For all the possums I believe the end of the day is the most likely time, though even then is hit or miss from what I’ve heard. Lynx I’ve seen in the back of their exhibit viewable from across the former Aardwolf exhibit iirc.
Hamerton Zoo Park Hamerton News 2022
- Thread starter pipaluk
- Start date
For all the possums I believe the end of the day is the most likely time, though even then is hit or miss from what I’ve heard. Lynx I’ve seen in the back of their exhibit viewable from across the former Aardwolf exhibit iirc.
Strix
Well-Known Member
Last time I was there a keeper went round feeding the small carnivores at about 4, starting with the new coatis, skunks and ringtails, then moving around to the oncilla and rusty-spotted cats. The coatis and ringtails were new then, so will probably be a bit less timid and easier to spot now. Good luck with the possums and jackals, I have no idea how to find them.
Alwaysevergreen
Well-Known Member
Good luck seeing some of the species! Let alone all.
Possums very tricky, I was told once, that at 10am-10.30am the Golden One's are fed, so there is a small chance you may see them then. The others very difficult, but at least the Outback Aviary is now open, so you have a chance of seeing the Wombat again and the Possum in that area.
RSC quite elusive, but Oncilla normally around most of the day, often likes to hide to the right of the exhibit, by the rock down the side, curled up in the long grass part.
Lynx as said above. Maned Wolf hit and miss, but better in afternoon. Serval normally easy to see.
Javan Binturong, look towards its house, as sometimes its wandering around there, but rarely ever see the Otters it shares with.
Sumatran Civets if not asleep on floor in sun, will be in the trees!
Grison, anytime after 3pm, but very hard to get a good photo of them.
Jaguarundi very visible in new exhibit, but again hard to photo.
Bears, and Tigers you'll have no issues with.
Echidna and Ground Cuscus not easy, the latter sometimes in the box at the back, never seen the Echidna, exhibit far too dark to get good photo.
No joy in seeing the Ringtail, but often seen the Skunk in the afternoon, the Coati's are active in the afternoon.
Jackal is down to one old one now, she's to the left of the Malayan Tigers as you look back on the exhibit of the Tigers. She's often in her box all day, and very hard to see if out.
I suspect you'll struggle to see Possums, Jackal, Echidna, RSC, Binturong that shares with the Otters and Ringtail. But you should be able to see everything else easy enough.
Hope you have a lovely day, it's a lovely collection.
Oh and if you want to see the dinosaurs, it will cost you £3.50 to go on the train.
Possums very tricky, I was told once, that at 10am-10.30am the Golden One's are fed, so there is a small chance you may see them then. The others very difficult, but at least the Outback Aviary is now open, so you have a chance of seeing the Wombat again and the Possum in that area.
RSC quite elusive, but Oncilla normally around most of the day, often likes to hide to the right of the exhibit, by the rock down the side, curled up in the long grass part.
Lynx as said above. Maned Wolf hit and miss, but better in afternoon. Serval normally easy to see.
Javan Binturong, look towards its house, as sometimes its wandering around there, but rarely ever see the Otters it shares with.
Sumatran Civets if not asleep on floor in sun, will be in the trees!
Grison, anytime after 3pm, but very hard to get a good photo of them.
Jaguarundi very visible in new exhibit, but again hard to photo.
Bears, and Tigers you'll have no issues with.
Echidna and Ground Cuscus not easy, the latter sometimes in the box at the back, never seen the Echidna, exhibit far too dark to get good photo.
No joy in seeing the Ringtail, but often seen the Skunk in the afternoon, the Coati's are active in the afternoon.
Jackal is down to one old one now, she's to the left of the Malayan Tigers as you look back on the exhibit of the Tigers. She's often in her box all day, and very hard to see if out.
I suspect you'll struggle to see Possums, Jackal, Echidna, RSC, Binturong that shares with the Otters and Ringtail. But you should be able to see everything else easy enough.
Hope you have a lovely day, it's a lovely collection.
Oh and if you want to see the dinosaurs, it will cost you £3.50 to go on the train.
Thanks for all the suggestions and info about where everything is.
Now the aardwolves have sadly departed I would say that it is likely you will see most animals just walking the site repeatedly into the late afternoon.
