Round Britain ( sort of ) Zoo tour

And now here is the , er , rest of Uk list !!

Any collection underlined is a definite visit , anything left plain is a planned-for visit and a question mark is a questionable ( depending on time/money/travel) or unsure visit ...
Comments eagerly awaited :)

Africa Alive
Amazon World ?
Amazonia Zoo
Arundel ( WWT)
Auchingarrich ??
Axe Valley
Banham
Battersea Park ?
Beale Park
Belfast ??? ( Would love to go but still trying to sort out the logistics )
Bentley
Birdland
Birdworld
BNC
Blackbrook
Blackpool
Blair Drummond ??
Blue Planet ??
Bristol
British Wildlife Centre
Calderglen ??
Camperdown ??
Chessington ?? ( generally don`t want to do the mixed parks but willing to be persuaded otherwise ... )
Chester
Chestnut Centre
Colchester
Combe Martin ?
Cotswold Wildlife
Crocodiles of the World
Curraghs ??? ( once again a logistics doubtful)
Dartmoor
The Deep ???
Desford
Drayton manor ???? ( mixed park again )
Drusillas
Dudley
Durrell ??? ( Logistics again but still looking into it - have visited before but about 15 years ago )
Eagle Heights ??????
Edinburgh ? ( still not sure but do want to get there ...)
Escot
Exmoor
Filey bird garden ?
Flamingo Land ???
Gentleshaw ?
Hamerton
Highland WP? ( as per Edinburgh ... working on it !! )
Howletts
Isle of Wight Zoo ???
Knowsley
Lakeland Wildlife Oasis ?
Leeds Castle
Linton
Living Coasts
Living Rainforest ?
London ( Regent`s Park)
Longleat
Lotherton Hall
Martin Mere (WWT)
Marwell
Monkey Sanctuary Looe
Monkey World
Newent ( National Birds of Prey centre or whatever it is now ... )
New Forest Otter Owl and Wildlife park ?
Newquay
Noah`s Ark ( !!! plenty of reasons NOT to visit I am well aware but feel I should at least go and see it as it`s not exactly far away ....)
The Otter Trust
Owl and Monkey haven ?
Paignton
Paradise Park (Hayle)
Paradise Wildlife Park
The Parrot Zoo
Paultons Park
Pensthorpe
Porfell
Port Lympne
Prinknash
RSCC ( keeping my fingers crossed ...)
Screech Owl Sanctuary
Shaldon
Shepreth
Shorelands
Slimbridge
South Lakes ( Yes I know ... and still not decided )
Thrigby
Tilgate
Trentham Monkey Forest
Tropical Wings
Tropical World ( Roundhay Park )
Tropiquaria
Trotters
Twycross
Waddesdon Manor
West Mids Safari park
Whipsnade
Wildwood ?
Wingham?
Woburn - Deer and Safari Parks
Yorkshire Wildlife park

There are a few other possibilities plus a few museums I want to add to the list ( Tring/Horniman for sure )

Any comments , suggestions gratefully received ( and indeed if anything has closed or is likely to ... or more optimistically if anything is going to open this year then please let me know ) .
Thanks
 
You have a couple of collections question marked that could be visited on the same day as collections you intend to visist. Wingham paired with Howletts, and Combe Martin (I haven't visited.) with Exmoor.
 
You could certainly do Dudley and BNC together in the same day,and in fact I would say that BNC is more worth a visit than Dudley!!
 
Some of the question marked collections are definitely possible it`s all down to timing and priority I suppose ( and I suspect things may change once I`m underway so it`ll be good to have a few options available ) . I was certainly planning to combine Dudley with the BNC - the more I hear about BNC the more interested I am !!
En route to Exmoor I had Tropiquaria earmarked for a visit with Combe Martin as a possible stop depending on timing and where I end up staying ( or not as the case may be ... could make Exmoor and back home in a day if I had to ...)
 
