Where are you going in 2012

adrian1963

adrian1963

Well-Known Member
At last after a few late nights and a few worried moments I have now arranged thanks to an old coach driver and his son to have a mini bus on hire so as to make a few daytrips to collections around the UK.

So my yearly trip to Chester is back on (thank god) the mini bus will only carry 10 people but at least it will get us around, by us I mean the group I usually travel with from the photography club I am a member of.

Trips arranged so far and fully booked are to the following collections –

Slimbridge WWT
Blackbrook Zoo (f)
Rutland Waters and Falconry Centre* (f)
Colchester Zoo (f)
Yorkshire Wildlife Park (f)
Chester Zoo
London Zoo (f)
Blackpool Zoo (f)
Twycross Zoo
Welsh Mountain Zoo (f)
*on a camping weekend
(f) full
Trips I will be doing by myself with my niece and family are -

Birdland Park & Gardens
Drayton Manor Park
West Midlands Safari Park

We are in the process of booking a B&B the following holidays a week based in Torquay so as to visit the following –

Living Coast
Newquay Zoo
Paignton Zoo

Anyone know any other collections worth visiting while here please let me know

Early 2013 we intend to visit Scotland for 2 weeks holiday based on B & B to do the following collections and tours

Edinburgh Zoo
Highland Wildlife Park
Boating tours around the islands based from the Isle of Skye

Any information on what to species look for and which collections have some great enclosures new and old would be great as a couple of the people travelling love taking photographs of old buildings, I love to see birds but others love to see Reptiles, Mammals, Aquatic so any info would be great.

What collections are you going to visit this year and what are you looking forward to seeing for the first time or just because they are your favourites?

EDIT - I know we have one or two threads like this already on here but I would like to here your thoghts on the collections I intend to visit with this group of friends and as we have said if this works this year then we would consider staring a Animal Collection Travel Club for 2013 based on what people want so any information would be gratefully recieved many thanks for reading this thread
Adrian
 
2012 plans are the following [*Some aren't confirmed yet but we'll see nearer the time]:

Edinburgh Zoo
Dudley Zoo*
The Scottish Deer Centre
Highland Wildlife Park*
Yorkshire Wildlife Park (Doing the VIP ranger tour for my 15th Birthday in October)
Chester (Plan to do that some point in the year!)
South Lakes WAP
Blackbrook*
Trotters WOA*
Lakeland Wildlife Oasis
Lakes Aquarium*
 
I have a week's holiday in Paignton every year. I can recommend the following (I use public transport, but even so these are easily accessible, although I do take a taxi from Barnstaple to Exmoor [a bus back], so if you are in a car would be even easier although that said Paradise Park is very easy by train):-

Tropiquaria
Exmoor Zoo
Wingz
Paradise Park

I must get my holiday booked! My plan is to visit the above plus Paignton (two full days and a couple of hours on the afternoon I arrive). I am thinking about a short break too to visit either the Welsh Mountain Zoo or The Parrot Zoo. Other than that it should be my regulars - Flamingo Land another couple of times, YWP, Lotherton (twice), Harewood, Filey Bird Garden (aiming for 6 visits this year) and of course Sewerby where I average 2-3 visits a week.
 
I did Wildwood, Port Lympne, Howletts and Wingham in January, next month i'm doing Chester, Blackbrook and Dudley, with possibly Birmingham nature centre.
 
For 2012 i will be hopefully doing to the following:

Usual monthly visit to Yorkshire Wildlife Park
Got a weekend away booked in Wiltshire so will either visit Bristol Zoo or Longleat (wife wont let me do both lol)
Edinburgh
Chester

Already done
Welsh Mountain Zoo
Yorkshire Wildlife Park
 
Well my list so far is....

Africa Alive
Banham Zoo
Colchester Zoo
Linton Zoological Gardens
Paradise Wildlife Park
Thrigby Hall
Whipsnade Zoo
Howletts
Port Lympne Wild Animal Park
Rare species conservation center

As well as regular visits to Edinburgh, Highland Wildlife Park and ofcourse another visit to Chester
 
Lesley4444 said:
Well my list so far is....

Africa Alive
Banham Zoo
Colchester Zoo
Linton Zoological Gardens
Paradise Wildlife Park
Thrigby Hall
Whipsnade Zoo
Howletts
Port Lympne Wild Animal Park
Rare species conservation center

As well as regular visits to Edinburgh, Highland Wildlife Park and ofcourse another visit to Chester
Click to expand...

Is RSCC still accessible? If so (or not) what's still there?
 
Shorts said:
Is RSCC still accessible? If so (or not) what's still there?
Click to expand...

RSCC is closed I think, I don't know how much of it remains but a lot of stuff has moved out to other collections as well [I believe Wingham and Tayto Park have had a few bits from there].
 
I've been to Colchester, Banham and Twycross (local so lots of visits this year) already this year. Will hopefully visit Colchester again this year. Oh and Wales ape and monkey sanctuary and West Midlands Safari Park.

Hopefully will visit:

Chester
Blackbrook
Yorkshire Wildlife Park
Howletts and Port Lympe
Woburn or Whipsnade.
Possibly Edinburgh but think it might be a bit expensive for me.
Would also like to go to Africa Alive again if I get down to Colchester.
 