Personally I like to spend the afternoon as it quietens down near the meerkat enclosure / sloth house, not because i am interested in either of these species but it puts you within a few steps sight of golden possum, white-bearded civet and grison which are known to be late risers among the rarities.
My only other advice would be (if possible without being a nuisance) follow a keeper on a feeding route.
Have fun and safe travels!
Lafone
Well-Known Member
Up at Hamerton today - bit of a scorcher! Lots of people but not crowded.
Still lots to see and lots of animals and birds were active and it’s one of those days when Hamerton’s covered walkways at the bottom of the park are a real bonus.
The young tawny frogmouths have moved into their new aviary space on the corner near the Parma wallabies and now have a bigger space all to themselves with some nice planting - couple of pics below.
The signage on the old binturong enclosure near the grison has been updated to reflect the new possum presence there now. This is simply meant to mock me! Actually good of course
Some brand new hefty sliding gates were being fitted at the entrance to the park today - upgraded protection against thieves and any traveller related incidents I assume. Looked smart and quite an upgrade from the old metal five bars.
A couple of new vending machines outside the shop / cafe now sell water / soft drinks / snacks and ice cream (card payments) which was great for avoiding the cafe queue at lunchtime. The train ticket shack near the corsac foxes also sells water etc and ice cream now (was there on my last visit forgot to mention it) and there’s another vending machine our back and together this makes for some good mitigation for crowded queues - means you can get back to the animals faster!
There was a new zebra foal in the paddock with the others which was lovely to see today and another donkey foal had arrived - such successful donkey and indeed zoo birth numbers at Hamerton year this year.
Elusive possum status: elusive.
Still lots to see and lots of animals and birds were active and it’s one of those days when Hamerton’s covered walkways at the bottom of the park are a real bonus.
The young tawny frogmouths have moved into their new aviary space on the corner near the Parma wallabies and now have a bigger space all to themselves with some nice planting - couple of pics below.
The signage on the old binturong enclosure near the grison has been updated to reflect the new possum presence there now. This is simply meant to mock me! Actually good of course
Some brand new hefty sliding gates were being fitted at the entrance to the park today - upgraded protection against thieves and any traveller related incidents I assume. Looked smart and quite an upgrade from the old metal five bars.
A couple of new vending machines outside the shop / cafe now sell water / soft drinks / snacks and ice cream (card payments) which was great for avoiding the cafe queue at lunchtime. The train ticket shack near the corsac foxes also sells water etc and ice cream now (was there on my last visit forgot to mention it) and there’s another vending machine our back and together this makes for some good mitigation for crowded queues - means you can get back to the animals faster!
There was a new zebra foal in the paddock with the others which was lovely to see today and another donkey foal had arrived - such successful donkey and indeed zoo birth numbers at Hamerton year this year.
Elusive possum status: elusive.
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To be fair, I've only seen the possums twice...once after the Outback Aviary had just opened, where I saw the smallest bit of brushtail possum fur, and then another time I saw the ringtail possums when they lived where the squirrel gliders currently are.
I look forward to visiting tomorrow!
I know I posted a map of the place from 2019 but does anyone have an up to date copy? Thanks.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
I don't I am afraid but in case no one else does either, I noticed there's a new guidebook available at the entrance so might be worth picking up a copy as I think it has an updated map. There are also a few maps on the buildings around the park with 'you are here' notes which might help.
Hope you have a great time! Look forward to hearing about it.
Thank you, I'm definitely going to get a guide book and make sure to get round the whole site before going round another time hopefully (unless the people I'm with complain
) and as I'm not local to the area I probably won't have another chance to visit this place for a while so I want to try and see as much as I can.
I do, will post in the gallery imminently.
Oh thank you that's much appreciated!
I've just gotten back from visiting Hamerton for the first time today and I absolutely loved it! It's one of those places that you could visit again and again (which I plan to do in the future) and the amount of new species I've never seen before I saw today was staggering. It's not often that in the UK you get places like that but Hamerton is definitely the centre for the most UK only and rare animals.
I bumped into a very friendly and knowledgeable staff member a couple of times and ended up having a very long chat with him for ages about how amazing the place is and potential and current plans for new animals which I'll mention below.
