First: the backstory…
After a lazy Good Friday, a very sociable Blackbrook visit on Saturday and a family day on Easter Sunday, I was sitting, replete with chocolate eggs, and wondering what I should do on Monday – and feeling in need of an expedition. I’d been meaning to do a day of Linton Zoo and Shepreth Wildlife Park for some time (less than 30min drive apart, these two seemed a natural pairing for a day out). One of the things that almost held me back is that I’d have to drive straight past Hamerton just before getting there, and the species line-up there would always be a strong temptation! So I decided I would head to Linton (the furthest from home) first thing and see how time went for me.
When I visit zoos in my own I am terminally unable to walk slowly between exhibits (and I generally browse rather than stop for lunch), so I tend to get around them quickly. As it happened, the three small collections filled my day out very nicely.
For the record, this was my first visit to both Linton and Shepreth; Hamerton I have visited a few times before.
So, from the top…
Linton Zoo
A very pleasant site in what is clearly an overgrown back garden (with the house it belongs to plainly visible at the back of the giant tortoise paddock). The general atmosphere is very pleasant, though the place is definitely on the basic side.
Zoologically, there are certain clear specialities – big cats, lemurs and tortoises stand out. The cats are (generic) lions, Amur Tigers, a generic Leopard, Snow Leopards and an unsurprisingly invisible Clouded Leopard. The lions and tigers have decent enough grassy paddocks, the various leopard exhibits are rather less impressive – basic and not-especially large cages (although at least one is in the process of being completely rebuilt). The concrete porcupine exhibit is a little grim, but there is a pair of nice outdoor turtle exhibits that are much better.
The major ‘species highlights’ are amongst the lemurs – White-collared Lemurs and Western Grey Gentle Lemurs. The main lemur complex is probably the zoo’s best exhibit (although the very spacious paddock for Hartmann’s Mountain Zebras was also very nice to see), with small cages for each species backing onto a large open exhibit.
There are quite a lot of rather small aviaries, but again some are undergoing improvements at the moment. The best aviaries are the larger ones - one with ibis (Sacred and Hadada), egrets and Hammerkops, another with Trumpeter and Southern Ground Hornbills mixed with Green Turacos and another with the very nice Hornbills. There is also an open-topped exhibit for Rueppel’s Griffon Vultures.
The place does the old trick of Chester’s from years ago – publish a regular newsletter and stick a map on the back so you can sell it as a guide. Not a bad plan with such a small collection.
The zoo is absolutely obsessed with telling you the individual names of the animals, something I tend to be rather indifferent towards. I don’t really need to know the names of the Toco Toucans or the Giant Tortoises, but I suppose it’s nice that that’s there if that’s your bag. The two separate pairs of lions are labelled on the map with which pair is where – this strikes me as odd as I don’t see why a first-time visitor would care which lions were where to the point of needing to know before getting to the exhibit – surely a sign on the actual exhibit would be enough? The only people I could imagine wanting to go straight to a particular pair would be the regular visitor who knew the animals well – but surely they would know which exhibit had which pair?
There are a few more random comments on the photos I’ve uploaded.
Overall, a very pleasant couple of hours but the place had that nagging feeling of being slightly insubstantial that sometimes comes with small zoos that have big zoo animals - the bigger animals mean fewer animals (Isle of Wight Zoo has a similar feel).
Very enjoyable though.
I'm using the process of sorting the photos to collect my thoughts on the zoos, so the Shepreth and Hamerton reviews will follow once I've uploaded the photos. In the meantime - feel free to comment on/question/abuse the above review!
After a lazy Good Friday, a very sociable Blackbrook visit on Saturday and a family day on Easter Sunday, I was sitting, replete with chocolate eggs, and wondering what I should do on Monday – and feeling in need of an expedition. I’d been meaning to do a day of Linton Zoo and Shepreth Wildlife Park for some time (less than 30min drive apart, these two seemed a natural pairing for a day out). One of the things that almost held me back is that I’d have to drive straight past Hamerton just before getting there, and the species line-up there would always be a strong temptation! So I decided I would head to Linton (the furthest from home) first thing and see how time went for me.
When I visit zoos in my own I am terminally unable to walk slowly between exhibits (and I generally browse rather than stop for lunch), so I tend to get around them quickly. As it happened, the three small collections filled my day out very nicely.
For the record, this was my first visit to both Linton and Shepreth; Hamerton I have visited a few times before.
So, from the top…
Linton Zoo
A very pleasant site in what is clearly an overgrown back garden (with the house it belongs to plainly visible at the back of the giant tortoise paddock). The general atmosphere is very pleasant, though the place is definitely on the basic side.
Zoologically, there are certain clear specialities – big cats, lemurs and tortoises stand out. The cats are (generic) lions, Amur Tigers, a generic Leopard, Snow Leopards and an unsurprisingly invisible Clouded Leopard. The lions and tigers have decent enough grassy paddocks, the various leopard exhibits are rather less impressive – basic and not-especially large cages (although at least one is in the process of being completely rebuilt). The concrete porcupine exhibit is a little grim, but there is a pair of nice outdoor turtle exhibits that are much better.
The major ‘species highlights’ are amongst the lemurs – White-collared Lemurs and Western Grey Gentle Lemurs. The main lemur complex is probably the zoo’s best exhibit (although the very spacious paddock for Hartmann’s Mountain Zebras was also very nice to see), with small cages for each species backing onto a large open exhibit.
There are quite a lot of rather small aviaries, but again some are undergoing improvements at the moment. The best aviaries are the larger ones - one with ibis (Sacred and Hadada), egrets and Hammerkops, another with Trumpeter and Southern Ground Hornbills mixed with Green Turacos and another with the very nice Hornbills. There is also an open-topped exhibit for Rueppel’s Griffon Vultures.
The place does the old trick of Chester’s from years ago – publish a regular newsletter and stick a map on the back so you can sell it as a guide. Not a bad plan with such a small collection.
The zoo is absolutely obsessed with telling you the individual names of the animals, something I tend to be rather indifferent towards. I don’t really need to know the names of the Toco Toucans or the Giant Tortoises, but I suppose it’s nice that that’s there if that’s your bag. The two separate pairs of lions are labelled on the map with which pair is where – this strikes me as odd as I don’t see why a first-time visitor would care which lions were where to the point of needing to know before getting to the exhibit – surely a sign on the actual exhibit would be enough? The only people I could imagine wanting to go straight to a particular pair would be the regular visitor who knew the animals well – but surely they would know which exhibit had which pair?
There are a few more random comments on the photos I’ve uploaded.
Overall, a very pleasant couple of hours but the place had that nagging feeling of being slightly insubstantial that sometimes comes with small zoos that have big zoo animals - the bigger animals mean fewer animals (Isle of Wight Zoo has a similar feel).
Very enjoyable though.
I'm using the process of sorting the photos to collect my thoughts on the zoos, so the Shepreth and Hamerton reviews will follow once I've uploaded the photos. In the meantime - feel free to comment on/question/abuse the above review!
