Bird Gardens Scotland CIC News from the Bird Gardens Scotland

Dylan

Dylan

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Bird Gardens Scotland is a small collection of rare domestics, ducks and some other birds in Oxton near Lauder. It is about 20 minutes south of Edinburgh. I happen to volunteer there and know quite a bit about the zoo.

Recent news:

- Laughing kookaburra aviary work has started.
- The entrance has got a concrete base down, with plans for the building to go up soon.
- Trinidad dartfrogs and Phantasmal dartfrogs are planned to join the collection for a vivarium in the entrance from Kirkley Hall Zoological Gardens
- A total of five Nene goslings and a clutch of quails have hatched so far, with eggs from the East Indies duck, Cinnamon call ducks and black swans plus more Nene eggs
- Baby flamingos now have access to a small pond round the corner from their temporary quarters.

Website : https://www.birdgardensscotland.com/
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Recent news:

- Female laughing kookaburra has been in the nestbox. Whether she is planning on doing something remains to be established.
- 1.1 Smew arrived on Friday from Edinburgh zoo. He is the only male amongst 9 females.
- 2.0 Baer's pochard and 1.0 White-winged wood-duck are planned to go to Edinburgh zoo in exchange for 0.2 Baer's pochard
- Eggs from Blue scaled quail, grey partridge and a whole load of chickens have hatched off-show
- 1.0 Sulphur-crested cockatoo arriving in the near future as a recuse pet.
- Work continues on the kookaburra, cockatoo and gouldian finch aviaries.
 
Long time since last update bit there is news:

-The quails that were babies five weeks ago are now laying eggs.
- 1.0 Elonora's sulphur-crested cockatoo and 1 Amazon sp. are now off-show
- All the Orchard pens housing domestics have brand-new interactive gates.
- Two laysan teal, one hooded merganser, two common eider, one mandarin duck and the bufflehead female are all on eggs/nesting with plumed whistling duck and maned geese defending areas. It remains to be seen if much with survive the crow and moorhen problems.
- The off-show chick room is now filled with dozens of chickens from many breeds, as well as several domestic ducklings.
- Ten dartfrogs arrived from Kirkley Hall Wildlife Park. They are 5 Trinidadian stream frog and 5 Tricolour poison dartfrog. They are off-show for now.
 
- 2 Mandarin ducklings as well as several domestics (Shetland, dutch hookbill etc)
- Scottish dumpy chickens now visible in the Orchards section.
 
It's been a long time since I updated this and a lot has happened

Births:
- 4 Chilean flamingo have Hatched from eggs laid at Washington. They are the only flamingo chicks in Scotland atm and are doing well.
Link
- 5 Black swans have hatched. Parents are being very protective.
- 15 White-faced whistling-duck, 3 Red-billed whistling-duck, an eider and 3 Eurasian wigeon have all hatched.
- Around 300 (mostly off-show) chickens have hatched
- 1 Red-necked wallaby has been born

Arrivals:
- 1.0 Red-breasted goose and 1.2 Nene have arrived from a private collection
- 0.1 African grey parrot has arrived as a rescue
- 2.2 Shetland geese have arrived, one pair is in one of the orchards.
- Smew, Mandarin duck, Afrocan black duck, Ashy-headed geese, Garnagey and Freckled duck are planned to arrive from Slimbridge
- Wattled lapwing and Scarlet ibis are planned to arrive from Hamerton

Departures:
- 2.0 Red-necked wallaby have left. I can't remember where

Developments:
- The kookaburra aviary has been completed and 3.1 Laughing kookaburra have been brought on-show
- The flamingo house construction has started, seven months after the deposit was paid.
 
Dylan said:
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Ashy-headed geese, Garnagey and Freckled duck are planned to arrive from Slimbridge
Click to expand...
I have not seen Ashy-headed geese at Slimbridge on my last two visits though I looked for them at the individual pens where all the aggressive sheldgeese are kept in individual pairs. Ruddy-headed, yes, Ashy-headed-no. Does anyone know exactly where they are kept at Slimbridge?
 
