Roadtripping in the UK

Stefan Verhoeven said:
After driving around for 4 days in the UK I finally have seen my first electric car, a Tesla and 2 days later a Nissan leaf. So now I can stop wondering. The leashed kids still amaze me. I have seen one kid that I think was around 10 years old, still on a leash in the zoo.
Another thing that is different to the Netherlands is that there are more morbid obese people in the UK. The Dutch are getting fatter also, but not on the scale what I have been seeing in the UK. I hope we can all turn it around this generation, because it's getting one of the most serious health risks at the moment in my opinion.

After the heath of last week, I decided to get away from the high temperatures and went to the South-West of England. That was a good choice as it was perfect zoo weather with around 22 degrees Celsius, compared to the record breaking 33 at Heathrow that same day.
I started of in Newquay Zoo. I arrived perfectly on time at 10.00 but parking was a big pain. I found a spot and wanted to pay, but I you could pay by cash, but only per hour. And I was 10p short to pay for 2 hours (I had 10p in 5p coins but those coins were not accepted), so it would only count 1 hour and that was just not long enough. The other option was to download an app and it would take "only 60 seconds" to pay. After downloading it asked for my licenceplate, but being not a UK car, it didn't recognise it. So I had to fill in a lot of extra information. After that he asked for a lot of other personal information and to finish of the app only accepted payment by credit card. But in the Netherlands we have a different bank system and normally don't have a credit card. So also this failed after filling in every possible information. So I went to the zoo, waited in the queue changed some money and went back to the parking place to pay for 2 hours. A lot of people were complaining around the parking meter, so I was clearly not the only one annoyed. It took me in total 20 minutes to pay for the parking, and I must say it took some of the joy away of visiting a new zoo. In the zoo there are some nice species, like owston's civet, fishing cats, saluwesi black crested macaques and phillipine spotted dear. I came across more Visayan warthy pigs, they seem to be almost as common as mara this zoo trip :D There is also a walk thru aviary with some nice species of birds. The zoo itself is small, with most of the exhibits on the small side in my opinion. The mature planting and trees gives it a nice feel, and you can not overview the place, so you want to find out what is behind the corner (totally different than Noah's Ark where you could oversee most of the zoo after entering). An ok zoo to visit while you are in the area, but a bit too far off and not special enough to make a trip to Newquay only for the zoo in my opinion.
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I would regards Newquay Zoo as very special. Javan Green Magpie, Sumatran Laughingthrush, Owston's Civet, Hoffmann's Sloth, Kaiser Newts, Black Tree Monitors are all in very small numbers in UK zoos, IMHO this little gem of a zoo would be worth travelling some distance to see, even if the South-west was not stiff with zoos -- which it is. Oh yes, AND it's one of only two places in the UK where you can see the charismatic Black Wildebeest, AND there's a charming and very visible breeding group of Grey Slender Loris.
 
Indeed @FBBird there are some gems. And I must be honest I forget to mention the black wildebeast and Hoffmann's slot. The black wildebeast were quiet active and easily visible at my visit. Kaiser newt's were a no show for me (some renovations going on). Bird and reptile wise I am spoiled. I have difficulties to seperate private ownership, where the named animals are more common and I have seen them on many occasions, from zoos, where they are rare. Thank you for your add on in this topic, much appreciated!
 
