Zoo Trip #46: Wild Place Project (30th April 2015)

The Wild Place Project is an extension to Bristol Zoo and it opened quite recently, on 22nd July 2013, and is gradually accumulating more animals in its 55-hectares above the Severn Channel. It began with some lemurs from Bristol Zoo in a large walk-through area and then on 13th March 2014 five grey European wolves arrived.

The documentation for the wolves gave their names but it wasn't clear which was which so gradually the nicknames casually allotted for identification purposes began to stick - the wolf in my blip is called Peachey because of the hue of his fur. They come from two litters by the same mother. The two oldest, Peachey and Lukey, are unsurprisingly the most dominant and it was wonderful to watch them snarling and scrapping over their food. At one time these wolves were native to the British Isles but had been exterminated by the thirteenth century in England and by the 1600s in Scotland. They are now found in North East Europe and Russia and have recently expanded into Northern Italy.

I've always been interested in Wolves and used to see the ones at London Zoo when I worked in Regent Street as they were visible from Regents Park where it was adjacent to the zoo.

I had a great afternoon there and am now a member so will be visiting again. It began with a Cheetah Talk, during which their three cheetahs were fed, then I visited the lemurs, who put on a great show for me, then saw all five wolves and learned about them at the Wolf Talk. I also made friends with an okapi as I was eating my lunch, who came up to the fence and let me stroke its nose.

I also saw pygmy goats, guinea fowl, elands and a zebra called Zack, and took a woodland walk through Webb's Brake and Blackhorse Woods, through bluebells and glades, in the good company of one young staff member. She was checking the area to make sure no-one got locked in, and as we emerged back in the park we saw a wild rural red fox run across the meadow beside us.

They have just acquired two black and white ruffed lemurs, now settling in before going on display, and are raising funds for a giraffe, so it is very much an ongoing project.

The Extra shots show ring-tailed lemurs with young, a red-bellied lemur and the okapi I mentioned earlier.

L.
7.5.2015 (2044 hr)

Blip #1567 (#1817 including archived blips)
Consecutive Blip #009
Day #1863
LOTD #802 (#922 including archived blips)

Wild Place Project, Bristol, 30 April 2015 (Flickr album)

Lenses: Pentax 17-70 mm (Blip), Pentax 55-300 mm x1.4 rear converter, iPad

Zoo Trip series
Taken Through Glass series
Black & White and Monochrome series

Lozarhythm Of The Day:
The Drifters - Save the Last Dance for Me (recorded 19 May 1960, Atlantic Studios, New York NY)
R.I.P. Ben E King (b. 28 September 1938, Henderson NC; d. 30.4.2015, Hackensack NJ). He was the lead singer on this Drifters hit, written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, and produced by Leiber and Stoller.

One year ago:
Maple Leaves