I can't see any glaring ommissions from your underlined list. I would suggest New Forest Wildlife Park might be worth a visit if you are ommiting other similar type collections from your list such as British Nature Centre & Wildwood. Though i notice Chestnut Centre is underlined, which from memory probably has less species than its sister park. The problem would be what to combine it with, as it would only be a half day- i've been to the New Forest Reptile Centre, NFWP & Marwell on the same day, but as a non-regular Marwell visitor you would want a full day there. Perhaps it could be combined with Paultons Park( somewhere i've never been, but wouldn't warrant a full day, unless you're into Peppa Pig!)
 
If I was going to suggest an ommission from the underlined list (i now need to sit back & wait for a torrent of abuse!) it would have to be Longleat. As I've said elsewhere, it is very overpriced, it offers nothing i can think of that you wont see several times elsewhere and much of it resembles a kids theme park! Just my opinion though & i expect I wont go back after my 2012 visit unless they bring in some rarities I can't see elsewhere.
 
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zoogiraffe said:
You could certainly do Dudley and BNC together in the same day,and in fact I would say that BNC is more worth a visit than Dudley!!
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I agree with both parts of that sentence. Both are easily doable in one day by (dreaded) public transport! With your own transport I imagine it's even easier.
 
Well,for obvious reasons,ive pretty much done the above described tour in its entirety. I could write quite a travelogue on the experiences involved,never mind the actual IZES guide.As if the prospect isn't challenge enough by car, I doubt that it could be done by public transport without taxis.There is almost too much to comment on,but I will say that the centre of Scotland can be done very quickly due to the road/motorway network-even the Highland Wildlife Park doesn't take too long(2 hrs from Dundee) and is well worth the effort(in fact im making my first ever winter visit this week,which should be interesting).Were you a non-driver I would even suggest you cancel the whole thing and do Germany where almost everywhere is served by public transport-added to which it cost me a mere £5O return to go to Berlin by air just before Christmas-good luck anyway!
 
Some really good choices on your priority list - I'm especially pleased to see Exmoor and Hamerton on there. Two very underrated but excellent collections which I hope you enjoy visiting.

If you can get to the Isle of Wight, I'd strongly recommend it as Amazon World is great for rarities and you can easily get around that and the Isle of Wight Zoo in a day; I once did both and Flamingo Park in a day, and I'm not usually keen on doing multiple collections in a day.

I'd also say that the New Forest Wildlife Park is well worth a look if you like British wildlife, and that Yorkshire Wildlife Park is also excellent; not as many rarities as some zoos, but a very impressive place overall and definitely 'one to watch'.
 
Sand Cat said:
If you can get to the Isle of Wight, I'd strongly recommend it as Amazon World is great for rarities and you can easily get around that and the Isle of Wight Zoo in a day; I once did both and Flamingo Park in a day, and I'm not usually keen on doing multiple collections in a day.
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Whilst I chose to do Amazon World and Owl & Monkey Haven in the one day - given the number of unusual species at OMH as opposed to IOW Zoo, it was something of a no-brainer.
 
Ok folks - has been completely quiet re my tour for a while now as there`s been a whole load of stuff that life has thrown my way recently ... however the final ( I hope !!) plan is to do the whole thing in small chunks instead of all in one go as my time off has now got to be split up throughout the year .
Aiming as far as humanly possible to miss school holidays and already booked the South West leg ( Tropiquaria-Exmoor-Coombe Martin overnight in Barnstaple , drive down to Hayle - Newquay- poss Screech Owl Sanctuary overnight with friends in Liskeard , following day Porfell-Monkey Sanctuary-Dartmoor drive to Newton Abbot poss either Shaldon or Living Coasts if time that day , overnight Newton Abbot Paignton-Shaldon/Living Coasts then wearily back home to Wales ...)
Before all that ( which is going to be 12th-15th May ) I am off to London tomorrow Tuesday 8th ( which I gather is National Zoo Lover`s Day or is that just an American thing ?)
Haven`t been to ZSL for around 20 years so I know there`ll be lots to surprise and disappoint ( I could spend most of a day in the Clore back then ...) but felt I ought to kick off the whole adventure by a visit to London - not necessarily for reasons of stature but more as a nod to visits of yesteryear and it seemed like a suitable place to start ...
Not sure if I need to start a new thread for the actual visits but knowing me and the way I tend to ramble on given half a chance I think it might be a good idea ...
Also found a couple of places to add to my full list - firstly The Reptile Zoo Newquay in Wales ( can do that one as a detour on my way up North sometime ) and the Domestic Fowl Trust in Honeybourne now appear to have some less domestic animals ( well they have Pardine Genets so that`ll do me !! ) ... wish me luck for tomorrow will report back soon
:D
p.s had wondered about getting a Tshirt printed up with some kind of Zoo Tour design but not sure if that`s a bit TOO geeky ... ahem
 
