Five forgotten collections

S

Strathmorezoo

Well-Known Member
Hi I'm a new member and whilst reading about ex collections I thought I would add 5 of my own
Henley in arden(Warwickshire) bird garden
I only found out about this place by accident, even though it was only 15 minutes by car from my home. It was located on the high street behind a very large Elizabethan Manor.The birds were housed in a variety of aviaries. The larger birds ,such as Flamingos softbills were in octagonal aviaries made from larch poles and chicken wire with no shelter (the birds were taken indoors for the winter).The flights were about 25 feet diameter with plenty of greenery.The parrots and parakeets were housed in covetional aviaries. The only bird areas was 4 acres.There was 400 birds of about 100 species. I have no idea when it closed ,there seemed to be an aura of secrecy about the place
The second collection was a private zoo in Norton Evesham, owned by a Colin Cook who incidentally wanted to start a zoo in Redditch in 1964.I got to know Colin very well and he gave me a copy of the plans,unfortunately the council wouldn't give him what he wanted, anyway the zoo at Norton was very beautiful with enclosures for big cats ,primates and aviaries. Colin closed it down about 1975,after an ongoing problem with a neighbour. The zoo was about 5acres
The third collection was Delamere bird garden at Furze Hill in Worcestershire, I and my mates used to cycle there on nice weekends and school holidays (12 miles)It was mainly birds but also there was a decent reptile housed There were a mixed bag of mammals, I remember a Rhesus monkey grabbing a woman, safety barrier non existent.I use to visit 1968 to 1970,it closed down sometime after that
The forth collection was a small bird garden in a village called Feckenham, it had some really lovely birds, it was the first place I saw night herons. Again it was the late 1960s that I used to visit. Unfortunately the owner couldn't cope and it closed in 2012
The final collection was.one my wife and I stumbled across at Culzean Castle in Scotland during a touring holiday. We strayed off the normal path in the gardens and found a large building with a plaque by the door which said bird house,a bit further along and there was another building of similar size with a plaque that said monkey House,unfortunately both houses were empty and had been for a very long time. We asked staff about them but came up with a blank.Does any members have any more information on these places
Hope these are of interest
Alan Gardner
 
Strathmorezoo said:
Hi I'm a new member and whilst reading about ex collections I thought I would add 5 of my own
Henley in arden(Warwickshire) bird garden
I only found out about this place by accident, even though it was only 15 minutes by car from my home. It was located on the high street behind a very large Elizabethan Manor.The birds were housed in a variety of aviaries. The larger birds ,such as Flamingos softbills were in octagonal aviaries made from larch poles and chicken wire with no shelter (the birds were taken indoors for the winter).The flights were about 25 feet diameter with plenty of greenery.The parrots and parakeets were housed in covetional aviaries. The only bird areas was 4 acres.There was 400 birds of about 100 species. I have no idea when it closed ,there seemed to be an aura of secrecy about the place
The second collection was a private zoo in Norton Evesham, owned by a Colin Cook who incidentally wanted to start a zoo in Redditch in 1964.I got to know Colin very well and he gave me a copy of the plans,unfortunately the council wouldn't give him what he wanted, anyway the zoo at Norton was very beautiful with enclosures for big cats ,primates and aviaries. Colin closed it down about 1975,after an ongoing problem with a neighbour. The zoo was about 5acres
The third collection was Delamere bird garden at Furze Hill in Worcestershire, I and my mates used to cycle there on nice weekends and school holidays (12 miles)It was mainly birds but also there was a decent reptile housed There were a mixed bag of mammals, I remember a Rhesus monkey grabbing a woman, safety barrier non existent.I use to visit 1968 to 1970,it closed down sometime after that
The forth collection was a small bird garden in a village called Feckenham, it had some really lovely birds, it was the first place I saw night herons. Again it was the late 1960s that I used to visit. Unfortunately the owner couldn't cope and it closed in 2012
The final collection was.one my wife and I stumbled across at Culzean Castle in Scotland during a touring holiday. We strayed off the normal path in the gardens and found a large building with a plaque by the door which said bird house,a bit further along and there was another building of similar size with a plaque that said monkey House,unfortunately both houses were empty and had been for a very long time. We asked staff about them but came up with a blank.Does any members have any more information on these places
Hope these are of interest
Alan Gardner
Click to expand...
Most interesting, not least because this includes three collections I had not heard of before. Was Norton Evesham the Norton Bird Gardens? The Norton Bird Gardens, once called Norton Petsenta, was in Norton, near Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk and initially opened by Gerry King in 1966; it closed in 1974 but reopened as Norton Bird Gardens 1n 1976 and remained open until 1991.I visited the Delamere Bird Gardens a couple of times and recall that, in additions to the bird collection, there were a number of juvenile crocodilians as the owner had taken an interest in seeing how many species he could obtain.
 
zooboy said:
Most interesting, not least because this includes three collections I had not heard of before. Was Norton Evesham the Norton Bird Gardens? The Norton Bird Gardens, once called Norton Petsenta, was in Norton, near Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk and initially opened by Gerry King in 1966; it closed in 1974 but reopened as Norton Bird Gardens 1n 1976 and remained open until 1991.I visited the Delamere Bird Gardens a couple of times and recall that, in additions to the bird collection, there were a number of juvenile crocodilians as the owner had taken an interest in seeing how many species he could obtain.
Click to expand...
Hi
Norton is a village in Evesham, it was a mixed collection, although the owner was very keen on sugar birds and had quite a number which he occasionally bred.Hope this has been of use
 
zooboy said:
Most interesting, not least because this includes three collections I had not heard of before. Was Norton Evesham the Norton Bird Gardens? The Norton Bird Gardens, once called Norton Petsenta, was in Norton, near Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk and initially opened by Gerry King in 1966; it closed in 1974 but reopened as Norton Bird Gardens 1n 1976 and remained open until 1991.I visited the Delamere Bird Gardens a couple of times and recall that, in additions to the bird collection, there were a number of juvenile crocodilians as the owner had taken an interest in seeing how many species he could obtain.
Click to expand...
Sorry ,meant to ask what were the collections that you visited?
 
Strathmorezoo said:
Hi
Norton is a village in Evesham, it was a mixed collection, although the owner was very keen on sugar birds and had quite a number which he occasionally bred.Hope this has been of use
Click to expand...
There might be some confusion here, I don’t remember Norton Bird Gardens/Petsenta in Suffolk having any sunbirds. It looks as though there may be another Norton that also had a bird garden
 
I used to live in Evesham and the surrounding area. I regularly visited Delamere (probably between 1976 and I presume the early 80s), not sure when it closed. It did have a good collection of reptiles. I particularly remember a Tokay gecko, which as a kid of about 7 or 8 I was fascinated by!!
 
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