Beale Park Beale Wildlife Park 2024

NMM said:
Notes and thoughts from a visit.

There must have been something else going on somewhere on the Beale Estate. The car park was absolutely rammed. I had to park in the overflow car park, which I have never had to do before. There was hardly anybody in the wildlife park though.

  • It looks like they are going to do something with the Human Nature building.
    • The sulcata tortoises have moved to the newly built enclosure next to the tapir.
      • Work has already started on the outdoor section of their old enclosure.
    • It appears animals are being moved out of Human Nature.
      • The rat and toad enclosures are now empty in addition to the giant African land snail vivarium and old sulcata tortoise enclosure.
      • The Java sparrows have gone. The red footed tortoises that they shared their enclosure with are still there though.
  • There have been some other departures.
    • The snowy owls have gone and their enclosure has been dismantled.
    • The duprasi and Brazilian guinea pigs have gone from the nocturnal house.
      • Their enclosures have been joined back together to be a single enclosure again as it was when it held slender loris.
      • To backfill the cuscus has moved into this enclosure and the armadillos have moved to where the cuscus used to be. The macaws (which used to share with the armadillos) now have their enclosure to themselves.
  • New wallaby enclosure
    • It is a move rather than building a new one. They are now in the paddock next to the Cameroon sheep which I believe was previously one of the shetland pony paddocks.
    • There are signs up about a joey being born. I didn't see it though. Their new paddock is quite overgrown so it would be easy to hide.
    • The emus are still in the paddock the wallabies moved from.
  • A couple of observations of animal behaviour.
    • After showers the turkey vultures would perch high up and stretch their wings out as far as they could. It looked quite impressive.
    • The binturongs were a lot more active than normal today. I don't know if that was anything to do with the weather or not.
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Sounds a good visit. I really enjoy watching the vultures stretching and bathing in the rain.

The Java sparrows were in the large shared aviary opposite the vultures (were there and signed on my last visit but that's a little while ago as mentioned above) so perhaps they have moved back or it was another group / a smaller group due to breeding etc. Have they gone from both places?

Surprised the owl aviary was demolished and not going to be used for something else as it was quite new, but perhaps something else is going in there.

Good news it will be easier to see the wallabies again.
 
dillotest0 said:
Slow news this year?
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Does appear to be so in comparison to the previous couple of years.

The only new development so far this year is the new enclosure for the sulcata tortoises. In terms of new species squirrel monkeys and leaf cutter ants have been added. Several species also appear to have left the park.

However, if they are going to be redeveloping the building currently known as Human Nature that would be major development. Several exhibits in the building have been emptied and work has started on the outdoor part of the old sulcata tortoise enclosure (which was part of Human Nature).
 
Visited today. There is a lot going on. There have been a lot of moves since my last visit nearly a couple of months ago. I ended up taking some notes today to keep on top of everything. It gets a bit complicated in places.
  • The Burmese python and red footed tortoises are swapping enclosures.
    • The python has moved and the enclosure in Human Nature has been adapted.
    • The old python shed has the sign for the tortoises but they haven't moved yet.
    • The red footed tortoises are currently in what used to be the outdoor section of the sulcata tortoise enclosure. The signs on this enclosure though are now for Chacoan mara,
    • I presume this will be the mara that were mixed with the timneh parrot. The mara and the signs have gone from that enclosure.
    • I assume that in the meantime all the Chacoan mara are in the other enclosure near the tapir.
  • On the subject of the old sulcata tortoise enclosure, the indoor section has been merged with the former rat enclosure in Human Nature to create a new exhibit for the rock hyrax and dwarf mongoose. The old hyrax and dwarf mongoose enclosure has a sign saying it is empty and that a new species will be arriving soon.
  • New enclosures are being built between the Scottish wildcats and wild boar. They are taking some space from the wild boar enclosure. These look like they will either be aviaries or for a small climbing animal.
  • The grassy area near the macaws, genets, burrowing owls and kookaburras has been fenced off and turned into a new exhibit for the emus. The former wallaby and emu paddock that could only easily be seen from the train now appears to be empty,
  • A new paddock has been created by fencing off an area next to the train line. The kunekune pigs have moved here.
    • The reindeer have moved to the kunekune pigs former paddock.
    • The old reindeer paddock now holds a single guanaco. Is this separating the male from the rest of the group? This is next door to the guanaco paddock.
  • The tayra enclosure has had some work done. The plants have been cut back and new items for climbing and enrichment have been added.
  • Looks like some work is being done on the tapir enclosure. It looks like a wooden frame for something is being constructed. Also the indoor pool had been drained.
 
