Birmingham Nature Centre Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park 2025

Smaggledagle

Smaggledagle

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
On August 4th, the zoo announced that 3 more slender-tailed meerkats were born.

24K views · 567 reactions | Baby Meerkats! | NEW BABIES BORN! ☀ We are very happy to announce that three more Meerkat babies have been born at the Park and already started to explore their... | By Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park | Facebook

On September 12th, the zoo opened new exhibits for emerald tree boa and Savu python inside the Reptile House.

Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park

On September 14th, the zoo announced that 3 Asian small-clawed otters were born.

4.1K views · 295 reactions | ❗ New Otter Pups! ❗ Our baby Otters have started to explore their enclosure with the rest of the group and are now eating fish! | By Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park | Facebook

On April 16th*, 2025, it was announced that the zoo transferred a (0.1) Linne's two-toed sloth named Midnight to Colchester Zoo in Essex on March 12th.

https://www.colchesterzoologicalsoc...ploads/2025/04/March-Montly-Overview-2025.pdf

On June 6th, the zoo announced their (1.0) Nepalese red panda named Mo passed away at age 13.

Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park

* Date provided by @DesertRhino150 in the Colchester Zoo news 2025 thread (Page 7 Post #129).
 
Smaggledagle said:
On June 6th, the zoo announced their (1.0) Nepalese red panda named Mo passed away at age 13.
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Mo was a star of a Red Panda. He was a part of the first pair of Red Panda at Birmingham to successfully breed, alongside his former partner Amba. He had a total of four cubs, two of which (Mambo at Lille and Pan at Exmoor) have gone on to have their own offspring. He'll be missed by many.

Hopefully once a new male arrives the Park can have breeding success with current Female Aria.
 
A really great first visit to Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park yesterday.

Overall impressions:
  • I found the site to be quite the hidden gem with a really nice feel to just the general grounds and most if not all the enclosures were of high quality.
  • I felt the site could have benefitted with more bird species dotted throughout the park as they only hold four species (Greater Rhea, Eclectus Parrot, Edward's Pheasant & Sacred Ibis)
  • The reptile & nocturnal houses were both very pleasant with a nice range of taxa exhibited in each.
  • Although it was late July, the park was actually pretty quiet and was a stark contrast to the SeaLife centre I was to visit later in the day.
  • Very good value for money with it costing £8.50 for a student ticket.
 
Prochilodus246 said:
  • Although it was late July, the park was actually pretty quiet and was a stark contrast to the SeaLife centre I was to visit later in the day.
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I can’t help but wonder if a reluctance to use the word ‘zoo’ is a hindrance when it comes to attracting visitors and conveying what the place actually is. I’ve never been there but Birmingham appears to have a great little zoo and should probably embrace that.
 
Cobi said:
I can’t help but wonder if a reluctance to use the word ‘zoo’ is a hindrance when it comes to attracting visitors and conveying what the place actually is. I’ve never been there but Birmingham appears to have a great little zoo and should probably embrace that.
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It's interesting that you think the word 'zoo' might hinder its ability in attracting visitors as larger zoos such as Paignton have gone with a rebrand with the inclusion of "Environmental Park" after the original name
 
Prochilodus246 said:
It's interesting that you think the word 'zoo' might hinder its ability in attracting visitors as larger zoos such as Paignton have gone with a rebrand with the inclusion of "Environmental Park" after the original name
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I think it’s more that Cobi is questioning why they don’t use the word ‘zoo’ to say what they are and hopefully attract more visitors.

I would agree, as a previous visitor, that BWCP is a great little zoo and should probably celebrate itself as one.
 
polarbear said:
I think it’s more that Cobi is questioning why they don’t use the word ‘zoo’ to say what they are and hopefully attract more visitors.

I would agree, as a previous visitor, that BWCP is a great little zoo and should probably celebrate itself as one.
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Yes, my point is that they should call themselves a zoo as that is what they are.

A wildlife conservation park could be anything really, perhaps some kind of nature reserve rather than a zoo.
 
Cobi said:
Yes, my point is that they should call themselves a zoo as that is what they are.

A wildlife conservation park could be anything really, perhaps some kind of nature reserve rather than a zoo.
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Their name definitely put me off from visiting for quite a few years until I saw that they were actually a zoo and not a British / local wildlife centre, which the name conjures up. I was surprised to find a Komodo dragon there. I also wish I’d spent more time there, rather than moving onto Twycross for the afternoon.
 
Cobi said:
Yes, my point is that they should call themselves a zoo as that is what they are.

A wildlife conservation park could be anything really, perhaps some kind of nature reserve rather than a zoo.
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Pretty sure this is the exact issue Jersey Zoo had back when it was the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, and was part of what resulted in them changing their name back.
 
Prochilodus246 said:
It's interesting that you think the word 'zoo' might hinder its ability in attracting visitors as larger zoos such as Paignton have gone with a rebrand with the inclusion of "Environmental Park" after the original name
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Paignton has long since removed the words ‘Environmental Park’ from its name.
 
Rajang21 said:
Paignton has long since removed the words ‘Environmental Park’ from its name.
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And no one used its full name, just Paignton Zoo.

Whipsnade has also had many names across the years but returned to Whipsnade Zoo.
 
Cobi said:
Yes, my point is that they should call themselves a zoo as that is what they are.

A wildlife conservation park could be anything really, perhaps some kind of nature reserve rather than a zoo.
Click to expand...
The original zoo on that site was opened by Dudley zoo in 1963. That zoo closed in 1973. The council reopened it in 1974 as the Nature Centre, which housed indigenous species.
 
The last time we visited was well over a year ago, when the Bush Dog pups were born.
We visited last week (31/07) as my parents & sister were visiting, and we were looking for something "cheap" to do as a day out.

At Mo's favorite tree (Red Panda), there's a blue plaque "Mo's tree", which was lovely to see actually.
Next to the enclosure was an empty one for a long time, but now has some Otters in them, probably because they had a few litters in a short amount of time, they wanted to break it up.

Funniest bit of the day, someone calling the Ocelot a small Tiger. I then love pointing to the sign and them giving me a look of evil, because they probably are simply embarrassed they couldn't see the sign which was right in front of them (as per usual).

Nala the Lynx still going strong, she's 23 or something now?

Didn't see any Lemur on this visit, which is new. Normally always see either the red ones or the aloatran ones. The ringtailed ones I've never even seen outside, chilling inside usually high up so you can't spot them very well.
 
polarbear said:
Their name definitely put me off from visiting for quite a few years until I saw that they were actually a zoo and not a British / local wildlife centre, which the name conjures up. I was surprised to find a Komodo dragon there. I also wish I’d spent more time there, rather than moving onto Twycross for the afternoon.
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I’ve also never thought about visiting before reading this thread today, even though I’m fairly close as the name just implies a few birds and domestics to me, like you’d find in a public park
 
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