The Stupidest Idea I've Ever Had... (Zoo-tripping In The North-West)

Brum

Brum

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
Well that title may be a little misleading as the subject of this thread turned out quite well in the end. The subject of the thread itself is a solo trip I did to several collections over four days, and there will be highs and lows galore, with some general zoo reviews thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately I took this trip in November of 2023 and I've lost a lot of photos so details won't be meticulous but rather just general thoughts and asides.
Why so long between visiting and writing up a review I hear you ask? Well I've had lots of technical issues and personal stuff over the past few months but now I feel like I should have the time, tools, and inclination to type.

Collections visited were -
Day 1. Leave Birmingham, go to Blackpool Zoo & Blackpool Sea Life
Day 2. Bolton Museum Aquarium & Manchester Museum Vivarium
Day 3. Welsh Mountain Zoo & Rhyl Seaquarium
Day 4. Chester Zoo & home

I'll try and get day one written up later tonight, or tomorrow afternoon at the latest, and hope the thread proves useful to other members reliant on public transport and travelling on a budget. :)
 
A very interesting mix of collections, from your dates you must have been one of the very last people to have visited Rhyl seaquarium so will be interesting to see what you thought of it.
Bolton museum aquarium is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me,a place to that always seems to have something I haven't seen before.
 
Laboratory 7 said:
A very interesting mix of collections, from your dates you must have been one of the very last people to have visited Rhyl seaquarium so will be interesting to see what you thought of it.
Bolton museum aquarium is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me,a place to that always seems to have something I haven't seen before.
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I visited three days before closure, and it wasn't busy then so I think you could well be right, and my opinion wasn't massively positive... As for Bolton, it was only done because it was on my route but I'm glad I made the diversion! :)
 
Day 1, Part 1 - Sun, Sea, And Seagulls!
Blackpool Zoo

I'd been planning a solo zoo break for a while and after looking around the country I decided the North West seemed like the cheapest and easiest option by public transport. I asked my girlfriend several times if she fancied joining me but "Sitting on trains all day to look at some fish? You can **** right off!" was the general reply each time... Apparently we have very different ideas on what constitutes a relaxing break! :rolleyes::D

So with me being entirely free to do as I pleased I booked myself a cheap Bed & Breakfast in Blackpool for the night (£12 to be exact), followed by two nights in Chester at £29 at a guesthouse, then I splurged and spent £46 on a proper hotel for the final night.
Leaving Birmingham at quarter past nine in the morning I found myself standing on the platform and breathing fresh sea air just two hours later. Time for zoo one of the trip, Blackpool. I'd visited Blackpool before but long enough ago for it to be a distant memory so it felt like a new zoo for my lifelist.
Blackpool is a fine medium sized zoo with a heavy ABC roster making it ideal for holidaymakers enjoying themselves in Britain's Las Vegas. Fortunately for the zoo enthusiast the ABCs are sometimes something a tad unusual - the zebras are Hartmann's, the penguins are Magallenic (only ones in the UK), the primate collection includes King Colobus, Pileated Gibbon, and even DeBrazza Monkeys are far less common than they used to be. Unfortunately I didn't spot the Central American Agouti and the Tree Porcupines were off-show for the winter but that's the drawback of being cheap and going out of season!
As for the rest of the zoo well the bird collection was better than I expected, and you know that anywhere with Kea gets a solid thumbs up in my book. The new Asian Elephant house and enclosure looked fantastic, the orang indoors was great but the outdoors looked like it was still stuck in the seventies, the new cat house building was very nice and fit for purpose but generic lions and Amur Tigers weren't exactly setting my pulse racing, Iberian Wolves were great for the 30 seconds I saw one, Californian Sea Lions had a decent sized but bland pool, and the reptile collection was pretty slim with only Yacare Caiman being a standout. One of my favourite exhibits though (besides the elephants) was the walkthrough aviary attached to the camel (former elephant) house. Didn't see many birds in there as I was in there with a very noisy family so only saw a few ibis and ducks, but I could hear more and if I'd had time then I probably would've circled back round before leaving. Unfortunately time wasn't on my side as I had to get to the second collection of the day...

