On the 17th of April each year we celebrate Bat Appreciation Day, so I thought we could go all batty for bats in this week’s blog. What’s the aim of this day? To raise awareness about the vital role these flying mammals play in our ecosystem and playing such an important role in many habitats…
Happy New Year and may the New Year bring happiness, peace, and prosperity to you and your family. For this week’s blog I’m talking to you about one of our newest additions to the park, Naked Mole Rats. If you still haven’t come across them yet they are pink, nearly hairless subterranean rodents that kind…
This week my blog is all about the amazing volunteers that we have working at the park. Each volunteer is a part of the keeping team here and it is important to us keepers to make them feel like they are as well. So, I’d just like to say a massive thank you to all…
This week I thought it would be a good opportunity to give you an update on what has been going down on the mammal section over the last few weeks as there has been quite a lot happening! We are now deep into the summer holidays, which in my opinion is the busiest time of…
To some mud seems like a nuisance. As soon as it rains mud is everywhere and then gets all over everything. Surely there are no benefits of having this slippery, sticky, dirty substance. Mud goes hand in hand with the outdoors. Research has shown that encountering certain number of bacteria is good for us. Helping…
Spring has never truly arrived until you catch sight of your first bee. On Saturday 20th May 2023 we will be celebrating World Bee Day, so get it jotted down in the diary. This day is to raise awareness about the threats they face and most importantly what we can do to help them out. In…
We celebrate National Hedgehog day on 2nd February. So, I thought this week’s blog was a great opportunity to shed a little light on how we can help these endangered creatures. In Britain hedgehogs are found almost everywhere except some Scottish islands. They also tend to be absent from wet areas and pine forests. Uplands…
It’s always exciting when you’ve got new animal arriving at the park. Recently, we welcomed a group of 12 Patagonian Maras! I’ve previously never worked with Mara so it’s a first for me, as a zookeeper. I’ve always found myself going to other zoos and learning about the different animals they have. Or, in my…
Pumpkins post Halloween What to do with your leftover pumpkins after enjoying them over Halloween? It’s a question I’m sure a lot of you are currently asking yourself and there is a variety of ways to dispose of your pumpkins. Each year about 39.9 million pumpkins are bought for decorating. Yet many will be carved…
For this edition of Matts travels we are jetting off around the world and taking 12-hour flight to South Africa. With travel restrictions a thing of the past hopefully, I found myself in a position where I had the opportunity to go back to South Africa. I’ve been very fortunate to have travelled there twice…
