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nedpepper

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
I visited this place on Easter Sunday of 2022 on one of their few annual open days, the park is privately owned and to attend more regularly you must have a membership. The zoo is a collaboration of work from the owners of Ventura Wildlife Park and Cassiobury Farm & Fishery.

Overall the zoo is nicely planned out, being between the canal and a fishing lake with most exhibits based around a main walking route and a few extras dotted about here and there for good measure.

As with most small UK collections, the enclosures are not that big or impressive, but I think they are very well planted and built with care and skill, making them adequate for their inhabitants.

  • Highlight species in my opinion would be: Fossa, Dingo, Large Spotted Genet, Corsac Fox, Zorilla, Banded Mongoose, Cuban Hutia, Mongoose Lemur, Binturong, Javan Porcupine and the Zebras.

  • Notable species listed on the website but not on show/seemingly gone from the park/I missed the enclosures for were: Arctic Fox, Capybara, Red Squirrel, Fallow and Roe Deer, and European Polecat.

  • The best enclosures in my opinion are the “walkthrough” Pelican enclosure and the mixed exhibit for Crane, Ibis and Spoonbill. One of the more odd enclosures is the one for Wolf-dogs, featuring classic garden statues and a lot of raised platforms for them to stand on and view over the top of their enclosure.

  • The Dingo enclosure features a car in it, something I am sure must have been inspired by Hamerton. Right next door to it is the Corsac Fox, does anyone know if the Dingo and Corsac’s came from Hamerton?

  • It is worth mentioning that there is a fairly large section under construction opposite the Zebra enclosure that states it will be used for new species.

Overall an enjoyable day out and a place worth a visit in my opinion, although I would not personally be interested in paying the yearly membership fee and I think the open day entry ticket of £24 is a bit steep when comparing value of entry into other more notable UK collections.
 
nedpepper said:
I visited this place on Easter Sunday of 2022 on one of their few annual open days, the park is privately owned and to attend more regularly you must have a membership. The zoo is a collaboration of work from the owners of Ventura Wildlife Park and Cassiobury Farm & Fishery.

Overall the zoo is nicely planned out, being between the canal and a fishing lake with most exhibits based around a main walking route and a few extras dotted about here and there for good measure.

As with most small UK collections, the enclosures are not that big or impressive, but I think they are very well planted and built with care and skill, making them adequate for their inhabitants.

  • Highlight species in my opinion would be: Fossa, Dingo, Large Spotted Genet, Corsac Fox, Zorilla, Banded Mongoose, Cuban Hutia, Mongoose Lemur, Binturong, Javan Porcupine and the Zebras.

  • Notable species listed on the website but not on show/seemingly gone from the park/I missed the enclosures for were: Arctic Fox, Capybara, Red Squirrel, Fallow and Roe Deer, and European Polecat.

  • The best enclosures in my opinion are the “walkthrough” Pelican enclosure and the mixed exhibit for Crane, Ibis and Spoonbill. One of the more odd enclosures is the one for Wolf-dogs, featuring classic garden statues and a lot of raised platforms for them to stand on and view over the top of their enclosure.

  • The Dingo enclosure features a car in it, something I am sure must have been inspired by Hamerton. Right next door to it is the Corsac Fox, does anyone know if the Dingo and Corsac’s came from Hamerton?

  • It is worth mentioning that there is a fairly large section under construction opposite the Zebra enclosure that states it will be used for new species.

Overall an enjoyable day out and a place worth a visit in my opinion, although I would not personally be interested in paying the yearly membership fee and I think the open day entry ticket of £24 is a bit steep when comparing value of entry into other more notable UK collections.
Click to expand...
The dingos came from hamerton
 
thanks for the write up!

Some interesting species then... what was viewing like? did you actually see the genet, zorilla and porcupine for example?

My concern with open days is that animals become used to having no visitors and can either become inquisitive to an influx of new visitors or shy away and it seems from the snaps you've uploaded that there is a lot of opportunity for species to hide away out of view. Which in my opinion is absolutely correct from a welfare perspective but can be frustrating when you are targeting specific species on a visit.
 
Skukuza said:
thanks for the write up!

Some interesting species then... what was viewing like? did you actually see the genet, zorilla and porcupine for example?

My concern with open days is that animals become used to having no visitors and can either become inquisitive to an influx of new visitors or shy away and it seems from the snaps you've uploaded that there is a lot of opportunity for species to hide away out of view. Which in my opinion is absolutely correct from a welfare perspective but can be frustrating when you are targeting specific species on a visit.
Click to expand...

Well actually I would say viewing for the most part was quite decent, I am not a keen photographer and really the only reason I took most of the photos was more to give people an idea of the zoo, so I didn’t really attempt to get many of the animals in the shot unless they were already in clear view.

Interestingly, the only 3 species I didn’t see at all were the Zorilla, Javan Porcupine and Genet! I was particularly disappointed about the Zorilla as I’ve visited the only 3 places I am aware that exhibit them in the UK within the last year and never had success!
 
Exhibit photos are always appreciated; generally I (and most users) know what "x" animal looks like it is the exhibits that become interesting after a while.

Thanks for confirming my suspicions. Probably not helped that these species largely inactive during the day also.

I haven't tried for Zorilla yet but maybe later this year, hope you get to see one soon.
 
Had a good time at the open day, managed to see both the genet and Sunda porcupine, which felt slightly miraculous. Zorilla were invisible in their nest box.

Can echo the comments above about it being a well laid out and interesting collection, some enclosures slightly "adequate" but that is probably par for the course. Certainly one of the best 'chicken wire and wood' zoos that I have been to.

Anyone going should be aware that the large map at the entrance is hopelessly outdated...
 
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