I've visited Chester and Whipsnade so far, I'll never pass up a chance to visit a zoo if I have the time/money/opportunity so of course I may do more than I list, but I really want to get the following done:

Local/North West and North Wales
Reaseheath College
Blue Planet Aquarium
Knowsley Safari Park
Blackpool Zoo
Blackpool SeaLife Centre
Welsh Mountain Zoo
Rhyl SeaQuarium

Midlands:
Dudley Zoo
West Midlands Safari Park
Twycross Zoo
Birmingham Nature Centre
Birmingham SeaLife Centre
Cotswold Wildlife Park
Cotswold Falconry Centre

South West
Bristol Zoo
Slimbridge WWT

South East
ZSL London Zoo
Colchester Zoo
Crocodiles of the World

Yorkshire
Yorkshire Wildlife Park

Scotland
Edinburgh Zoo
 
I forgot to say I am hoping to get to the Tropical Butterfly House at North Anston this year (having read it has Green-winged Macaws in its bird display).
 
The people of the UK are really spoilt for zoo visiting opportunities!

How l wish l had such diverse opportunities way down under!
 
Done so far:

Twycross
Chester (twice)
Crocodiles of the World
Slimbridge (technically twice, but consecutively!)
Bristol

UK-wise, I have firm plans for Cotswold, London and Colchester.

It's pretty much inevitable that Yorkshire, Blackbrook, Whipsnade, possibly Woburn and probably Dudley/West Mids and Hamerton will happen as day trips at some point (as will extra Chesters and Twycrosses).

This year's overseas zoos should be split between Vietnam, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and a couple of day trips into Germany while in the latter two. Have a pretty reliable exact list of target zoos for all three trips - it's all very exciting (to say nothing of the wildlife possibilities of Vietnam, as I have 6 days in the forest as well!*).


*well, really it's a wildlife trip with a few animal collections appended!
 
Midlands:
Dudley Zoo
West Midlands Safari Park
Twycross Zoo
Birmingham Nature Centre
Birmingham SeaLife Centre
Cotswold Wildlife Park
Cotswold Falconry Centre
Click to expand...

Funny, as a Southerner, I never think of Oxfordshire as being Midlands..:)

This year's overseas zoos should be split between Vietnam, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and a couple of day trips into Germany while in the latter two. Have a pretty reliable exact list of target zoos for all three trips - it's all very exciting (to say nothing of the wildlife possibilities of Vietnam, as I have 6 days in the forest as well!*).
Click to expand...

When are you going to Vietnam, and how long for? What does your provisional itinerary involve?

My main ambition is to get my kids up to Scotland to see the Giant Pandas, and hopefully Walker. As someone who cut his teeth at London in the 1970s, I find it odd to think that my now eleven year old daughter is yet to see a Polar Bear.
 
IanRRobinson said:
When are you going to Vietnam, and how long for? What does your provisional itinerary involve?
Click to expand...

I leave on the 7th March for about 10 days - basically tagging along on a trip organised by some of my dad's friends (including an entomologist from Hanoi NHM, who I'm sure will prove helpful!). We have 6 days in Cuc Phuong National Park (including time for the primate/turtle rescue centres and a trip to try to see wild Delacour's Langurs at Van Long) and a couple of days in Hanoi and a day in Saigon (a very long day, due to the flight patterns), so should be OK to see those cities' zoos and do a bit of city sightseeing too.
 
zooman said:
The people of the UK are really spoilt for zoo visiting opportunities!

How l wish l had such diverse opportunities way down under!
Click to expand...

...yes, but there is a big difference between quantity and quality. Much as I love the posts of Parrots Andrew, the thought of going to some butterfly exhibit because it has green-winged macaws on displays isn't quite the same as having Blijdorp on your doorstep.

I have to say that British - or more specifically English - zoos leave me pretty cold on the whole. Compared to what can be seen in Germany, Holland, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Austria, Poland, even France - we're just very third division. I'd rather save the money from lots of little trips to the various falconry centres, meerkat-displaying farm parks and so on, and instead see a proper place - which means crossing the channel (or the Irish sea, or Hadrian's wall).
 
sooty mangabey said:
...yes, but there is a big difference between quantity and quality. Much as I love the posts of Parrots Andrew, the thought of going to some butterfly exhibit because it has green-winged macaws on displays isn't quite the same as having Blijdorp on your doorstep.
Click to expand...

Sorry - re-reading what I wrote here, it looks as if I'm having a go at Andrew - which wasn't my intention at all. I was, instead, making the point that despite our many, many zoos in the UK, they're not all Walsrodes and Zurichs.
 
Sorry - re-reading what I wrote here, it looks as if I'm having a go at Andrew - which wasn't my intention at all. I was, instead, making the point that despite our many, many zoos in the UK, they're not all Walsrodes and Zurichs.
Click to expand...

In a late 1970s/early 1980s Howletts guidebook John Aspinall talked about the embarrassing gap in quality between UK zoos and those to be found in Germany, Holland and the USA. Sadly, forty years on this hasn't been narrowed, it would appear.

I fear that Chester and Howletts apart, few German, Dutch or American zoo enthusiasts would get very enthusiastic about UK zoos, although the relative abundance of some taxa, such as lemurs, callitrichids and Asiatic lions might be interesting.

The dearth of high quality bird collections (there is nothing in the UK on the scale of Avifauna, never mind Walsrode) and the lack of a truly first rate aquarium spring to mind immediately. And whilst opinions differ on the revamp of the Clore at London, forty years ago it was one of the planet's greatest collections of small mammals, which is not the case any longer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top