If 'washington' means the zoo over here in the US, there sre FAR better zoos than that one. San Diego, CA, Brookfield zoo Chicsgo...
 
Er , nope , Washington refers to one of the WWT ( Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust ) places up near Newcastle in the North east of England ... would love to take in some American collections but this is a stay at home tour !!
;):D
 
Potamogale said:
Ok folks - has been completely quiet re my tour for a while now as there`s been a whole load of stuff that life has thrown my way recently ... however the final ( I hope !!) plan is to do the whole thing in small chunks instead of all in one go as my time off has now got to be split up throughout the year .
Aiming as far as humanly possible to miss school holidays and already booked the South West leg ( Tropiquaria-Exmoor-Coombe Martin overnight in Barnstaple , drive down to Hayle - Newquay- poss Screech Owl Sanctuary overnight with friends in Liskeard , following day Porfell-Monkey Sanctuary-Dartmoor drive to Newton Abbot poss either Shaldon or Living Coasts if time that day , overnight Newton Abbot Paignton-Shaldon/Living Coasts then wearily back home to Wales ...)
Before all that ( which is going to be 12th-15th May ) I am off to London tomorrow Tuesday 8th ( which I gather is National Zoo Lover`s Day or is that just an American thing ?)
Haven`t been to ZSL for around 20 years so I know there`ll be lots to surprise and disappoint ( I could spend most of a day in the Clore back then ...) but felt I ought to kick off the whole adventure by a visit to London - not necessarily for reasons of stature but more as a nod to visits of yesteryear and it seemed like a suitable place to start ...
Not sure if I need to start a new thread for the actual visits but knowing me and the way I tend to ramble on given half a chance I think it might be a good idea ...
Also found a couple of places to add to my full list - firstly The Reptile Zoo Newquay in Wales ( can do that one as a detour on my way up North sometime ) and the Domestic Fowl Trust in Honeybourne now appear to have some less domestic animals ( well they have Pardine Genets so that`ll do me !! ) ... wish me luck for tomorrow will report back soon
:D
p.s had wondered about getting a Tshirt printed up with some kind of Zoo Tour design but not sure if that`s a bit TOO geeky ... ahem
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You should check out the 2014 UK Zoo Chat Challenge.:)

With the extensiveness of your itinerary I'm sure you'd be in the running (dependent on how quick you end up visiting certain places -and how quick others visit places too).
 
Update - and sincere apologies for the lateness of this posting but my activities have been somewhat curtailed thus far for various reasons beyond my control plus I have only just finished deciphering my notes !! :confused:
While I am still hoping to get round as many collections as possible within a year I have extended the timescale a bit so that I`m measuring it from my first proper visit this year ( 8th April ZSL ) so the 12 months takes me up till 8th April 2015 ...

Visits so far -

ZSL Regent`s Park ( seemed an appropriate place to kick off ) 8/4/2014
Colwyn bay - 21/4/2014
Tropiquaria - 12/5/2014
Exmoor - 12/5/2014
Paradise Park ( Hayle ) - 13/5/2014
Newquay - 13/5/2014
Dartmoor - 14/5/2014
Shaldon - 14/5/2014
Living Coasts - 14/5/2014
Paignton - 15/5/2014
Lakeland Wildlife Oasis - 21/5/2014
Blackpool - 22/5/2014

Had hoped to be further along at this point but life has a habit of getting in the way !!
Good news is I now have ALL of September to play with so am currently researching/planning routes/places to stay etc etc ...

