Fun day at CWP today, cold but bright and not too many people about. Only rained an hour before closing which was a bonus.
Was great to see the new baby rhino in the main house and catch baby Markus and mother Nancy out in the paddock with the rest of the crash (minus Monty who I assume was in the far side house).
There was another new baby too with a tiny new Coppery Titi monkey in the enclosure shared with the Pygmy Marmoset. Good result for this active breeding group.
The garden team were hard at work, wrapping the bananas for winter and planting seemingly endless new plants in the beds. Shows what a lot of effort goes into making the areas for us all to enjoy. Always marks the season turn for me when the bananas get trimmed and wrapped in hessian.
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A new bird to me with a Greater Coucal now in the aviary at the front of the walled garden near the car park, previously occupied by the Pied Avocets (now in the mixed free flight aviary with the Eurasian Spoonbills) and the Red Billed Blue Magpies (didn't see them on show). Two different Coucals to enjoy at CWP now which is great to see.
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Prevost squirrels have also made a welcome return and on are show in the end enclosure in the area opposite the Madagascar walkthrough, replacing the emperor tamarins (who can still be seen in the walled garden enclosure with the squirrel monkeys). I missed the old ones when they moved out of the now Jungle Fowl enclosure. Saw two, very active and out and about.
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Also in the walled garden the King Vulture enclosure was getting a bit of an upgrade, moving the wall back into some of the neighbouring hornbill space (the temporarily covered area and a bit beyond it is the new border).
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it always felt a touch on the smaller side for such a large bird, so a welcome change. The hornbill enclosure is quite large and L shaped so looks like it can spare it. I wonder if it might signal some breeding plans. The vulture looked to be offshow but the Hornbills were in their house.
Lots of cleaning activity going on for the keeping team, with the water fall and stream getting a clean and disinfectant wash in the tern / scarlet ibis / duck area.
Goldeneye ducks have joined the other fowl in the Madagascar walkthrough (also some still in the free flight aviary). First time I have seen those in there.
Changes in Little Africa too, where Acacia rats have moved into the old Gundi enclosure (now they moved to the Siamang house) in the first space as you enter;
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and they were very lively indeed. Was also fun to watch one of the keepers collecting and sexing the Neumann's grass rats (possibly not fun for him for anyone to watch while he did it, but it was interesting to watch). Quite a job as they too are fast moving.
Outside Little Africa the Dwarf Mongoose and Cape Porcupine enclosure has had a bit of a facelift with the old mock / concrete climbing rocks and fake mounds removed, new refreshed sand floor and new stones and logs in place. Looks like a mix using some local Cotswold stone and similar to the rocks that went into the lion enclosure when the extension was done. The mongoose were out and about using the whole space and digging around.
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Great views of most of the other animals making the most of the sun. As above only saw five yellow mongoose in the walled garden. The lake was still closed off.
. Did have good views of the Coucal in the tropical house three weeks ago, after a long gap without a sighting.