After the first short stop of the day at Shaldon Zoo I took off to Living Coasts.
After a nice little walk from the parking place thru the harbour I arrived at Living Coasts. A small place to see, so I wasn't sure what to expect. After enterance fees and a long ramp walk fit for people with disabilities you arrive at a video screen with some information about the wild guillemots in the area. After that there is one of many underwater views, this time for common guillemots and tufted puffins. The guillemots were active under water at my first pass, the second pass showed activity of the tufted puffins. After that you go outside to penguin beach. There are inca terns (that can go between several exhibits), bank cormorants, spectacled eider duck, 12 macaroni penguins and 63 Humboldt pinguins. From the Humboldts there were 2 juveniles and there should be 2 youngsters still in the nests and hope for some more to hatch. It is a lovely setting, with enough room for the inca terns to show of their areal skills. The penguin have a deep water pool and a sandy beach with caves. There was also a sprinkler running. The eider have room enough, but prefer to lay in a corner of the visitor area, and some less attentive visitors could easily step on them. I don't know if the animals mind, but the view was spectacular outside over the water of the bay area. I didn't see the feeding, but only have seen a bowl where the penguin could take fish from. I know penguin are difficult animals that are prone for fungal disease and malaria (macaroni more than humboldts), but if this is the only way of feeding it is difficult to keep track of the health status of penguins. The can have a lot of body fat and not eating for several days is not a big problem, but it is normally the first sign of disease. The earlier the diagnosis is done the more chance for survival. In a lot of zoos mortality rate in penguins are very high, and in my opinion that is due to non-individual feeding and therefor a too late diagnosis for health issues. Again, I am not sure it that's the case here. I wasn't there at feeding time and the animals looked fine at the moment.
After the pinguin you enter the same guillemot and puffin enclosure you already seen the underwater area from. Nice mock-rock and for me the tufted puffins were a first. Also some lovely photography opportunities, so I was a happy camper. After this excellent exhibit, there are some play areas and a place to have something to eat or drink. Afterwards there is Wader's estuary, as the name suggests a place for wader birds. These type of birds are not the most common zoo animals, and it's a nice addition in yet another nice natural looking exhibit. After that there were asian short-clawed otters. As always nice active animals, but unfortunately not a spectacular species for the die-hard zoo visitor, but a nice addition for the general public. The South American fur seals were just enjoying their lunch when I arrived, and there were a lot of visitors enjoying the spectacle. After this exhibit you go underground again, with several viewing areas of the exhibits you previously visited and some other exhibit's, like a mangrove area, local coast area and octopus area. All around are play areas and interactive things to do for the children.
At Living coasts every wall is decorated with very nice coastal images and/or text with information, even concrete walls are decorated with shell prints. The best decoration was for me the manatee that emerges out of the wall in one of the underground connecting ramps.
Allthough it is a small zoo, it is a delight to visit this small zoo. The exhibits are nice, the theming is excellent and there is a nice mix of animals and exhibits all about coastal areas. After this visit, my day was already more than enjoyable but I still had one more zoo to visit!
 
@Stefan Verhoeven or anyone else in that region

Looking at viamichelin to plan a return trip through Belgium I've noticed vignettes for some routes. I didn't encounter this 2 years ago, so have charges been introduced?
 
littleRedPanda said:
[
Looking at viamichelin to plan a return trip through Belgium I've noticed vignettes for some routes. I didn't encounter this 2 years ago, so have charges been introduced?
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Ignore that. I found the avoid vignettes option, and thus thirty plus euros to save a couple of miles around Antwerp/Brussels ... seems a bit excessive (wrong?).
 
I've never come across vignettes used in this context before, is this a new thing or have I been out of touch with modernity for a long time? I assume we're talking tolls?
 
Ned said:
I've never come across vignettes used in this context before, is this a new thing or have I been out of touch with modernity for a long time? I assume we're talking tolls?
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Yeah, it's a little sticker job that you buy that allows you to drive on toll roads. :)
 
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Stefan Verhoeven said:
After the first short stop of the day at Shaldon Zoo I took off to Living Coasts.
After a nice little walk from the parking place thru the harbour I arrived at Living Coasts. A small place to see, so I wasn't sure what to expect. After enterance fees and a long ramp walk fit for people with disabilities you arrive at a video screen with some information about the wild guillemots in the area. After that there is one of many underwater views, this time for common guillemots and tufted puffins. The guillemots were active under water at my first pass, the second pass showed activity of the tufted puffins. After that you go outside to penguin beach. There are inca terns (that can go between several exhibits), bank cormorants, spectacled eider duck, 12 macaroni penguins and 63 Humboldt pinguins. From the Humboldts there were 2 juveniles and there should be 2 youngsters still in the nests and hope for some more to hatch. It is a lovely setting, with enough room for the inca terns to show of their areal skills. The penguin have a deep water pool and a sandy beach with caves. There was also a sprinkler running. The eider have room enough, but prefer to lay in a corner of the visitor area, and some less attentive visitors could easily step on them. I don't know if the animals mind, but the view was spectacular outside over the water of the bay area. I didn't see the feeding, but only have seen a bowl where the penguin could take fish from. I know penguin are difficult animals that are prone for fungal disease and malaria (macaroni more than humboldts), but if this is the only way of feeding it is difficult to keep track of the health status of penguins. The can have a lot of body fat and not eating for several days is not a big problem, but it is normally the first sign of disease. The earlier the diagnosis is done the more chance for survival. In a lot of zoos mortality rate in penguins are very high, and in my opinion that is due to non-individual feeding and therefor a too late diagnosis for health issues. Again, I am not sure it that's the case here. I wasn't there at feeding time and the animals looked fine at the moment.
After the pinguin you enter the same guillemot and puffin enclosure you already seen the underwater area from. Nice mock-rock and for me the tufted puffins were a first. Also some lovely photography opportunities, so I was a happy camper. After this excellent exhibit, there are some play areas and a place to have something to eat or drink. Afterwards there is Wader's estuary, as the name suggests a place for wader birds. These type of birds are not the most common zoo animals, and it's a nice addition in yet another nice natural looking exhibit. After that there were asian short-clawed otters. As always nice active animals, but unfortunately not a spectacular species for the die-hard zoo visitor, but a nice addition for the general public. The South American fur seals were just enjoying their lunch when I arrived, and there were a lot of visitors enjoying the spectacle. After this exhibit you go underground again, with several viewing areas of the exhibits you previously visited and some other exhibit's, like a mangrove area, local coast area and octopus area. All around are play areas and interactive things to do for the children.
At Living coasts every wall is decorated with very nice coastal images and/or text with information, even concrete walls are decorated with shell prints. The best decoration was for me the manatee that emerges out of the wall in one of the underground connecting ramps.
Allthough it is a small zoo, it is a delight to visit this small zoo. The exhibits are nice, the theming is excellent and there is a nice mix of animals and exhibits all about coastal areas. After this visit, my day was already more than enjoyable but I still had one more zoo to visit!
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They're not Humboldts Penguins, these are African Penguins. Newquay holds Humboldt's.
 