Overall Blackpool is great but not up there with the best this country has to offer, the orangutan outdoors is surely a big priority on the zoos list and the paddock area is uninspiring but there's not a lot to complain about really.
 
Brum said:
Day 1, Part 1 - Sun, Sea, And Seagulls!
Blackpool Zoo

I'd been planning a solo zoo break for a while and after looking around the country I decided the North West seemed like the cheapest and easiest option by public transport. I asked my girlfriend several times if she fancied joining me but "Sitting on trains all day to look at some fish? You can **** right off!" was the general reply each time... Apparently we have very different ideas on what constitutes a relaxing break! :rolleyes::D

So with me being entirely free to do as I pleased I booked myself a cheap Bed & Breakfast in Blackpool for the night (£12 to be exact), followed by two nights in Chester at £29 at a guesthouse, then I splurged and spent £46 on a proper hotel for the final night.
Leaving Birmingham at quarter past nine in the morning I found myself standing on the platform and breathing fresh sea air just two hours later. Time for zoo one of the trip, Blackpool. I'd visited Blackpool before but long enough ago for it to be a distant memory so it felt like a new zoo for my lifelist.
Blackpool is a fine medium sized zoo with a heavy ABC roster making it ideal for holidaymakers enjoying themselves in Britain's Las Vegas. Fortunately for the zoo enthusiast the ABCs are sometimes something a tad unusual - the zebras are Hartmann's, the penguins are Magallenic (only ones in the UK), the primate collection includes King Colobus, Pileated Gibbon, and even DeBrazza Monkeys are far less common than they used to be. Unfortunately I didn't spot the Central American Agouti and the Tree Porcupines were off-show for the winter but that's the drawback of being cheap and going out of season!
As for the rest of the zoo well the bird collection was better than I expected, and you know that anywhere with Kea gets a solid thumbs up in my book. The new Asian Elephant house and enclosure looked fantastic, the orang indoors was great but the outdoors looked like it was still stuck in the seventies, the new cat house building was very nice and fit for purpose but generic lions and Amur Tigers weren't exactly setting my pulse racing, Iberian Wolves were great for the 30 seconds I saw one, Californian Sea Lions had a decent sized but bland pool, and the reptile collection was pretty slim with only Yacare Caiman being a standout. One of my favourite exhibits though (besides the elephants) was the walkthrough aviary attached to the camel (former elephant) house. Didn't see many birds in there as I was in there with a very noisy family so only saw a few ibis and ducks, but I could hear more and if I'd had time then I probably would've circled back round before leaving. Unfortunately time wasn't on my side as I had to get to the second collection of the day...

Overall Blackpool is great but not up there with the best this country has to offer, the orangutan outdoors is surely a big priority on the zoos list and the paddock area is uninspiring but there's not a lot to complain about really.
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I understand that this collection has [amongst] the largest herd of reindeer within the country at a major zoo.
I was wondering if the bull is on display during the rut?
Most places only maintain castrate males on show
 
I fully agree with your points on Blackpool, and I haven't visited for the best part of five years.

As you've said it is indeed very ABC and the fact that the lions & giraffes are subspecific hybrids isn't ideal for the zoo nerd. The saving graces (just about) are the unusual alternatives such as the penguins, zebras and primate species. I personally enjoy the various bird aviaries but a few more species wouldn't go a miss. Maybe I'm just spoilt by the sheer diversity at Chester? Herps, invertebrates & fish are sorely where Blackpool lacks. I remember in the old indoor elephant enclosure the area dedicated to these sorts of species but that is now gone. I feel that space could perhaps go to their nocturnal species such as the cuscus & mouse lemurs as nocturnal houses seem to be appearing in many collections up and down the country. On another note much like you I find some of the enclosures at Blackpool uninspiring such as the giraffe yard & orangutans with the first of particular note.

It is unlikely I'll be rushing back to Blackpool soon as just looking at ZTL only lists 21 taxa that I have not yet seen, and I wouldn't be surprised if half of these species are no longer present as ZTL appears to be quite out of date for the collection.

