Spent a lovely warm late summer day at Marwell. It was surprisingly quiet.The antelope species were much more in evidence than expected all seemed to be out grazing all afternoon- particularly the lesser kudu with 2 calves and the species in the mixed white rhino section with more young . I do find the new tropical house much much too hot for the denizens and wilting floral (particularly the volunteers- one who declared he was wilting and just had to go out when we were talking to him!) it was also quite difficult seeing any of the inhabitants because of the dense vegetation- that I adore, however I feel there has to be a balance. I loved the Life In The Trees the golden lion tamarins were magnificent in the late afternoon sunshine. The red ruff lemur , squirrel monkeys and cusimanse were very active. What we came to see was the bokiboky -she is still very nervous . She seems to come out 30 minutes before feeding at 4 o'clock. They are hoping to obtain a male from Jersey? We even managed to see the Preswalski's foal and three adults. I remember when they had a herd of over twenty! The Roan antelope were magnificent with a young calf. What was surprising also was seeing 3 (?) collared peccary in a VERY well vegetated enclosure- the old anteater enclosure.Just how long this will last!? Most peccary enclosures look like a ploughed field! I thought they had left the collection? I do agree the lake -as you enter imfront of the gift shop is wasted and the whole area after entering is down beat! The lake used to have black necked swans and other waterfowl. I always felt it could have flamingos there to provide a classic entrance to a zoo. I do agree there are a lot of empty small exhibits and enclosures on the perimeter by the snow leopard,but I felt since my last 2 recent visits it looked more positive. However I might be bias as this was the first place I applied for a job many years ago!
Marwell Wildlife Marwell Zoo News 2019
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Nice to hear this.
For all it’s faults, Marwell is still a lovely place for a day out and will forever remain very close to my heart.
I dearly love Marwell as a place to visit, and its nice to see a (largely) positive report on here for a change!
I actually think that it is a zoo that looks markedly different when there are a few babies around. I know thats probably the case for a lot of zoos, but I must say that I visited a few times during the winter and it was looking bare. But in the past year all three species of zebra have bred, 2 scimitar horned oryx calves, the Okapi, 2 lesser Kudu, Przewalski's horse.....it does make things a lot more positive on the trip round. Yes, there is still lots to fix but I don't think this has been a bad year for the zoo.
I actually think that it is a zoo that looks markedly different when there are a few babies around. I know thats probably the case for a lot of zoos, but I must say that I visited a few times during the winter and it was looking bare. But in the past year all three species of zebra have bred, 2 scimitar horned oryx calves, the Okapi, 2 lesser Kudu, Przewalski's horse.....it does make things a lot more positive on the trip round. Yes, there is still lots to fix but I don't think this has been a bad year for the zoo.
Possibly its best year in over a decade, I don't think too many species have left this year either. But for it to be a good year really doesn't take much after a decade of severe decline!
I really hope to see equally positive reports in a years time and I may even consider visiting again!
Hettie
Member
The empty exhibits from the entrance to the snow leopards may be deliberate due to the next big project that is due to happen at the zoo in that area. A new wetlands rebuild.
Not that I have much hope for it after the last 2 much hyped but ultmiately hugely disappointing projects (lemur loop and the tropical house).
I understand the plan is to have no animals on that side of the zoo in the future apart from the Snow Leopards.
Yes good news,another one was born earlier in the year but did not survive,must be first Bongo birth Marwell for about ten years.
It will require a major overhaul to make it remotely interesting !
I wonder if the donation specified that it had to be used on a wallaby walkthrough?
R.I.P. a zoo visionary greatly missed nowadays ....!
Couldn’t find anything online, but in my search did find this article BBC - Hampshire - Building Marwell zoo from scratch
sooty mangabey
Well-Known Member
This is very sad news. As has been said above, he was most certainly something of a visionary. I also found him to be a thoroughly engaging and welcoming person – he certainly gave me more time than I probably deserved as a young man who was rather too eager to tell him where I thought he was going wrong with his zoo.
It was very unfortunate that he fell out with Marwell, and its management. I am sure there are two sides to that particular story, but, given his role in getting the place going, I can’t help but feel he deserved better. I don’t know whether, in his latter years, things were resolved.
I am afraid not and he never returned to Marwell after he left.
The last of the great zoo men. No one with his drive or charisma remains in this corporate zoo world of suited business entities. I always saw him at some point during a visit but as a young ish teen I was too shy to speak. He, Gerald Durrell and John Aspinall were my idols as a zoo mad kid. Marwell was never the same without him. RIP.
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