FBBird said:
I would regards Newquay Zoo as very special.
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I agree about Newquay- for its size its got a lot of 'specials' and has matured into a very nice little place to walk around. I first visited the original newly-created and council run zoo back in the early 1970's- it was on a nearby but slightly different site then I think. Several decades on it and is a far better place now.
 
FBBird said:
They're not Humboldts Penguins, these are African Penguins. Newquay holds Humboldt's.
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You are totally right! I should have re-read this before posting, clearly I should double check some things before posting. Thank you for pointing out my mistake! I feel stupid now...:eek:
 
I won't supprise anybody unfortunately with the third zoo of the day Paignton Zoo.
After the nice two earlier visits, Paignton Zoo was going to be a nice end of a good zoo day. Unfortunately at entering the zoo a long lasting injury reappeared, namely heel spur, that slowed me down a bit. But nevertheless I completed the full zoo, but had to take several short rests to relieve the pain a bit. Paignton Zoo is a good sized zoo, and therefor a totally different one as the 2 visited earlier that day. One of the first areas in the zoo is the Reptile Tropics. As a lot of zoos have small reptile areas this zoo was a delight, some decent species and most are easy to find and also some bird species flying around. To name a few species: Cuban crocodile, Indochina box turtle, Annam leaf turtle, blue tree monitor, Utila iguana (regarding ZTL the UK is a hotspot for this species) and lesser Antillean iguana. Spread around the zoo are more reptiles (komodo dragons, false gharial, alligator snapping turtles, aldabra giant tortoise) and even a amphibia center. After the reptile area you enter first a small walkthru aviary and afterwards a Desert bird area focused on Australian birds. Most of those bird species are common in aviculture, but the size, landscaping and the combination of the species made it a very nice area for me. After that aviary the walk went on, with some decent hills it can be challenging for less mobile people. There are scootmobiles available at the zoo if that is needed. There is also a small railway to sit in and go around the gibbon islands. ABC animals can be found in Paignton: lions (Asiatic), rhinos (black), tigers (sumatran), elephant (African), giraffe, zebra, some great apes like Bornean orang-utan and western lowland gorilla. The primate collection is nice with Diana monkey, Sulawesi crested macaque, several lemur species, several tamarin species, several gibbon species, mandrills, pygmy slow loris, cherry-crowned mangabey. There is a decent bird collection with for instance wattled cranes, cassowary, lesser adjudant stork, secretary birds, greater roadrunner and socorro dove. There are more oddities at Paignton.The short-beaked Echidna is a special species, and if ZTL is correct, I have been to all places in Europe where they hold this species. Also the western grey kangaroo is not a common species in zoos. The area for the rhinos, giraffe and elephant was under construction and also on the other side of these exhibits (next to the cheetah) trees have been cleared.

All in all a nice zoo on a great zoo day. This was the last zoo of my trip in the UK. Out of the first 7 days of holiday, I have visted zoos on 6 of the days and in total 11 zoos in those days.
 
Pertinax said:
Paignton's single African elephant, Duchess, was pts just a few weeks ago now. They won't have any more elephants.
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Ok, i was looking for them, but couldn't find them, i thought due to the construction they were maybe kept in an area that I couldn't overview. Never realized they had only one that died just before I arrived.
Had she been alone for a long time?
 
Stefan Verhoeven said:
Ok, i was looking for them, but couldn't find them, i thought due to the construction they were maybe kept in an area that I couldn't overview. Never realized they had only one that died just before I arrived.
Had she been alone for a long time?
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A number of years. She used to have an Asiatic companion called Gay, of a similar age. They decided not to replace her, or to send the last one away so it was just a case of allowing her to live out her remaining years alone.
 
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