the country.

A zoos largest market is undoubtedly the family day out, so if an area is losing families and replacing them with pensioners, who are far less likely to visit, then that will obviously have an effect.
 
NMM said:
As well as the economic situation I think the changing demographic of the south west is also hurting zoos in the area.

I grew up in Devon, but moved to another part of the country due to a combination high house prices, low wages and poor career opportunities. So did the vast majority of my friends, only one or two stayed in the area. Exactly the same thing happened with my sister and most of her friends too. Out of all of my friends that went to university none of them returned to the area after graduating.

I did grow up in a small village but there was always roughly 15-20 school age children there when I was growing up. As far as I am currently aware there is only one family in the village with school age children. Whenever a house comes up for sale it almost always goes to a retired couple moving from another part of the country.

A zoos largest market is undoubtedly the family day out, so if an area is losing families and replacing them with pensioners, who are far less likely to visit, then that will obviously have an effect.
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This pensioner visits as many zoos as he can, as often as possible. Only been to ten this year, which is well below average
 
Genuinely shocked and gutted!!

One of my local zoos aswell, spent years growing up here visiting with a membership as a kid and still continued to visit even though i moved away from home. Only managed to get there once this year being only three weeks ago! Shocked that it’s such a sudden announcement and genuinely didn’t realise the park was struggling. I thought the park was still on an up with the expansion on the upper meadow and the constant construction and maintenance on enclosures.

Really hoping they keep us updated with animal moves and where they’re getting relocated to. Massive loss to the zoos in the south west, leaving a massive gap now.
 
FBBird said:
This pensioner visits as many zoos as he can, as often as possible. Only been to ten this year, which is well below average
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Doesn't mean my theory is wrong though.

I suspect the demographics on this site are very different to the demographics of zoo visitors.
 
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