The layout of the zoo is really well done, with not much room for error at all since you can more or less get round it all without missing anything. Obviously I was going in there not expecting to see absolutely all the wishlist species but I saw plenty despite the heat.
Most of the animals were either inside their respective houses or sprawled somewhere shady outside so this was the case for the Binturong which I assume was of the Javan subspecies, the staff member mentioned to me that there's some interesting genetics which may mean that some of their Binturongs at Hamerton are rarer than most in other collections but they don't know much yet.
In most zoo visits I tend to gloss over the 'commoner' species that you can see easily in other collections like Meerkats, Otters, Marmosets/Tamarins, Wallabies and even the more common Ring-Tailed Lemurs but I'll still give them a look if they're displaying interesting behaviour but since I am so used to seeing them I usually walk straight past to the rarer and more unusual species - a trait which I'm sure a lot of us do on here
Even with all that being said I always make sure I don't miss any hidden new species around the more obvious ones and I'm glad I checked back a couple of times as I was able to see the Ring-Tailed Possums, one was sitting just outside its nest box in the Marmoset House and the other was poking through behind it. Aside from that I didn't manage to see any of the other Possum species unfortunately.
Another new species for me was the Australian Brush Turkey which both male and female were out and easily visible. One of the highlights was seeing one of the Sumatran White-Bearded Civets resting in the shade (all of these animals just happened to be out on my first walkaround) so that was great!
The bird aviaries before them were nice to see with the Barking Owls and Tawny Frogmouths specifically and I got some good photos which I will post later. There was also a young Two-Wattled Cassowary lazing in the sun but I didn't see the Johnson's one at all.
The Outback Aviary was great and I particularly liked the way you had to pull down the viewing windows on the Wombats so they get an extra level of privacy. Both of them were sleeping inside but I still got to see them.
Just as I was exiting the Australian area having seen the Squirrel Gliders, I was very lucky to see the Greater Grison running about for a few seconds before disappearing just as I was walking round. I think I had some incredible luck with the timing of this as I waited for ages afterwards and never saw it again.
The Ringtail wasn't anywhere to be seen but I did see both of the White-Nosed Coati. I did my best to spy for the Echidnas and Cuscus but the enclosure was so dark and reflective, coupled with the intensity of the heatwave I didn't see them. I saw at least three Corsac Foxes but no Cheetah.
Both the Malayan and White Bengal Tigers were resting in their indoor area in perfect view and they got up and yawned a few times. I still forget just how enormous they are compared to Sumatran Tigers which I'm so much more used to seeing.
The Syrian Bears were playing and keeping cool in the water which was a delight to see and I almost completely missed the Jaguarundi enclosure but managed to catch a glimpse of it as it wandered around for a bit. No sign of the Dingos or Maned Wolves unfortunately but I guess they were just keeping hidden and in the shade.
No surprises here but I didn't see the Jackal. As for other species I missed were the Rusty Spotted Cats and Lynx but with the help of a staff member I saw the Oncilla. Other notable species I managed to see were the Tayra and Yellow-Spotted Hyrax.
As for the future plans which I mentioned above, seeing how the staff member was completely open to talking about them to a visitor like me I would assume it would be ok to share them here unless any of you have objections, but there are some very exciting developments to share if you want me to tell them.
It was such a great day though. Could've done with having it be a tad cooler but otherwise I'm not complaining!
I bumped into a very friendly and knowledgeable staff member a couple of times and ended up having a very long chat with him for ages about how amazing the place is and potential and current plans for new animals which I'll mention below.
The layout of the zoo is really well done, with not much room for error at all since you can more or less get round it all without missing anything. Obviously I was going in there not expecting to see absolutely all the wishlist species but I saw plenty despite the heat.
Most of the animals were either inside their respective houses or sprawled somewhere shady outside so this was the case for the Binturong which I assume was of the Javan subspecies, the staff member mentioned to me that there's some interesting genetics which may mean that some of their Binturongs at Hamerton are rarer than most in other collections but they don't know much yet.