I'm thoroughly looking forward to see the rest of the thread updates :)
 
Brum said:
Day 1, Part 1 - Sun, Sea, And Seagulls!
Blackpool Zoo

I'd been planning a solo zoo break for a while and after looking around the country I decided the North West seemed like the cheapest and easiest option by public transport. I asked my girlfriend several times if she fancied joining me but "Sitting on trains all day to look at some fish? You can **** right off!" was the general reply each time... Apparently we have very different ideas on what constitutes a relaxing break! :rolleyes::D

So with me being entirely free to do as I pleased I booked myself a cheap Bed & Breakfast in Blackpool for the night (£12 to be exact), followed by two nights in Chester at £29 at a guesthouse, then I splurged and spent £46 on a proper hotel for the final night.
Leaving Birmingham at quarter past nine in the morning I found myself standing on the platform and breathing fresh sea air just two hours later. Time for zoo one of the trip, Blackpool. I'd visited Blackpool before but long enough ago for it to be a distant memory so it felt like a new zoo for my lifelist.
Blackpool is a fine medium sized zoo with a heavy ABC roster making it ideal for holidaymakers enjoying themselves in Britain's Las Vegas. Fortunately for the zoo enthusiast the ABCs are sometimes something a tad unusual - the zebras are Hartmann's, the penguins are Magallenic (only ones in the UK), the primate collection includes King Colobus, Pileated Gibbon, and even DeBrazza Monkeys are far less common than they used to be. Unfortunately I didn't spot the Central American Agouti and the Tree Porcupines were off-show for the winter but that's the drawback of being cheap and going out of season!
As for the rest of the zoo well the bird collection was better than I expected, and you know that anywhere with Kea gets a solid thumbs up in my book. The new Asian Elephant house and enclosure looked fantastic, the orang indoors was great but the outdoors looked like it was still stuck in the seventies, the new cat house building was very nice and fit for purpose but generic lions and Amur Tigers weren't exactly setting my pulse racing, Iberian Wolves were great for the 30 seconds I saw one, Californian Sea Lions had a decent sized but bland pool, and the reptile collection was pretty slim with only Yacare Caiman being a standout. One of my favourite exhibits though (besides the elephants) was the walkthrough aviary attached to the camel (former elephant) house. Didn't see many birds in there as I was in there with a very noisy family so only saw a few ibis and ducks, but I could hear more and if I'd had time then I probably would've circled back round before leaving. Unfortunately time wasn't on my side as I had to get to the second collection of the day...

Overall Blackpool is great but not up there with the best this country has to offer, the orangutan outdoors is surely a big priority on the zoos list and the paddock area is uninspiring but there's not a lot to complain about really.
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Blackpool Zoo may not be the best or brightest, but I've always enjoyed the place, and I actually put it up there as one of my favourite zoos I've visited since starting my own life list.
I've never seen the Central American agouti on any of my visits, and have only caught a brief glimpse of the North American porcupine once, and even then just the back of it. I remember the reptile collection used to be a lot better than it is now, but I think what's left does include some underrated gems like the caiman and the sailfin lizard.
I look forward to reading the rest of this thread when you update it, I'm actually planning a visit to Manchester Museum this weekend, so I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on the Vivarium.
 
Day 1, Part 2 - A Rather Unmemorable Experience

So after leaving Blackpool Zoo I took a stroll through the park it's situated in and jumped on the bus. Did find it odd that the nearest bus stop to the zoo is also shared with the local hospital as I imagine it could well be extremely busy, and probably very unpleasant for anyone leaving Accident & Emergency with any sort of physical injury...
After arriving in the town centre I made my way to the sea front where the Sea Life Centre is situated. Turned up at the door, handed over my Carex bottle with voucher for half price entry, then was pleasantly surprised to be handed said bottle back with voucher still in tact. Result, entry for about £10 wasn't too shabby. Unfortunately I don't really recall much about the actual visit as I'm not the biggest fish guy in the world, and this is a very fish heavy Sea Life. Allow me to explain what I mean, yes I know that aquariums tend to be fish heavy as a rule but a lot of the Sea Life chain have something else as well, be it pinnipeds, penguins, crocodilians, or even otters, and since my local one has both Gentoo Penguins and Sea Otters then I feel rather spoiled.
My thoughts were largely along the lines of not much had really changed over the years, it's about as traditional a Sea Life can be with the usual local species, spider crabs, jellyfish etc, the tropical section was new but just uninspiring and with the same few tropical species most places have like Red-Bellied Piranha and Snake-necked Turtle. But then at the end it has probably the best view into a main tank that Sea Life have ever created in this country. There are seats to linger, a Green Sea Turtle, some impressive Southern Stingrays, and a myriad of shark species including at least one White-tipped Reef Shark amongst the Black-tipped. Not the worst way to end my visit, and very quiet so that helped my enjoyment.

