Visited yesterday.
A bit of a mixed day, with some good and some disappointing points, which was not helped by the cold, blustery, grey November weather. Many animals had decided to stay indoors so only those with indoor viewing were visible (albeit once you'd looked through your pair of imaginary binoculars against many of the windows first).
So the first enclosure you see when you enter the zoo is the rather nice gelada breeding group enclosure extending up the hillside. However, none of the geladas in this group were outside, and the stairs up to the house were barricaded off, with no sign that I could see explaining why. When we reached the top of the enclosure we looked down to see that the house had had an extension. I don't know the technical term but I'd describe it as one of those outdoor holding areas where the animals can also go in order to get some fresh air without being let into the main enclosure.
The flamingos were out despite the weather, but were being fed by a keeper and a visitor doing a 'zookeeper for the day' experience. The viewing area was closed, so I suspect the birds may have been kept indoors for the rest of the day.
The spider monkeys were very active, which was nice to see.
The bachelor group of 5 geladas used to have only the one mature male, but it looks as though 2 or 3 of the others have caught up and matured into impressive looking animals too.
Only saw one snowy owl, one great grey owl, and one burrowing owl.
There was a male and female pair of golden pheasants in the old raven aviary.
The kookaburras were visible but were sheltering up in the back corner of their aviary rather than being on their usual perch at the front. I suspect they'll be taken off show soon for the rest of the winter months like they usually are.
All the black howler monkeys were staying inside, despite having access to their large outdoor area.
Inca (Asiatic black bear) was curled up asleep inside one of her self-dug hollows up against the wall. I think she usually enters semi-hibernation around this time of year.
For the last few visits the snow leopards have been separated; the male in original section and the female in the new extension. However, this time both sections were opened up, but I only saw one leopard, which I presume was the male, sleeping high up on one of the platforms. The female was nowhere to be seen, not even in the on-show indoor section. All the shutters to the off-show bedrooms were closed and there were one or two staff members milling around.
The tigers. Now this was the biggest disappointment. Remember the 2017 token vote where £250k would be spent on either the tiger enclosure, the chimp enclosure, or a new bear enclosure, which the tigers won? Well work on that was supposed to start in September this year. I was sure that on a visit in November I would see evidence of work starting, but there were no changes whatsoever. I even peered through a gap in the fence into the dens but they were exactly the same too. Now I may be being very harsh here as there may be a very reasonable excuse as to why work has not yet started, but a small explanation sign isn't much to ask for. Then again a nerdy zoochatter would probably be the only person likely to remember or be bothered that work hasn't yet started.
With regards to the tigers themselves, the male (Joao) was nowhere to be seen, which was a bit unusual, and the female (Daseep) looked quite restless.
The Carpathian lynx were all curled up asleep in one of the bedrooms.
Weirdly, the viewing area for the red pandas was barricaded off for no obvious reason. Again I saw no signage explaining why.
No obvious changes to the tapir/capybara/mara enclosure.
As we approached the new binturong enclosure we saw one of the binturongs confidently strutting around the top part, but just as we got close it made its way inside. Very pleased to say that a lot more climbing opportunities, such as large tree branches and wooden walkways, have been added to the enclosure since it first opened. This simple thing has made a huge difference to the enclosure IMO. Upon looking into the house both binturongs were awake, active, and interacting with each other. One of them is considerably larger than the other.
Both giant anteaters were visible and active within the on-show section of the indoor area. I wonder if once the elderly kangaroos pass away their enclosure will be merged with the right hand giant anteater enclosure.
I saw signage for the newly arrived grey-capped emerald doves two aviaries along from the kangaroos, but did not see the doves themselves.
I only saw 5 out of 8 scarlet macaws in the new aviary, but did not see a single one of the newly arrived military macaws. The new viewing platform to the side of the aviary is open, but still completely pointless as you still can't look through the mesh for more than a few seconds without becoming cross-eyed and slightly dizzy. The mesh is too tight, too shiny, and the wire too thick to look through properly. This is such a shame as the aviary itself is quite nice.
A large new structure between the macaw viewing platform and the entrance to the lemur walkthrough has been built. It's made of green corrugated metal and is about the size of a double garage. No idea what it is for as no signage. Could it be for the Prevost's squirrels?
After proposing it this year and the year before there's still no sign of the new lion viewing platform being built. I guess it has been put on the back-burner after the male lion passed away this year from cancer.
I wish they'd make the paths in the lemur walkthrough wheelchair and pushchair friendly.
As of 31st September they have raised a total of £341,364 for the new orangutan enclosure (the markers must have fallen down off the board last time I visited).
Both sea lion pools are back to being full of water, now that the breeding season has finished.
No changes to 'castle creatures'. I thought the bat enclosure really needed a clean, especially the windows. Probably what is causing the smell.
The capuchins were great to watch as ever.
I thought that a bit of maintenance was due here and there, similar to what has been discussed about Twycross recently, but on a much smaller scale. E.g. the wooden handrail along the penguin walkway needs completely replacing, a lick of paint outside the lorikeet walkthrough exit. The discovery centre, Queen Mary canteen, and lorikeet walkthrough windows could all do with a clean, and the bush dog fence could do with being replaced. And little things like giving the inside of the public viewing gallery of the small monkey houses behind the discovery centre a dust and a clean/wipe-down. It may be zoo but it's still a public attraction.
The Queen Mary aviary currently contains:
- At least 2 agouti.
- Goffin's cockatoos
- Yellow shouldered amazons
- Reeve's pheasants
- A Chattering Lory (thanks
@Great Argus for the ID)
Don't know why the children's beach area on the site of the old sensory garden is called 'Ow Bin Ya Sands'. I know it's supposed to be an exaggerated and light hearted take on the black country accent but I've lived in the Black Country all my life and nobody genuinely talks like that all the time, apart from maybe a few salt of the Earth people in their late eighties. Zoos don't just get visited by people in their immediate area. Visitors from even just a few miles further afield will wonder what it is and think it's a bit weird, and dare I say a little bit cringey. Cater for all. Doya now warra min?
The new black lemur enclosure is nothing special, it's ok, that's it. My immediate reaction was why didn't they make it 3x bigger? But that's my reaction to nearly all new animal enclosures at any zoo. I completely agree with
@gentle lemur about the poor viewing. It would have been better if they'd have left the glass in front of the outdoor section as mesh, and I did all sorts of silly waves in front of the glass of the indoor viewing window in an attempt to block out the reflection there.
The naked mole rats were very active in their tunnels and good to watch.
The Regal Jumping Spider spiderlings, Tokay gecko hatchlings, and Standing's day gecko hatchlings were all on show in the farm barn.
There was no sign of any agouti in the lorikeet walkthrough, nor was there any signage of them. I wish they'd fill in the annoying koi pool in that enclosure and just put some sloths and/or armadillos in there.
The extension to the camel paddock around the back of the farm barn has been completed, giving the camels a lot more space. Two new viewing areas have also been built. I wish they'd extend the paddock into the space taken up by the nearby children's play area too, but they've recently added new play equipment there, so I guess that won't happen for a while.
Finally, the bear option is still comfortably in lead in the 2018 vote between the bear, orang, and chimp enclosures.
Pics are in gallery.
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and no, they don't!