In most zoo visits I tend to gloss over the 'commoner' species that you can see easily in other collections like Meerkats, Otters, Marmosets/Tamarins, Wallabies and even the more common Ring-Tailed Lemurs but I'll still give them a look if they're displaying interesting behaviour but since I am so used to seeing them I usually walk straight past to the rarer and more unusual species - a trait which I'm sure a lot of us do on here
Even with all that being said I always make sure I don't miss any hidden new species around the more obvious ones and I'm glad I checked back a couple of times as I was able to see the Ring-Tailed Possums, one was sitting just outside its nest box in the Marmoset House and the other was poking through behind it. Aside from that I didn't manage to see any of the other Possum species unfortunately.
Another new species for me was the Australian Brush Turkey which both male and female were out and easily visible. One of the highlights was seeing one of the Sumatran White-Bearded Civets resting in the shade (all of these animals just happened to be out on my first walkaround) so that was great!
The bird aviaries before them were nice to see with the Barking Owls and Tawny Frogmouths specifically and I got some good photos which I will post later. There was also a young Two-Wattled Cassowary lazing in the sun but I didn't see the Johnson's one at all.
The Outback Aviary was great and I particularly liked the way you had to pull down the viewing windows on the Wombats so they get an extra level of privacy. Both of them were sleeping inside but I still got to see them.
Just as I was exiting the Australian area having seen the Squirrel Gliders, I was very lucky to see the Greater Grison running about for a few seconds before disappearing just as I was walking round. I think I had some incredible luck with the timing of this as I waited for ages afterwards and never saw it again.
The Ringtail wasn't anywhere to be seen but I did see both of the White-Nosed Coati. I did my best to spy for the Echidnas and Cuscus but the enclosure was so dark and reflective, coupled with the intensity of the heatwave I didn't see them. I saw at least three Corsac Foxes but no Cheetah.
Both the Malayan and White Bengal Tigers were resting in their indoor area in perfect view and they got up and yawned a few times. I still forget just how enormous they are compared to Sumatran Tigers which I'm so much more used to seeing.
The Syrian Bears were playing and keeping cool in the water which was a delight to see and I almost completely missed the Jaguarundi enclosure but managed to catch a glimpse of it as it wandered around for a bit. No sign of the Dingos or Maned Wolves unfortunately but I guess they were just keeping hidden and in the shade.
No surprises here but I didn't see the Jackal. As for other species I missed were the Rusty Spotted Cats and Lynx but with the help of a staff member I saw the Oncilla. Other notable species I managed to see were the Tayra and Yellow-Spotted Hyrax.
As for the future plans which I mentioned above, seeing how the staff member was completely open to talking about them to a visitor like me I would assume it would be ok to share them here unless any of you have objections, but there are some very exciting developments to share if you want me to tell them.
It was such a great day though. Could've done with having it be a tad cooler but otherwise I'm not complaining!
I've just gotten back from visiting Hamerton for the first time today and I absolutely loved it! It's one of those places that you could visit again and again (which I plan to do in the future) and the amount of new species I've never seen before I saw today was staggering. It's not often that in the UK you get places like that but Hamerton is definitely the centre for the most UK only and rare animals.
I bumped into a very friendly and knowledgeable staff member a couple of times and ended up having a very long chat with him for ages about how amazing the place is and potential and current plans for new animals which I'll mention below.
The layout of the zoo is really well done, with not much room for error at all since you can more or less get round it all without missing anything. Obviously I was going in there not expecting to see absolutely all the wishlist species but I saw plenty despite the heat.
Most of the animals were either inside their respective houses or sprawled somewhere shady outside so this was the case for the Binturong which I assume was of the Javan subspecies, the staff member mentioned to me that there's some interesting genetics which may mean that some of their Binturongs at Hamerton are rarer than most in other collections but they don't know much yet.
In most zoo visits I tend to gloss over the 'commoner' species that you can see easily in other collections like Meerkats, Otters, Marmosets/Tamarins, Wallabies and even the more common Ring-Tailed Lemurs but I'll still give them a look if they're displaying interesting behaviour but since I am so used to seeing them I usually walk straight past to the rarer and more unusual species - a trait which I'm sure a lot of us do on here
Even with all that being said I always make sure I don't miss any hidden new species around the more obvious ones and I'm glad I checked back a couple of times as I was able to see the Ring-Tailed Possums, one was sitting just outside its nest box in the Marmoset House and the other was poking through behind it. Aside from that I didn't manage to see any of the other Possum species unfortunately.