After that I went and checked into my Bed & Breakfast, found out that breakfast wasn't an option due to kitchen issues, hence the £12 price tag. Dropped my stuff off, went into the town, checked out the illuminations, and (in true Brum fashion) found myself a bar playing what effectively could have been my Spotify liked list. Spent an hour there, went back to my place which was about a three minute walk away, quick shower, chatted to the missus, and then head down ready for the busiest day of the trip the following morning!
 
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Brum said:
Day 1, Part 2 - A Rather Unmemorable Experience

So after leaving Blackpool Zoo I took a stroll through the park it's situated in and jumped on the bus. Did find it odd that the nearest bus stop to the zoo is also shared with the local hospital as I imagine it could well be extremely busy, and probably very unpleasant for anyone leaving Accident & Emergency with any sort of physical injury...
After arriving in the town centre I made my way to the sea front where the Sea Life Centre is situated. Turned up at the door, handed over my Carex bottle with voucher for half price entry, then was pleasantly surprised to be handed said bottle back with voucher still in tact. Result, entry for about £10 wasn't too shabby. Unfortunately I don't really recall much about the actual visit as I'm not the biggest fish guy in the world, and this is a very fish heavy Sea Life. Allow me to explain what I mean, yes I know that aquariums tend to be fish heavy as a rule but a lot of the Sea Life chain have something else as well, be it pinnipeds, penguins, crocodilians, or even otters, and since my local one has both Gentoo Penguins and Sea Otters then I feel rather spoiled.
My thoughts were largely along the lines of not much had really changed over the years, it's about as traditional a Sea Life can be with the usual local species, spider crabs, jellyfish etc, the tropical section was new but just uninspiring and with the same few tropical species most places have like Red-Bellied Piranha and Snake-necked Turtle. But then at the end it has probably the best view into a main tank that Sea Life have ever created in this country. There are seats to linger, a Green Sea Turtle, some impressive Southern Stingrays, and a myriad of shark species including at least one White-tipped Reef Shark amongst the Black-tipped. Not the worst way to end my visit, and very quiet so that helped my enjoyment.

After that I went and checked into my Bed & Breakfast, found out that breakfast wasn't an option due to Kitchen issues, hence the £12 price tag. Dropped my stuff off, went into the town, checked out the illuminations, and found myself a bar playing what effectively could have been my Spotify liked list. Spent an hour there, went back to my place which was about a three minute walk away, quick shower, chatted to the missus, and then head down ready for the busiest day of the trip the following morning!
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I don't dislike Sea Life Blackpool, but I do agree with you that it does need something to really stand out from the others, like Birmingham's sea otters or Weymouth's fairy penguins. I remember there was a brief period in the mid 2000's when they had sea snakes, but this wasn't for long and I only ever saw them once.
 
Day 2, Part 1 - Things Are Going Too Smoothly...

