Aside from the penguins, this is possibly the first enclosure most visitors see at Marwell. It truly is hideous! That ugly, obtrusive fence, the 'looking down' quality, the lack of significant planting, the distant views of more fences - and now these mirrors! This whole area needs real thought. It's not exactly hard to present flamingos in an aesthetically pleasing way. But whenever i go to Marwell, I begin to feel depressed as I trudge up this path (long, straight, unlandscaped). I know money is tight right now, but even so...
Maybe some warmth. I don't know why people try to keep animals in places and conditions that are just not suitable. If they do breed we hear, "see they are happy". The Truth is unhappy animals will breed, it's one of the only natural things they can do under such unnatural conditions.
One of the main goals of the curator of the birds and herps is to get this enclosure netted over with proper public viewing, especially after the problems over the years of foxes getting in and flamingoes getting out its something he's desperate to sort out.
And they are shut inside a heated house overnight.
These mirrors were being put in place on thursday the 17th of march when i visited the park. the birds have a big area to live in but i have only ever seen them in this one spot