Another new species for me was the Australian Brush Turkey which both male and female were out and easily visible. One of the highlights was seeing one of the Sumatran White-Bearded Civets resting in the shade (all of these animals just happened to be out on my first walkaround) so that was great!
The bird aviaries before them were nice to see with the Barking Owls and Tawny Frogmouths specifically and I got some good photos which I will post later. There was also a young Two-Wattled Cassowary lazing in the sun but I didn't see the Johnson's one at all.
The Outback Aviary was great and I particularly liked the way you had to pull down the viewing windows on the Wombats so they get an extra level of privacy. Both of them were sleeping inside but I still got to see them.
Just as I was exiting the Australian area having seen the Squirrel Gliders, I was very lucky to see the Greater Grison running about for a few seconds before disappearing just as I was walking round. I think I had some incredible luck with the timing of this as I waited for ages afterwards and never saw it again.
The Ringtail wasn't anywhere to be seen but I did see both of the White-Nosed Coati. I did my best to spy for the Echidnas and Cuscus but the enclosure was so dark and reflective, coupled with the intensity of the heatwave I didn't see them. I saw at least three Corsac Foxes but no Cheetah.
Both the Malayan and White Bengal Tigers were resting in their indoor area in perfect view and they got up and yawned a few times. I still forget just how enormous they are compared to Sumatran Tigers which I'm so much more used to seeing.
The Syrian Bears were playing and keeping cool in the water which was a delight to see and I almost completely missed the Jaguarundi enclosure but managed to catch a glimpse of it as it wandered around for a bit. No sign of the Dingos or Maned Wolves unfortunately but I guess they were just keeping hidden and in the shade.
No surprises here but I didn't see the Jackal. As for other species I missed were the Rusty Spotted Cats and Lynx but with the help of a staff member I saw the Oncilla. Other notable species I managed to see were the Tayra and Yellow-Spotted Hyrax.
As for the future plans which I mentioned above, seeing how the staff member was completely open to talking about them to a visitor like me I would assume it would be ok to share them here unless any of you have objections, but there are some very exciting developments to share if you want me to tell them.
It was such a great day though. Could've done with having it be a tad cooler but otherwise I'm not complaining!
I think the Chatham House rules of Zoochat allow sharing, if the staff are openly talking about future plans.
Glad you had a great day.
According to him they have plans to build a new desert house near the Ringtail/Skunk enclosure to add extended viewing to them as well as add Fennec and Bat-Eared Fox, free-flying birds, two species of Ground Squirrels and a species of Mongoose.
They also want to build a new primate house for numerous species including a pair of Lesser Spot-Nosed Guenon which they apparently already have offshow. This would be between the Tigers and Bears I think.
They're also looking at getting more Tiger Quolls and Freshwater Crocodiles from Australia.
Apparently they also have a pair of Black-Backed Jackals offshow separate from the semi-onshow one behind the Tigers which they will put on display soon.
And they want to take away the more domestic based animals and add the Zebras to that area as well as more species in the future.
Lastly their longterm plan is to potentially get Brown Hyena so with luck that will go to plan.
I was surprised at how much of this he was willing to share with just a visitor and am looking forward to seeing how much of this plans out correctly.
They also want to build a new primate house for numerous species including a pair of Lesser Spot-Nosed Guenon which they apparently already have offshow. This would be between the Tigers and Bears I think.
They're also looking at getting more Tiger Quolls and Freshwater Crocodiles from Australia.
Apparently they also have a pair of Black-Backed Jackals offshow separate from the semi-onshow one behind the Tigers which they will put on display soon.
And they want to take away the more domestic based animals and add the Zebras to that area as well as more species in the future.
Lastly their longterm plan is to potentially get Brown Hyena so with luck that will go to plan.
I was surprised at how much of this he was willing to share with just a visitor and am looking forward to seeing how much of this plans out correctly.
Lafone
Well-Known Member
I've just gotten back from visiting Hamerton for the first time today and I absolutely loved it! It's one of those places that you could visit again and again (which I plan to do in the future) and the amount of new species I've never seen before I saw today was staggering. It's not often that in the UK you get places like that but Hamerton is definitely the centre for the most UK only and rare animals.
