Chester Zoo

The other day we went to Chester Zoo. Although the weather was rubbish we still had a wonderful time. We usually go quite often because we are members but due to restrictions the zoo was closed down. The zoo were struggling to feed the animals and were worried about them. Luckily the government said that zoos could open!



We love going to the zoo to see animals from all over the World. Chester Zoo have 128 acres of zoological gardens which house 35,000 animals and have 2 million visitors every year. The zoo was opened in 1931 by George Mottershead and his family. The BBC did a series called 'Our Zoo' all about how the zoo started and the problems they had. There have been loads of changes and improvement over the years, two recent additions are The Madagascar area which opened in 2018 and the new lion enclosure which opened in 2019. There newest additions are the first ever Andean bear twins to be born in the UK! We didn't manage two see them this time but hopefully we will see them next time. Chester Zoo often has baby animals as they have a very good breeding program and we have seen many different ones on our other visits. Chester Zoo have a conservation project that they run and their mission is preventing extinction. They are currently running conservation projects all over the World. If you can't get to Chester Zoo there is a program called the 'The Secret Life of The Zoo' broadcasted by Channel 4. You can also check out their YouTube and Facebook pages. 

Prevost's squirrel

Grevy's zebra

Southern Cassowary

Bongo

Painted dogs

Grey crowned crane

Rock hyrax

We also spotted wild moorhen nesting in a river

And some black headed gulls

Comments

  1. Nanny23 July 2020 at 15:18

    You certainly crammed a lot into your visit, I agree that it is a great zoo and have enjoyed my visits there. Sadly the weather wasn't too good, but next time .......

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Waxwings

Image
Recently there have been waxwings in our local Aldi car park and I wanted to see them for myself to get a good photo. Waxwings are birds that winter in this country and travel here from Scandinavia. According to the Wildlife Trust, sometimes only 100 or so Waxwings come to the UK, but other years they come in their thousands and this is known as an irruption. I would would say this year must be an irruption year as they seem to have be spotted all over the country. Rowan berries are their favourite food, so supermarket car parks are always a good place to spot them (Not were I usually go to do my birdwatching!). These are the first ever Waxwings I have seen and it was an unforgettable experience. We arrived at the Aldi car park at about 8am (ish), just as we arrived, we saw someone driving off and thought maybe we were just out of luck and the Waxwings had moved on. At first we didn't see anything except a bush with quite a few berries, but a few moments later a flock of about 20 b
Read more

Spurn Bird Observatory Migfest 2023

Image
 Last weekend we went to Spurn to attend Migfest for the 2nd year in a row. I was full of excitement and couldn't wait to see what we could find! It was a long 4 hour drive from school to Welwick but it was worth it. The air bnb was nice and had a hot tub, which was a bonus!  One of the things we did was go on a Unimog trip to The Point at Spurn. That trip held loads of amazing species like Merlins, Reed Bunting and Pied Wagtails. Also we briefly saw a Roe Deer! On the Sunday morning, I attended 2 Young Birder Activities, which were bird ringing and a youth walk. At the bird ringing, we got lucky! We ringed a Pied Flycatcher (my first ever one to see!), Goldcrest, Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Meadow Pipit. What a lovely variety! On the walk we were lucky enough to see a lot of nice species, including Water Rail, Golden Plover, Spoonbill, Little Grebe and Marsh Harrier. It was nice to go for a walk with other keen young birders. I also got a Rare Bird Alert account for free as I was
Read more

BTO Bird Camp Wales 2023 Part 1

 Recently I attended the 2023 BTO Bird Camp for Wales for the 2nd year in a row. A lot of the friends I met last year like Deri, Tyler, Gabe, Finn and more were there but there were also some new faces. We arrived at the same bunkhouse as last year and waited for everyone to arrive. After that we set up our rooms. I was sharing with Deri, Tyler and Finn. After setting up we headed to the yard and played a game to learn each others names. We had to throw a ball to someone and say their name. I think I was better at throwing than remembering everyone's names! For dinner we had a very nice chilli made by the BTO volunteers with guacamole and nachos. We then set some camp rules that everyone agreed on and signed it. That stayed on the wall for the rest of bird camp. Next up was the evening activity, Bat walk. Bob and Annie, the experts who were there last year did it with us and also another man (I told you I'm hopeless at names!), who was a bat expert, came along just for this act
Read more