1.1 Freckled duck, 2.2 Garnagey, 2.0 Smew, 4.2 Mandarin duck and 1.1 South African black duck have arrived from Slimbridge and Martin Mere. No Ashy-headed goose so we are no further forward on that front.

0.1 Laughing kookaburra has left to a private collection. She was kicked out of the group and was getting lonely.

The three flamingalings have gone on-show in the baby barn.
 
1 Red-billed whistling-duck, 6 Swedish blue duck and a Laysan duckling from this year have been added to the freckled duck aviary until they are old enough to move out.

Yesterday 1.1 Barn owl and 2.0 Snowy owl arrived as part of an illegal confiscation in Heathrow. The barns are in the vegetable garden polytunnel and the snowies are off-show but can be seen from the path.

African silverbill, chinese painted quail, diamond dove, java sparrow and cutthroat finch have arrived from a volunteer. They are off-show

The walls of the zoo entrance have been completed, with the roof arriving next week. The flamingo house is also very close to completion.
 
Visitor centre now has a roof, windows, doors and has been insulated by straw. A borehole has also been installed for water for the building. The flamingo house has been completed

A yellow-bellied slider has been donated by a family on the 01/02/2020. In addition to this, 0.1 Blue eared-pheasant and 1.1 Temminck's tragopan have arrived from Krikley Hall Zoological Gardens.
 
Been a little while since I was down so here are the updates since the last post

Births
Barnacle goose, Nene, Greater rhea, Several breeds of domestic duck, garganey, wigeon, andean goose and dozens of chicken breeds

Arrivals
1.1 Blue-winged kookaburra from a private collection

Changes
Barn owls have moved off-show and now share their enclosure with a surplus laughing kookaburra amicably
Chickens in the orchard pens have been moved off-show for breeding
 
2.0 Red-billed blue magpie, 1.0 Spix's guan, 1.0 Himalayan monal, 1 Eurasian eagle-owl, 1 Great grey owl, 3.0 Ringed teal, 1.0 Masked lapwing and 3 Laysan teal have arrived from Lotherton Wildlife World. In addition to this, 0.1 Meller's duck and 2.1 Baer's pochard arrived from Edinburgh Zoo.

A large number of budgerigars have been presented to the zoo as well
 
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Not been since December so there is a number of new additions and constructions.

New additions:
11 Waldrapp (including the only leucistic individual in the world), 3 African grey parrot, 1 Violet turaco, 1 Red-crested turaco, Mindanao bleeding-heart. For the moment, the latter three are off-show

New buildings:
A new boardwalk alongside the main pond has been built, allowing a better elevated view of the flamingoes and ducks

New births:
No less than ten Nenes have hatched from four different pairs, alongside a plethora of chicks and ducklings from the domestic breeds
 
I believe that is the collection they arrived from. I'm not sure if any others exist but it is cool to work with such a cool looking animal.
 
Unfortunately the male Spix's guan has died at the age of c. 16. This leaves a single male at Noah's Ark Farm Park.

In other news, 4 Andean goslings, 4 Black swans, 3 Australian wood duck and a ringed teal have been reared amongst the exotic waterfowl. Additionally, several hundred rare breed bantams, chickens, turkeys and ducks have been hatched and reared.
 
An African grey parrot aviary has been opened with African grey parrots, violet turacos and grey partridge. Another aviary has been constructed with 18 Black-cheeked lovebird, 15 budgerigar, 1 Mindanao and 1 Luzon bleeding-heart, 2 java sparrow and a weaver.

Three violet turacos (1.0 from London, 1.1 Bristol), 1.1 Northern pintail, 3.0 Common eider (Bristol), 1.1 Himalayan monal (Kirkley Hall), 2.2 Black grouse, headlamp cockroach and further Anthony's dartfrogs have all arrived since my last post.
 
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