UK's Top 5 Zoos??

It really depends on what you want to see and how much travelling you want to do. I think you could argue that you have already visited five of the UK's best zoos which are probably also the biggest collections.
Bristol in the west of England is a nice collection, but it's a city zoo, housed in a very small area and you can see everything in a couple of hours. You could visit Slimbridge on the same day, which is a large waterfowl collection (plus a few other wetland birds and mammals) combined with a nature reserve (take binoculars to see rooks, kingfishers and wild waterfowl).
If you stay the night in the area you can go on to Cotswold, near the road to Oxford and London, which is a nice country park collection built around an old house, stable block and walled garden. It's not huge, but it has some interesting species (including gentle lemurs) in good enclosures.
I would certainly consider Durrell if you are interested in rare reptiles and island species; it's not huge - but it's a very high quality collection and their conservation work is second to none, as I'm sure you know. The disadvantage is that you'd need to fly there and back.
Colchester is a larger collection, not too far from London, but the setting and the enclosures are not particularly attractive. There is a good range of species, but only a few are really unusual.
Twycross is a zoo in transition at the moment. It is more or less in the middle of England, not very close to any other major collections. They have some big plans and I think that it will be a better place to visit in a few years time.
My personal recommendations are Howletts and Port Lympne - but then my favourite animals are primates in general and gorillas in particular (PL has gentle lemurs too). PL has a large sloping site (a little like Edinburgh, but in a rural area) with spectacular views across the Romney Marsh and the English Channel and some very nice enclosures for large mammals. Howletts has some similar enclosures, but their gorillas, cats and most of their monkeys are in the wired enclosures that are so controversial in our Photo Gallery. Both of these collections are in Kent, not too far from London.
Hope this helps

Alan
 
I dont know about top 5 but I reccomend my favourites:

CHESTER - obviously one of the best, if not the best, in the UK. for its huge range of species ranging from the commonly popular such as elephants and chimps to the bizzare and rare, such as tuatara, various hornbills etc

EDINBURGH* - a very nice collection with a very nice variety of species, with a truly world class exhibit (bundungo) but unfortunatley lacking in the reptile department. (it should also be noted Edinburgh is soon to house the ever popular giant pandas)

WHIPSNADE* - a large collection within very large grounds, with some great huge enclosures and with some really interesting species such as Sloth bear. Although Whipsnade seems to lack in birds and reptiles.

BRISTOL - easily the best 'small zoo' with a great collection in nice enclosures, packed into this small area. rarities include an excellent reptile collection, okapi, a great aquarium and invertebrate house. Bristol is more about quality rather than quantity with great exhibits like seal and penguin coasts.

HIGHLAND WILDLIFE PARK*- although out of the way and lacking in the tropical species, Highalnd wildlife park is a great way to see tundra and mountain species. the park has a nice collection including the UK's only japanese macaques and polar bear.

ASPINALL PARKS (howletts and port Lympne)* -A great variety of mammals in innovative enclosures such as the 'palace of the apes'. The aspinall parks are truly the mecca for all gorilla lovers. However despite being spacious and well cared for the enclosures are all quite basic and the park only seems to have large carnivores (and small cats) and ungulates but none of the smaller obscure animals which they could do very well with.

Although it may not be in the top 5 or anything like that, one place certainly not lacking in obscurities is NEWQUAY ZOO - my personal favourite (so obviously this is going to be biased), with owstons palm civet, black wildebeast, carpathian lynx, kinkajou and paca. this is a very small zoo but the collection is broad.

*It should be noted by evaluation of these parks and their inclusion in this post is down to my own knowledge built from zoochat, meaning I haven't actually visited these collections.
 
Just thought I'd report to you all, with 17 of you contributing your opinions, I've used my skills in Statistics (I'm a professional statistician) and accumulated your rankings together to come up with the following Top 15 UK zoos:
1 Chester
2 Edinburgh
3 London
4 Marwell
5 Whipsnade
6 Port Lympne
7 Howletts
8 Bristol
9 Colchester
10 Paignton
11 Highland
12 Twycross
13 Cotswold
14 Durrell
15 Cotswold

Now that really helps me! Thanks again, everyone.
 
Well thats pretty close to what I would have expected to be in the top 10 but I would have them in the following order,
1 Chester Zoo
2 Edinburgh Zoo
3 London Zoo
4 Bristol Zoo
5 Paignton Zoo
6 Marwell Zoo
7 Whipsnade Zoo
8 Port Lympne Wild Animal Park
9 Howletts Wild Animal Park
10 Colchester Zoo

As for a few good ones pushing my top 10 I would say Cotswold Wildlife Park,Newquay Zoo,Living Coasts and Highland Wildlife Park

If you want somewhere a little different I would say Five Sisters Zoo Park,Thrigy Hall Wildlife Gardens,Amazona Zoo(Cromer,Norfolk),Exmoor Zoo.
 
ANyhuis said:
Just thought I'd report to you all, with 17 of you contributing your opinions, I've used my skills in Statistics (I'm a professional statistician) and accumulated your rankings together to come up with the following Top 15 UK zoos:
1 Chester
2 Edinburgh
3 London
4 Marwell
5 Whipsnade
6 Port Lympne
7 Howletts
8 Bristol
9 Colchester
10 Paignton
11 Highland
12 Twycross
13 Cotswold
14 Durrell
15 Cotswold

Now that really helps me! Thanks again, everyone.
Click to expand...

Surely Belfast has to make the top 15?????:confused:
 
That ranking looks fairly correct i'd say, thought I definatly would have placed Whipsnade above London & Marwell. Bristol perhaps could have been a posistion or two lower (with Paignton and Costwolds above it)
The lack of Belfast is perhaps a little strange aswell like Fergie said.
 
Don't forget this list is only based on this thread and relatively few ZooChatters will be Belfast regulars!

I didn't mention Belfast because I've never been (yet!).
 
I'd say my top five are:

Whipsnade
Marwell
Cotswolds
Longleat
Paignton (although it was a few years ago and I don't remember much of it).
 
Sadly, my March zoo trip to England has been cancelled -- or perhaps delayed. Still, I greatly appreciate all of your input. I'm still trying to swing an August trip over there to Europe, hopefully including at least 2 or 3 days in England.
Thanks one and all.
 
Cat-Man said:
do u mind me asking why?
Click to expand...

It's a family thing. I still definitely plan to get over there and see some of these zoos you all have been advocating. I'm intrigued at what the Aspinoll zoos offer, and I'm curious to see Paignton and Bristol.
 
think if your doing the south then you should def include RSCC I guarantee you'll spend as much time there as in any of the bigger collections. If your into seeing real rarities this place is a must! Its only up the road from Howletts. you could probably do both in one day. When I visit a Foreign country I like to see the native wildlife as well so you could go to Wildwood which is in that area as well. Colchester is fantastic I think and not a million miles away either
 
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