Tag Archives: Whipsnade

Having had a somewhat disappointing visit to London Zoo recently, since the cold sunny days were continuing, we thought we’d try our local Whipsnade Zoo today. If all else fails, Whipsnade is at least a very pleasant environment for a walk.

Although the day was bright and sunny chez nous, there was still quite a bit of freezing mist hanging over much of Whipsnade in its very exposed position atop the downs near Dunstable. All the plants were coated in some quite impressive frost crystals. In fact, everything that wasn’t moving was coated in quite impressive frost crystals up to 1cm long. The sun broke through occasionally but, of course, disappeared as soon as cold fingers made ready with any cameras. We usually go to amazing lengths to exclude fences from our shots but, in this instance, they became interesting subjects in their own right.

I had foolishly preformed romantic ideas of photographing the European Bison snorting lungfuls of misty breath against the low winter sun. It’s never a good idea to form ideas that cannot be stage managed. No backlit lungfuls of breath were on offer but the Bison were nonetheless partially cooperative. I did manage to get a decent bars-free shot of the front end of one beast in its frosty paddock. Their more usual behaviour is to turn their backs to me and hang around near the ugly, necessarily heavy-duty fencing.

Most of the animals were very sensibly not venturing outside so it didn’t take too long for us to saunter round the 3½-mile circuit. All but one of the Meerkats were staying in the warm but, very dutifully, one less-than-delighted-looking individual was hunkered down mounting guard in the freezing cold on top of their frosty lookout mound. Our circuit produced a closer than usual encounter with a Reeve’s Muntjac which was clearly more intent on munching grass between patches of frost than worrying about my proximity. A Peacock also got up close and personal with Carol; I suspect it was probably looking for some food.

In winter the external car park at Whipsnade remains closed and cars are allowed in free of charge. On our way out, this winter concession gave us an opportunity to drive around the “passage through Asia” (pedestrians not permitted) where there are many deer of several species. My Asian deer recognition isn’t up to much, I’m afraid, so I can’t say for certain who Carol managed to get a close portrait of but here she is anyway. (Might it be a female Père David’s Deer, I wonder?)

Must go back and identify this chapess.

I was feeling a bit lost today. It’s a day off in the Tour de France so there was no racing to watch this afternoon. Mind you, after a particularly exciting start to Le Tour last week, the weekend’s stages in the Pyrenees didn’t seem to provide much actual racing, either. All but one of the main contenders seemed uninterested in chasing down any breakaways and were content to plod home (relatively speaking) and maintain the status quo. Everyone seems to be waiting for a showdown, hopefully in the Alps but at least up the killer Mont Ventoux on the penultimate day. Somebody should inform the team managers that cycling is of itself worth absolutely nothing and that the entire team becomes worth something only when/if entertainment is involved. Fortunately the Pyrenean scenery was stunning in the glorious weekend sunshine. Let’s hope a few flat sprint stages back across France in the coming week inject more life into the proceedings.

Since we also had clear calendar and were effectively thumb twiddling, we decided to brave the forecast showers, some of which might be heavy, to go and see if there was any activity at Whipsnade Zoo. It would, after all, be one of our last chances for a civilized visit as it is fast-approaching the time when it becomes a no-go zone courtesy of the summer school holidays. I can’t help but think that Wimbledon fortnight was summer and that, since the weather now seems to have resumed normal service, the poor little rugrats have rather missed the boat, but I digress once again …

Most of Whipsnade’s inmates appeared similarly unimpressed by our blistering July temperatures and were mostly subdued. A group of people on what I imagine was a keeper experience day did get the small-clawed otters jumping around with excitement as they threw them pieces of dismembered rat for lunch. I decided I didn’t really want a picture of a painfully cute small-clawed otter rather ruining its image with a rat tail dangling from its mouth as it chewed its way through the pelvic girdle. Patience was rewarded by a decent photo opportunity as we made our way towards the exit past a few emus that were clearly having a collective bad hair day. Mind you, the rain probably wasn’t helping their coiffures.

After the emus became bored with posing, we added a completely new critter to our collection when we made a rare excursion into the so-called Discovery Centre, which seemed like a reasonable place on a relatively quiet day to escape the cool and damp. In a pleasantly calm and quiet atmosphere, an impressive sail-finned lizard was basking under its sun lamp, and who could blame it. I didn’t really notice the stunning blue colour of its eye until we returned to process our efforts.

We’ve had more interesting days at Whipsnade but I did come away with something.

On Tuesday Carol cleared off with her sister to rummage around looking for some dusty documents at The National Archive so yours truly was left to amuse himself. It turned out to be a better day than advertized; no thundery showers ever appeared and, although quite windy, the sun shone more than not. So, out came the Mazda, down went his roof and into his boot went my camera, Even though we’re approaching Easter and rugrats could have been a problem, it seemed like a perfectly pleasant day for a bracing walk around Whipsnade to see if anyone would pose for some portraits.

First port of call was the oriental short-clawed otters. I’ve now noticed that they are actually labelled “small-clawed otters” but my old/bad habits die hard. whoever they are, they are usually good value. This day was no exception and, true to form, every time they heard an internal combustion engine they stood up on their hind legs expecting food to be delivered. Having failed last time, this time I managed to capture one doing an excellent Tommy Cooper impression, though “squeak” didn’t have quite the effect of “just like that”.

There was a kind of show and tell (clearly I’ve been watching too much American television) taking place at the elephant arena, actually billed as “ask the keeper”, I think. The Asian elephants seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact that much of the conversation revolved around elephant urine. Curious! Serves me right for joining a conversation half way through, I suppose.

Staying with the macro inmates, the greater one-horned rhino keeper was having a wonderful time spring-cleaning junior’s bedroom and junior had been locked out. These guys are the armour-plated heavyweights of the rhino world. Let’s face it, all rhinos are damned heavy but these are huge. Anyway, junior didn’t seem to like being locked out and kept wandering up and down the substantial iron bars, occasionally pawing them trying to get back in.  Once, however, he or she (I’m utterly hopeless at sexing greater one-horned rhinos – and far too scared to attempt it) condescended to wander away from the bars so I could get a half-decent portrait. I simply cannot stand shots with bars and fences. Picky, picky!

Very unusually, the Pere David’s deer were being cooperative and showing themselves to their adoring pedestrian public. Quite often, they are really only easily seen from a car on the so-called “drive through Asia” route. The males  (are they bucks or stags?) have significant wonderful velvety antlers that really must help develop their neck muscles. I imagine that the male with the finest set of antlers gets to give many more muscles some good exercise, too.

Finally, I couldn’t resist another portrait of one of the many Patagonian maras that roam free around the Whipsnade grounds. I remain amazed that none seem to have escaped into the Bedfordshire countryside.

If only I had not parked poor Mazzie under a tree, I wouldn’t have had to wash him when I returned home. Lesson for the future.