Had a very nice trip today, I have to say, the Zoo is looking very smart and progressing very nicely. The new entrance is fantastic and almost finished. You could almost forget you're in Dudley.
The ring-tailed lemur family and the grey kangaroos boys looked very happy in their new homes. It was great to see the kangaroos with space, grazing and sunshine.
The sealions seemed to be settling in well too, though why Oba gets the bigger pool all to himself is beyond me. Still, they ought to be mixed pretty soon, right?
The Reptile house is almost complete, only one enclosure that isn't full and it looks like they are working on it.
A nice surprise with the bats, they have a lot more space than I though. Maybe they've built and extension since I was there, or maybe I just didn't notice but their is another "aviary" of similar size to the main one behind a wall that they access via a tunnel overhead. Much more space, and that area won't get light shining on it when someone leaves the building.
For once, the red squirrels were up and about. Also, they have done some repairs on the stairs that lead up from the tapirs/capybara and a badger walked through the wet concrete. There is a crystal clear pair of footprints from the front and back feet.
The one downside, I harp on about Chester not having any marsupials, but Dudley's mammal collection is, aside from the kangaroos and wallabies, entirely Boreoeutherian. No Afrotheres and no Xenarthrans.