Notes from a visit.
  • The moves that were in progress during my last visit are now complete.
    • The red footed tortoises are where the Burmese python used to be.
    • There are now Chacoan mara in the outdoor section of the old sulcata tortoise enclosure.
      • There are still two Chacoan mara enclosures. The recently announced baby is in the other one by the tapirs. I did see the baby.
  • The new enclosure between the Scottish wild cats and wild boar is an aviary for the snowy owls. They are back on show.
  • The former banded mongoose enclosure has been merged into the neighbouring prairie dog exhibit.
  • The ringed teals and white faced whistling ducks have moved from the turkey vulture aviary to the mixed aviary opposite the tayras. The signs haven't been updated yet but I saw both species in the mixed aviary.
    • Budgerigars have also been added to the mixed aviary.
  • The fencing for the otter exhibit has been replaced to add more viewing windows.
  • A fence has been put up in the middle of the porcupine exhibit dividing it in two.
  • Macleay's spectre stick insects are now in the vivarium in Human Nature that used to hold giant African land snails.
  • The arapawa goats appear to have left. There were Cameroon (in addition to their main paddock) and valais blacknosed sheep in their paddock. There were no signs for them though.
  • The former reindeer paddock currently appears to be used as a holding paddock. There are no signs and today there was a single wallaby there.
 
NMM said:
The former reindeer paddock currently appears to be used as a holding paddock. There are no signs and today there was a single wallaby there.
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What I wonder -
Now they have a proper herd as opposed to a pair, maybe the reindeer moved so that they have more space?
 
NMM said:
Notes from a visit.
  • The moves that were in progress during my last visit are now complete.
    • The red footed tortoises are where the Burmese python used to be.
    • There are now Chacoan mara in the outdoor section of the old sulcata tortoise enclosure.
      • There are still two Chacoan mara enclosures. The recently announced baby is in the other one by the tapirs. I did see the baby.
  • The new enclosure between the Scottish wild cats and wild boar is an aviary for the snowy owls. They are back on show.
  • The former banded mongoose enclosure has been merged into the neighbouring prairie dog exhibit.
  • The ringed teals and white faced whistling ducks have moved from the turkey vulture aviary to the mixed aviary opposite the tayras. The signs haven't been updated yet but I saw both species in the mixed aviary.
    • Budgerigars have also been added to the mixed aviary.
  • The fencing for the otter exhibit has been replaced to add more viewing windows.
  • A fence has been put up in the middle of the porcupine exhibit dividing it in two.
  • Macleay's spectre stick insects are now in the vivarium in Human Nature that used to hold giant African land snails.
  • The arapawa goats appear to have left. There were Cameroon (in addition to their main paddock) and valais blacknosed sheep in their paddock. There were no signs for them though.
  • The former reindeer paddock currently appears to be used as a holding paddock. There are no signs and today there was a single wallaby there.
Click to expand...

Have the banded mongoose gone altogether?
 
I don't ever recall a herd of reindeer. They have had more but not more than 3 or 4. I don't know what happened to them.
 
NMM said:
I don't ever recall a herd of reindeer. They have had more but not more than 3 or 4. I don't know what happened to them.
Click to expand...
That's what I was thinking of ... the two originals and the two/three from Bristol; that makes 4 or 5. A small herd but still a herd
 
Anyone know if the Twilight Zone is still open?
All of the animal profiles for relevant species of that bit [loris, cuscus, mouse-lemur, naked mole-rat] are gone from the website...
If it's open what's in there?
 
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