I bumped into a very friendly and knowledgeable staff member a couple of times and ended up having a very long chat with him for ages about how amazing the place is and potential and current plans for new animals which I'll mention below.
The layout of the zoo is really well done, with not much room for error at all since you can more or less get round it all without missing anything. Obviously I was going in there not expecting to see absolutely all the wishlist species but I saw plenty despite the heat.
Most of the animals were either inside their respective houses or sprawled somewhere shady outside so this was the case for the Binturong which I assume was of the Javan subspecies, the staff member mentioned to me that there's some interesting genetics which may mean that some of their Binturongs at Hamerton are rarer than most in other collections but they don't know much yet.
In most zoo visits I tend to gloss over the 'commoner' species that you can see easily in other collections like Meerkats, Otters, Marmosets/Tamarins, Wallabies and even the more common Ring-Tailed Lemurs but I'll still give them a look if they're displaying interesting behaviour but since I am so used to seeing them I usually walk straight past to the rarer and more unusual species - a trait which I'm sure a lot of us do on here
Even with all that being said I always make sure I don't miss any hidden new species around the more obvious ones and I'm glad I checked back a couple of times as I was able to see the Ring-Tailed Possums, one was sitting just outside its nest box in the Marmoset House and the other was poking through behind it. Aside from that I didn't manage to see any of the other Possum species unfortunately.
Another new species for me was the Australian Brush Turkey which both male and female were out and easily visible. One of the highlights was seeing one of the Sumatran White-Bearded Civets resting in the shade (all of these animals just happened to be out on my first walkaround) so that was great!
The bird aviaries before them were nice to see with the Barking Owls and Tawny Frogmouths specifically and I got some good photos which I will post later. There was also a young Two-Wattled Cassowary lazing in the sun but I didn't see the Johnson's one at all.
The Outback Aviary was great and I particularly liked the way you had to pull down the viewing windows on the Wombats so they get an extra level of privacy. Both of them were sleeping inside but I still got to see them.
Just as I was exiting the Australian area having seen the Squirrel Gliders, I was very lucky to see the Greater Grison running about for a few seconds before disappearing just as I was walking round. I think I had some incredible luck with the timing of this as I waited for ages afterwards and never saw it again.
The Ringtail wasn't anywhere to be seen but I did see both of the White-Nosed Coati. I did my best to spy for the Echidnas and Cuscus but the enclosure was so dark and reflective, coupled with the intensity of the heatwave I didn't see them. I saw at least three Corsac Foxes but no Cheetah.
Both the Malayan and White Bengal Tigers were resting in their indoor area in perfect view and they got up and yawned a few times. I still forget just how enormous they are compared to Sumatran Tigers which I'm so much more used to seeing.
The Syrian Bears were playing and keeping cool in the water which was a delight to see and I almost completely missed the Jaguarundi enclosure but managed to catch a glimpse of it as it wandered around for a bit. No sign of the Dingos or Maned Wolves unfortunately but I guess they were just keeping hidden and in the shade.
No surprises here but I didn't see the Jackal. As for other species I missed were the Rusty Spotted Cats and Lynx but with the help of a staff member I saw the Oncilla. Other notable species I managed to see were the Tayra and Yellow-Spotted Hyrax.
As for the future plans which I mentioned above, seeing how the staff member was completely open to talking about them to a visitor like me I would assume it would be ok to share them here unless any of you have objections, but there are some very exciting developments to share if you want me to tell them.
It was such a great day though. Could've done with having it be a tad cooler but otherwise I'm not complaining!
Sounds like a great day! Glad you had a good time it’s such a super place to visit.
I hope we do see more fox sub species (the corsac are so good to watch) and mongoose that will be awesome.
I also visited today, to clarify they still only have the one jackal (more are indeed due however) and have a trio of the guenons
Ah awesome, we must've walked past each other multiple timesI also visited today, to clarify they still only have the one jackal (more are indeed due however) and have a trio of the guenons
By the way I'm always happy to go visiting with like minded people, I don't know whether there's a thread for that or not but I'm definitely up for that.