So I woke up at about 7.30 the following morning, had a shower, Googled the way to the train station, gathered my stuff, and took my leave. On my way to the station I stopped at a Greggs (for those of you outside of the UK they're a bakery chain that sell hot, cheap, but unhealthy food) and grabbed myself a bacon roll and cup of tea.
Got to the train station for just gone 9, booked myself onto a train to Bolton and settled down to look at the nice scenery and consult my itinerary for the day. The plan was to hop off in Bolton, spend an hour at the museum and aquarium, back on the train down to Manchester, do the museum and vivarium there, and since I still had my Carex bottle Manchester Sea Life was also a possibility.
I arrived in Bolton at a little after 10 and took a brisk walk from the station to Bolton Museum & Aquarium which probably took me about 15 minutes to do. Upon getting to the museum I realised that the museum side of things was far smaller than I expected, and also had three school groups there... After realising this fact I elected to start in the basement with the aquarium in the hope that the groups had dispersed or been taken off to classrooms in the meantime.
The aquarium here is very old school in design, rather similar in style to Chester Zoo or Tropiquaria, but here the focus is solely on freshwater fish and has some rather unusual species displayed. My only real target species were the Bigtooth River Stingray (Potamotrygon henlei) and I definitely saw them, but as for the rest of the collection, well, again, not the biggest fish fan. All the tanks (bar the Amazon one) looked more than adequate for their inhabitants, signage was good, the geographic mixes were pretty much spot on unlike most places, and there was definitely the feeling that this place took its role seriously.
Anyway, back upstairs I found the school groups were in the two areas I was interested in so I sucked it up and went into the Natural History Gallery - nice enough but half of it was closed off and it was getting claustrophobic so I left. I did stumble into a temporary exhibition about robots in films and tv which included life-size replicas of Chappie, Robocop, Iron Man (not technically a robot), and a Mars Attacks Alien (really not a robot), amongst others. Not sure what the point in it was but I liked it nonetheless. Attempted to do the Egyptian Gallery, far too many children so I took my leave and headed back to the station for Manchester and the potential of two new collections... Spoiler alert if you didn't read post one but that didn't work out the way I planned!
 
Day 2, Part 2 - Things Are Starting To Go Wrong!

Whilst on my way to the train station I checked my phone for the best route to Manchester's Sea Life Centre, and surprisingly the recommended route was telling me to go via Manchester Airport so that's where I got the train to... Going through Manchester on said train I realised that Google Maps may have had a bit of a meltdown as I went right through Manchester and out the other side! Never mind, got off at the airport, jumped back on a train into the city and headed to the museum. Not the easiest walk of the trip but worse was yet to come the following day...
After finally arriving at the museum I went straight up to the Natural History Gallery which (unlike Bolton) was completely open and school group free! Unfortunately the same couldn't be said about the rest of the place but hey, the bits I wanted to see were so I didn't care.
The museum section is great, there are a lot of interesting specimens on show (some of the Great Apes aren't the best examples of taxidermy though! :rolleyes:), and of particular interest were the animals I knew had come from the long closed Belle Vue Zoo, these included a Tigon and an elephant skeleton displayed just inside the entrance.
The Vivarium was the highlight though, pound for pound some of the best Herp exhibits I've ever seen. Unfortunately a lot of things are off-show but what is there is very good indeed. The highlights were the floor to ceiling terrariums for Emerald Tree Monitor, Panther Chameleon, and Fiji Banded Iguana, along with an exceptionally large enclosure for Giant Anole and Harlequin Toads which blew me away. I don't remember much else on-show but there were definitely some dart frogs and mantellas but alas, this is one of the times I lost a lot of photos. :(
After leaving the museum I headed to the bus stop to try and still get to Sea Life, the bus never showed up, the following bus also never showed up, so then I made the executive decision to drop Sea Life and head to find some food. Found a Wetherspoons (for those outside of the UK they're a pub chain that sell cheap beer and cheap, fairly decent food) which was an easy enough walk to my train station, and ordered myself steak, chips, and a pint, all for the reasonable sum of less than £15. I befriended a family sitting on the next table, had another couple of pints then headed to Piccadilly Station to head to Chester and my next guesthouse.
Unfortunately I'd read my ticket wrong and was supposed to be at Victoria, which isn't exactly close enough for me to have made my train. Fortunately the man behind the ticket desk explained to me that yes, he could sell me a ticket to Chester for £16, or if I brought one from the machine it would be less than half that... When I asked him why that was he didn't know, so it shall remain a mystery!
Finally got to Chester, guesthouse was five minutes from the station and three minutes from several pubs so after checking in, showering and changing I went to sample a couple of Chester's local drinking establishments before heading back and going to bed fairly late as tomorrows start wasn't supposed to be quite as early, and the day was supposed to be straightforward enough... :rolleyes:
 
