Birmingham Nature Centre Birmingham Nature Centre News 2014

Brum

Brum

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
A new thread for the new year.

First of all, some of this information may be a little dated as I haven't visited since about September so if anyone already knows these facts I apologise.

I visited on Friday (24/01) and noticed the following changes; the rhea paddock has had some landscaping done recently and now contains some small trees, it already looks far less barren and they haven't even grown in yet.
The tenrecs are now in Moonlight according to the signage but I didn't actually see any, in fact other than the douroucouli and a jumping rat I didn't see anything despite several visits to the building.
The Utila Island iguana is looking mighty impressive now and was posing quite nicely by the glass in the reptile house. Also in the reptile house are two San Francisco garter snakes, they may not be a new addition but I don't recall seeing them previously.
The new South American exhibit is now almost complete and looks like it will be a fantastic first exhibit, better than the pygmy goats to say the least.
The binturong looked fantastic in its new house, shame it did what most small carnivores do and spent my entire visit in plain view but asleep with its back to the glass... No decent pictures were forthcoming unfortunately! (Unless anyone particularly wants to see a binturongs backside!)
Finally both ocelots were quite active and the female (I assume?) appeared very interested in the next door enclosure, constantly running up to the mesh divider and running away again. Fingers crossed for this encouraging sign to lead to ocelot kittens in the near future.

Pretty sure that's it from my visit, any questions then feel free to ask! :)
 
What species will be in the South American enclosure?
 
I'm not 100% sure but it is a monkey, not a small one either by the looks of things. I suppose it would be suitable for coati as well, if I took any decent pictures then I'll upload them and you can see what I mean. It's a typical hot-wired small paddock.
 
Brum said:
The binturong looked fantastic in its new house, shame it did what most small carnivores do and spent my entire visit in plain view but asleep with its back to the glass... No decent pictures were forthcoming unfortunately! (Unless anyone particularly wants to see a binturongs backside!)

QUOTE]

I'm very happy to see a binturong from any angle !
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SHAVINGTONZOO said:
Brum said:
The binturong looked fantastic in its new house, shame it did what most small carnivores do and spent my entire visit in plain view but asleep with its back to the glass... No decent pictures were forthcoming unfortunately! (Unless anyone particularly wants to see a binturongs backside!)

QUOTE]

I'm very happy to see a binturong from any angle !
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Really? Well when I get round to uploading my photo's then I'll see what I can do! :p ;)
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I spent many happy hours watching the Chester pair of Binturongs 30 years ago ( !! ) and they are possibly my favourite mammal.
 
From 12th April, the collection is to be renamed the Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park to draw more attention to the work it does with endangered species from across the world.

Birmingham Nature Centre to be relaunched - Birmingham Mail

I very much hope this move leads to greater success for the collection, of which I am rather fond :) for such a relatively small collection it has a lot of great features.
 
TeaLovingDave said:
From 12th April, the collection is to be renamed the Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park to draw more attention to the work it does with endangered species from across the world.

Birmingham Nature Centre to be relaunched - Birmingham Mail

I very much hope this move leads to greater success for the collection, of which I am rather fond :) for such a relatively small collection it has a lot of great features.
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Nice that it's getting a relaunch, not so sure about the name change though. I'm going to be one of those people who sticks with the original name; some things run deep! :p
 
As name changes go, it is certainly better than some - I particularly refer to the name Africa Alive! which has been given to Suffolk Wildlife Park :p Any location which includes an exclamation mark as part of the official name is going too far, methinks.....
 
TeaLovingDave said:
As name changes go, it is certainly better than some - I particularly refer to the name Africa Alive! which has been given to Suffolk Wildlife Park :p Any location which includes an exclamation mark as part of the official name is going too far, methinks.....
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I wholeheartedly agree, AA! is definitely a step too far, I may forgive the exclamation mark if they did focus entirely on African species because that would be a pretty bold statement! :p
 
I prefer the new name, actually. 'Nature Centre' is a bit twee and hasn't really summed the place up well for a good few years (since it stopped being 'domestic and a few European wild species' and started being 'general small zoo').
 
I agree that the old name was a bit twee but the new name is a bit of a mouthful to say the least. Also 'park' suggests a larger out of town establishment. If only there was a short, easy word for a collection of animals held for educational and conservation reasons. Hmmm....
 
Shirokuma said:
I agree that the old name was a bit twee but the new name is a bit of a mouthful to say the least. Also 'park' suggests a larger out of town establishment. If only there was a short, easy word for a collection of animals held for educational and conservation reasons. Hmmm....
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Yes, I think we all know what many of us on here would've chosen given the choice! :D
 
Maguari said:
Yes, I think we all know what many of us on here would've chosen given the choice! :D
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I agree that the previous name was a bit outdated* but the new name is even more of a mouthful. Birmingham Zoo just seems to roll off the tongue in comparison! :)


*I still like the old name for sentimental reasons.
 
I'm a bit worried about the relaunch; when they break the bottle of champagne over its bows, will the former BNC slide down the road onto the old Pebble Mill site?

Alan
 
Not sure if this info is confidential, but hopefully not. My mum works for the council (who still own BNC) and they are saying that they will be closing the centre for a while and are requesting all council staff to volunteer a day to spend refurbing the centre. Nothing I've seen publically has suggested any close or a change beyond the name.
Has anyone seen anything about further changes?
 
I visited today and was pleasantly surprised to see two black-faced spider monkeys in the ruffed lemur cage, I assume they will be moving into their new exhibit soon.
In other news it appears that every flat surface is being painted and I saw a lot of activity from staff with regards to moving and placing new signage. Also saw Saguinus but he looked very busy (as did all staff) so didn't bother hassling anyone! ;)
The armadillo, loris and mouse lemurs were all extremely hyperactive, so much so that I could not manage a single decent shot of any of them. The tenrecs still managed to elude me though despite spending quite a bit of time hunting around their enclosure! :(
There is now an agouti in the emperor tamarin outdoor enclosure, not sure how long it's been in there but there was still a travel crate against the wall.
They have also put a new sign on the entrance with the new name on it.

Photos to follow later! :D
 
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