Sorry this has taken so long, but work has been quite mentally-taxing since getting back from Devon.
Won’t attempt full reviews for everywhere, but here are some of my thoughts from each zoo
Paignton Zoo
So good we went twice! The zoo have a handy ‘return within six months’ ticket that you can purchase for an extra £7.50 on top of your day ticket, you just have to purchase before you leave on your fist day. We visited on the Sunday and went back for a return visit on the Thursday. We got the combined ticket with Living Coasts for the trip there later in the week.
The main highlight here was, of course, Bruce the Echidna
Thanks to all your advice here I managed to get great views of him on both trips, without any other visitors around, he was my own personal echidna!
Absolutely loved the Desert House, it was just pretty much perfect in my mind. Could have spent half the day in there. Further cementing my love of the Desert House, on the second day one of the Tinamou ran right up to me and decided it was going to investigate my jeans, pecking them repeatedly, wandering off, then running back for round two
Really liked the Barbary Sheep/West Caucasian Tur exhibit, plus as it is out of the way it was a nice and peaceful place to quietly watch the animals. Second visit was lucky enough to see all the Turs and the Sheep up on the cliffs, something I really, really wanted to see, as it was something I’d never seen before except on the TV. First Takins too, they were another highlight, although I did feel they could do with a better enclosure
Was nicely impressed with Monkey Heights. Although it could do with more planting, I really liked the overall feel of the house, plus all the supporting enclosures. The monkeys were all active and seemed very content.
I can see why so many have affection for Baboon Rock, and I was quite taken by it too, just thought it could do with more natural substrate
I did feel somewhat sorry for Duchess the African Elephant, but the signage explained well why she was there on her own, and why moving her might not be in her best interests. She was the first African Elephant I’ve seen (might have seen them when younger, but really don’t remember), made a comparison to the Asian Elephants I’m more familiar with from Whipsnade
If anything there was so much that was just great about Paignton Zoo, too much for me to cover here. It has seriously gone right up there on my favourite zoo list, very close to rivalling London for my undivided affections!
Food: We ate at the main zoo restaurant on both days. The food was basic pie-and-chips style, but all local produce and with zero palm oil (My mum is now reading labels in supermarkets, saying that if a zoo can go palm oil free, so can she)
Living Coasts
Loved the aviary section, especially the Waders Aviary, spent so long in there! One thing I hadn’t really thought of when planning a trip in April was that it was perfect timing for watching courtship behaviour, as the Ruffs were displaying (although not yet in full display plumage).
As Brum had suggested, the aviary section was much better than the aquarium section, which we did rush a little (we were getting hungry). Made friends with an octopus on the way through, which was the highlight for me.
As an aside, on my last visit to Whipsnade, watching the Eiders there, I realised I have managed to see all three Eider species this year – the Common at Whipsnade, and the Spectacled and King at Living Coasts (although the King Eider was sleeping and avoiding being well seen)
I also managed to meet another Zoochatter in it’s natural habitat; when the person in front of you at the shop is buying a stack of guidebooks and postcards, it is a safe bet that they are a member here. Being a member here really has given me some confidence (something I generally lack around people, especially strangers), and before I knew it I said hi and we had a nice chat
Food: again, we ate at Living Coasts, and I thought the food there was much better than at Paignton Zoo. As the restaurant is open to non-zoo visitors, we ate there again a few days later
Shaldon Zoo
Small but perfectly formed
The nocturnal house was a particular highlight, but then again, I do love nocturnal houses. Have a particular fondness for Lorids, although only got to see the Bengals, but they are my favourites
Saw the Margay feeding, such lovely little cats. The intern who gave the talk was very informative.
I love how much conservation work this little zoo is involved with. For such a small zoo they must have a big impact!
The Other Lorid species and the Owston’s Palm Civets were no-shows on my visit. When we asked, we were told the female Civet had recently had surgery, so had been given access to an off-show nest box, and the male had followed her for company; just the other week, I found out the reason for the female’s surgery on the zoo’s facebook, the female had had a caesarean section and the keepers are now hand rearing the kit
Food: We looked at the café in the carpark, but after asking the lady at Shaldon’s entry desk for local eating places, she suggested the London Inn down in Shaldon village. It was a 10 minute walk, back into the village, right on the village green. It was a lovely local pub, that did excellent main meals for £4.95. It was quite busy, and we were lucky to get a table, it is a very popular place, but I highly recommend it. You can walk there for lunch and still be back at Shaldon Zoo in time for the Margey/Civet feed.
Torquay Museum
Just because we went there too. It isn’t very large, and does charge and entrance fee (I got in free with my Museums Association card). The natural history gallery contains the usual selection of native species, in a gallery that doesn’t look like it has been revamped since at least the 1980s. The geology section has been refurbished much more recently, and is worth seeing if just for the fake bookshelves used to illustrate geological stratigraphy – many of the books have geology-inspired punny titles, truly amusing for the visiting geologist (I have a degree in geology, I found them hilarious!
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They also currently have a little temporary exhibition about cats, with a few taxidermies and some nice cat-inspired cultural objects. There is also a very new and quite nice Ice Age gallery, with some lovely fossils of local ice age fauna