So far 3 collections have fallen by the wayside - Coombe Martin , Porfell and The Monkey Sanctuary ... first was due to time constraint , second due to the closure of Porfell on the day I intended to visit in memory of John Palmer and the last was due to the nasty coach crash on one of the roads leading to Looe ( that and the late opening time of the monkey sanctuary ( 11 am ) which I had not factored into the equation beforehand ) . Anyhow it is not beyond the realms of possibility that I might be able to get to those collections at a later date if I`m not completely Zoo`d out by then !!

While I am NO photographer I do have some interesting ( I think ) shots that I shall start to post today in the relevant galleries .

Also will start the mammoth task of posting my reviews/impressions soon
( think the enormity of this task is only just hitting home - but have to say I`ve enjoyed every second so far and am really looking forward to the next expeditions in September ... hoping to get a few awaydays in over the summer as well ).

About to go and post my primate list o the 2014 Zoochat challenge also ...
then it`s off to work !!
:D
:cool:
 
As I was having laptop and broadband problems around the start of the year I have only just discovered this thread - good luck with your travels (it's impossible to be zoo'd out!! At least I think so). Were you not tempted by Wingz as part of your Cornish itinerary? It could have replaced Porfell. Of course I am prejudiced in its favour as it is full of parrots - I spend its entire opening hours there. I notice you have three question marks against Flamingo Land and one against Filey Bird Garden. Flamingo Land is expensive in the season (£35) which is obviously when you would be visiting. I am pleased I purchased a cut-price season ticket at the New Year - it covers the season itself and winter opening. Although I spend around 4 1/2 hours a time at Filey (hopefully I shall be there tomorrow) it is easy enough to see everything in less than an hour. If you are going to Filey you could pop to Sewerby, only 11 or 12 miles away and the area's longest established zoo (plus my second home!), on the same day - the collection is much bigger than Filey's, and if you decided to add another birds of prey centre there is Bridlington Birds of Prey and Animal Park too (its collection is smaller than Filey's really). If you then continued south there is the Animal Education Centre in Hull plus aviaries in other parks in the city (presumably you will not want to visit The Deep - I never have). I did not check if you had The Jungle Zoo and Mablethorpe on your list, but popping over the Humber Bridge....!!

P.S. Just checked - you didn't! Also noticed you did not have the Tropical Butterfly House, Wildlife and Falconry Centre near Sheffield on your list. It is an excellent small zoo and fairly near Yorkshire Wildlife Park.....as is Wetlands Wildlife Park of course.
 
Thanks for all that Parrotsandrew ... will try to factor some ( if not all ) of those into my equations ... had already earmarked Filey and Sewerby as places to visit on my latest set of plans ( they seem to change almost daily ) ... am annoyed I missed Wingz but then again it`s not out of the question that I shall head down that way again before the year is out ...
:D
 
My pleasure. Your plans have reminded me of a map of Great Britain I drew around 1980 with a cycling route taking in a number of collections. If I just reach my copy of "Wildlife in Britain" (my favourite Christmas present in 1976) it should be in there. I'll just have to move a little table.....Oh there are two versions of the map! Well they are not maps as such just line drawings, one with 44 collections and one with 23 - both start at Sewerby and the less collections one actually included a jaunt to Jersey. There are a few places no longer with us on them - Heathfield, Bognor Regis, Poole, Thorney, Southam etc. Sorry to intrude on your very current and actually happening thread.
 
Parrotsandrew said:
If I just reach my copy of "Wildlife in Britain" (my favourite Christmas present in 1976) it should be in there. I'll just have to move a little table.....Oh there are two versions of the map!
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This sounds like the Allotment/Gardening expert on the Friday Jeremy Vine show- complete with sound effects of what he is doing... do you have sound effects too?:D
 
Pertinax said:
This sounds like the Allotment/Gardening expert on the Friday Jeremy Vine show- complete with sound effects of what he is doing... do you have sound effects too?:D
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I'm not that technological! I don't think moving the little table made much noise anyway. Although it has three levels (maybe it's not called a table) there is not much on it - a VHS (of course) recorder plus some tapes for it, some stationery and the best thing I have ever purchased from the gift shop at Flamingo Land - a very nice figurine of an Asiatic Elephant (unfortunately I keep breaking off its tail - cue the superglue).
 
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