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Brum said:
Day 1, Part 2 - A Rather Unmemorable Experience

So after leaving Blackpool Zoo I took a stroll through the park it's situated in and jumped on the bus. Did find it odd that the nearest bus stop to the zoo is also shared with the local hospital as I imagine it could well be extremely busy, and probably very unpleasant for anyone leaving Accident & Emergency with any sort of physical injury...
After arriving in the town centre I made my way to the sea front where the Sea Life Centre is situated. Turned up at the door, handed over my Carex bottle with voucher for half price entry, then was pleasantly surprised to be handed said bottle back with voucher still in tact. Result, entry for about £10 wasn't too shabby. Unfortunately I don't really recall much about the actual visit as I'm not the biggest fish guy in the world, and this is a very fish heavy Sea Life. Allow me to explain what I mean, yes I know that aquariums tend to be fish heavy as a rule but a lot of the Sea Life chain have something else as well, be it pinnipeds, penguins, crocodilians, or even otters, and since my local one has both Gentoo Penguins and Sea Otters then I feel rather spoiled.
My thoughts were largely along the lines of not much had really changed over the years, it's about as traditional a Sea Life can be with the usual local species, spider crabs, jellyfish etc, the tropical section was new but just uninspiring and with the same few tropical species most places have like Red-Bellied Piranha and Snake-necked Turtle. But then at the end it has probably the best view into a main tank that Sea Life have ever created in this country. There are seats to linger, a Green Sea Turtle, some impressive Southern Stingrays, and a myriad of shark species including at least one White-tipped Reef Shark amongst the Black-tipped. Not the worst way to end my visit, and very quiet so that helped my enjoyment.

After that I went and checked into my Bed & Breakfast, found out that breakfast wasn't an option due to kitchen issues, hence the £12 price tag. Dropped my stuff off, went into the town, checked out the illuminations, and (in true Brum fashion) found myself a bar playing what effectively could have been my Spotify liked list. Spent an hour there, went back to my place which was about a three minute walk away, quick shower, chatted to the missus, and then head down ready for the busiest day of the trip the following morning!
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More than one of the gorillas has been operated on in said hospital, I have often wondered what the residents of Blackpool thought if they saw one leaving a and e at the hospital. Let alone getting on the bus back to the zoo.
 
I just read all these reviews in one shot and I really enjoyed them. Thanks for sharing your journey with us and I look forward to the remaining reviews and summary comments. :)
 
I can relate to Google maps not understanding Manchester :p I was there just over a month back and trying to get back to the train station was a nightmare, it showed me multiple routes and half of them took me to the wrong place. Got there in the end but not after a bit of stress about missing my train! I agree the vivarium is great, I've never checked out the aquariums though, I might have to next time I'm in the city.
 
Fallax said:
I can relate to Google maps not understanding Manchester :p I was there just over a month back and trying to get back to the train station was a nightmare, it showed me multiple routes and half of them took me to the wrong place. Got there in the end but not after a bit of stress about missing my train! I agree the vivarium is great, I've never checked out the aquariums though, I might have to next time I'm in the city.
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Really glad it isn't just me then! :) I generally have zero issues with Google Maps as a rule but Manchester would have been easier with an A-Z instead... :eek:
 
Jambi said:
I look forward to reading the rest of this thread when you update it, I'm actually planning a visit to Manchester Museum this weekend, so I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on the Vivarium.
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Did you manage to visit? Sorry I didn't get round to posting my thoughts earlier, but life keeps getting in the way! :(
 
Brum said:
Did you manage to visit? Sorry I didn't get round to posting my thoughts earlier, but life keeps getting in the way! :(
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Yes I did visit. I didn't manage to see everything the Vivarium has (no golden mantellas, and I only caught a brief glimpse of a Harlequin toad, but it is still a lovely little section of the museum with a great line-up of species. This was my first time seeing a caecilian, that was a big hilghlight, and I also love the green tree monitor and magnificent tree frogs.
 
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