Wingham Wildlife Park

Posted: Sunday, June 28th, 2009 in All, Day's Out

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For some reason I never made it to Wingham Wildlife Park last summer, so I have been eager to return to see if it has changed much as it is now under different management. On the whole it is pretty much the same, but with some worthwhile additions (see Prairie Dogs later in this entry) and improvements to the facilities. Everything is well spaced out but not too far so that you end up walking miles before seeing anything.

The first wildlife you see, or hear (even above the noise of the Peacocks) is the Black-headed Caique. I hope I am right in thinking that this is the same bird that was here the last time we visited. If it isn’t then I can only conclude that the species as a whole enjoy random screeching. The bird isn’t tethered so I guess he/she likes living at Wingham.

One of the cool features at Howletts is the Lemur enclosure where you can walk in amongst them, making the whole experience a lot more real. I am glad to say that this is also present at Wingham, although they were all in a lazy mood in the afternoon heat during our visit – but the fact that you can walk right in and get up close and personal with them is great.

The ubiquitous Meerkat is always good value, and I can watch them for hours. They rank highly in the ‘cute animal league tables’ because they are so easy to watch. They actually move about unlike a lot of the animals you tend to find. Don’t get me wrong, it is great to see exotic species, but is also fun to actually see animals getting on with their daily business rather than pacing mindlessly or just sitting down. There is no fear of that with the Meerkat of course, they are insane all the time.

A recent(ish) addition to the animals at Wingham is the American Alligator. He is large. Very large. Perhaps too large for his enclosure, but maybe he is happy. Worth a gawp at anyway.

I am glad to say that the tropical house is still there with an exclusive section for the butterflies. It was too warm to hang around in there for long, but I love butterflies so it was good just to see some foreign species milling about. It must have been hot outside as my lens didn’t steam up, as is usual in such places.

No trip is complete without some snout.

The pygmy goats are good value – like many of the wildfowl there they wander freely around the park, which amuses and/or scares small children and they can startle photographers who are crouched down with their camera in hand trying to shoot other goats.

The best part of the visit was undoubtedly the Prairie Dog enclosure. This was not present on our last visit so it was a pleasant surprise to see it and the new winner in my ‘cute animal league’. The enclosure is huge and there must be over 30 of the little chaps. Again, this enclosure is built for the visitor to walk amongst the animals, although it was closed as there were so many baby Prairie Dogs. I can’t complain at that at all as they were so chilled they came right over to the low fence and photography was made easy.

Some people always seem to overdress when going to the zoo. One should always assume there will be either mud or poo or a combination of both, but to some it is another chance to be on a fashion parade. I reckon she likes pink. Shortly after this photo she wandered up on a mound inhabited by some of the older (possibly escaped) Prairie Dogs, which shocked her. Maybe they like pink too.

Wingham Wildlife Park is great. There are loads of facilities to eat and drink with a full menu on offer, at least during the summer months. There are plenty of species to see – and all are listed on their site. The price is good too. At the time of writing the entrance fee for adults is £8.50, which is considerably lower than somewhere like Howletts, which is just up the road. Whilst there may be more exotic speacies on offer there, on the whole you actually see more at Wingham and I certainly felt more engaged there as you are so close to the animals.

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