Birthday Treat

It was my birthday on Monday. I'm not going to tell you which one as I don't really believe it myself. How can time pass so quickly? 

Usually we go out for a meal to celebrate birthdays but that has been off the calendar for the last couple of birthdays. The restaurants opened on Monday, so we could have booked a table, but neither of us feel ready for that leap of faith yet.

Instead we booked a day out at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park taking some sandwiches with us for our lunch.

Pre-Covid we visited the park at least once a month. We did manage a visit between lockdowns, when the park was allowed to briefly open, but a lot of things have changed since our last visit. To start with, the location of the entrance has moved and the park has almost doubled in area. This has allowed space for new animal residents, some of which we managed to see.

The first newbies that we saw was a pack of bush dogs. They are housed in a new Atlantic Forest area.

Also housed in this area are a pair of maned wolves. These look like foxes on stilts and run like horses. They were still indoors when we first arrived but were out and about when we passed again on the way back to the exit.

A couple of tapirs, the third new residents, in this area remained indoors so we have yet to 'meet' them.

The next area we came to was the Himalayan Pass where we had our best view yet of the red pandas. Although not newcomers the pandas are usually hidden up in the trees, but they had just been given a new supply of bamboo and so were busy feeding.

Moving on to the Ethiopian section, the gelada monkeys were busily performing their morning grooming activities. One in particular seemed to be ecstatic

Hyenas are also housed in this area but so far they have alluded us. During lockdown two cubs were born but we have not yet seem any of the family of four.

For much of the day we were sheltering under umbrellas so we didn't take as many photos as usual. After sifting through the 190 taken, I've ending up with 88. Usually my photo count is into the hundreds.

Since our last visit two polar bears have gone off to another location for breeding purposes, but three more young males have arrived so Nobby, the remaining polar bear, has three new companions. I'd just about sorted out which bear was which but now I'm back to square one. I'm pretty sure that the one picture below, is a newcomer but I've no idea which one. There again, Nobby will have grown quite a bit since we last saw him.

There are always lots of gulls and magpies, on the lookout for scraps, hanging around but the bears seem to have no interest in them.

The rhinos seemed not to mind the weather.

As we wandered around the park, the lions were being very vocal but of course, when we headed their way, they were doing what lions seem to like most - snoozing!

Before heading home, we did daringly have a cappuccino and a piece of carrot cake in the under cover, outdoor area of the cafe inside the park. Martyn said that I couldn't have a birthday without cake. Translated this meant that he would like one.

All in all despite the weather we had an enjoyable, Covid safe, day out and we still have plenty of animals to spot that so far have alluded us.

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett