A Trip To Find Some Tiger Cubs

When zoos announce that they have had a baby of any species, zookeepers and photographers get excited. The bigger or more rare the animal the more exciting the news of a new baby is and for us hearing of the birth of two new Amur Tiger Cubs born at Banham zoo we new we needed to go and see them.

We, being me and Michael, have never been to Banham zoo and we were unsure on when we would be able to go and visit but lucky for us my parents gave us a trip to Banham zoo as a Christmas present so to start off the new year right we headed straight to Banham for 2 nights going to the zoo on the 3rd January.

Now I have been to a lot of zoo’s but Banham really impressed me!

All their enclosures were amazing and the number of species they had was incredible, as well as having Amur tigers they also had Sri Lankan leopards, snow leopards and Pallas cats.

I really enjoyed seeing the maned wolf as this is a species my local zoo does not have.

I was disappointed that the giraffes were off show as the inside area was closed due to covid but overall we got to see a good selection of the animals species they had there.

Now lets circle back to the tigers cubs, they were just the cutest things I have seen. The first glimpse I got of the cubs was them playing behind a wall and I thought to myself “this is it isn’t it?” But luckily I was wrong and soon enough the pair came bounding into the front enclosure followed closely by mum. Eventually the mother led the cubs into the outside enclosure and we got to see them playing.

They were so energetic, running around the enclosure and playing, one went into the water and the pair of them were climbing in a tree. Then one ran back into the inside enclosure and soon emerged dragging a piece of meat with it, it was quite comical.

At the end of the day the male cub Luka was out with his parents and he ran up and climbed onto his dads back it was so funny to watch.

Overall we had a really good trip and I think we are so lucky to have been able to go to Banham zoo and see the tiger cubs.

Thank you for reading and I hope you like my pictures,

Megan xoxo

My First Visit To Colchester Zoo Of 2022

On the way back from Banham zoo we decided to stop off into Colchester zoo as it was something else to do, the weather wasn’t great but luckily the rain held off whilst we was there.

Our original plan was to head straight to the canteen to get some food but the line was too long so we decided to head around and see all of our favourite animals.

We started with the orangs but they were inside so we didn’t get to see much of them or see them in their outside enclosure, we did watch the sealions from the under water tunnel though.

We then headed down to the sun bears and one of them was in the outside enclosure and we got some nice photos of him as he made his way down the enclosure but he suddenly turned around and headed back up to the inside enclosure.

Leopards was next on our list, we watched Ezra for a bit and then we payed Crispin a visit. We were quite lucky as he was very active walking around his enclosure and climbing up onto the ledges.

We then headed back down to the meerkats, lions and geladas and saw the new baby gelada which was so cute!

The hyenas were one of my favourites from today, all three of them were in the outside enclosure and they would come to the front to show off and we managed to get some lovely photographs of them, it was almost like they were curious about us watching them.

I was upset that we didn’t get to see the giraffes at Banham so we went to the giraffe house and stayed in there for longer than we planned as it was so warm in there.

We saw the tigers , the wolves, and the owls and headed around to the red pandas. We got to the short clawed otters just as Michael’s camera battery was about to die but luckily they came bounding over before it did and we got a surprise when we saw three new little baby otters which have now been announced and they are called Ruby, Robin and Rupert.

For a couple of hours we had a really nice time, our gold passes are running out at the end of the month but you can bet we will be renewing them!

Thanks for reading,

Megan xoxo

Fossil Hunting On The Last Day Of The Year

Fossil hunting is best done in the winter and there has been so many other things going on that we hadn’t had any time to get out and go.

Me and Michael we attending a funeral and we were chatting with my cousins and it came about that they also wanted to go fossil hunting so we arranged a trip on the 31st December 2021.

We headed over to Walton-On-The-Naze as there are facilities there and it makes me feel more comfortable especially if we have spent a chilly day on the beach but luckily the weather stayed clear and dry with a little bit of sunshine to light up our finds.

As soon as we arrived onto the beach me and Michael headed one way whilst my cousins headed in the opposite directions looking under the rocks. I stuck to the shingle and almost immediately found a nice took.

We walked all along the beach looking through shingle piles and in the London clay and eventually we had a nice little haul.

I had collected sharks teeth, shells and sea glass and everything in between.

It was such a busy day at the beach that the walk back to the car only revealed one sharks tooth, luckily it was the biggest and nicest find of the day but the rest of the beach had been pillaged and ruined by footprints and dogs digging holes here and then.

the sun was starting to set so we called it quits but we had a good day out and hope to return soon!

Thanks for reading, let me know if you have been fossil hunting and found anything cool!

Megan xoxo

Starting The New Year With A Bang

The past year has been difficult for so many people and my family felt the brunt of 2021 as much as any other. In 2021 I lost all three of my grandparents and all three of my pets but a lot of good things happened too.

I met my nephew, celebrated my 24th birthday, I went on holiday to combe martin with my family for two weeks in the summer and I started back at uni.

I set up a small photography business with my boyfriend and that has allowed us to visit a total of six different zoos this year with Colchester being our most visited. We have lots of plans to travel to more zoos this year and I also want to visit some aquariums.

We decided that to welcome in 2022 we were going to stick to all the traditions we did when we were younger. We watched Joules Holland on the tele and we counted down the time until it struck midnight where we sang auld lang syne and then we all ran outside with our saucepans and banged them whilst we watched the fireworks our neighbours were setting off.

We said it was to scare away the demons and hopefully bring us better luck than we had last year.

But for now here’s to a better 2022 and I hope you have a very happy new year!

Megan xoxo

Back To The Welsh Mountain Zoo

This is my second visit to the welsh mountain zoo this year, I went with Michael this time when he came up to Bangor to visit me and yes, I remembered my SD Card for my camera this time!

And boy am I glad I did!

We got really lucky with the animals this time around, not that we aren’t lucky in most places but I feel it is important to say it.

We saw pretty much all of the animals The baby chimps were really cute to watch and we got there when they were about to do a feed so all the chimps went into their outside enclosure.

The red panda and the otters were out being menaces and at first we didn’t manage to see the snow leopards but we looped back at the end of the visit and the leopard was in the outside enclosure.

We watch the sealions as they swam around entertaining themselves and the penguins were all waiting at the top of their enclosure.

We then crossed over to the other side of the zoo where we watched the bears for a while, we saw the birds in the aviary and the gibbons and spider monkey.

We stopped off into the crocodile house and the reptile house and we briefly saw the rabbits in the farmyard but it was too cold for them so most of them were inside.

We saw the meerkats and they were being fed which had disturber the porcupine but he was locked inside, I’m guessing so the person doing the experience doesn’t get hurt.

We decided we wanted to go back and try and see the tigers again as we didn’t manage to see them properly earlier in the day. As we were on our way down the hill we decided to stop off at their outside enclosure and they were out! This is the first time I have been able to see them outside which was really cool and the tiger just sat right in front of us.

It really was an amazing day!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy my pictures,

Megan xoxo

Zoo’s And Aquariums To Visit In the UK

These are some of the zoos and aquariums I have visited in the UK and why I think you should take a trip there!

Chester Zoo

Chester zoo is the best zoo in the UK in terms of size and conservation efforts. They have some of the best species to see and they are at the top of breeding in the UK, well worth a trip.

Colchester Zoo

Colchester zoo is my local zoo and they one I grew up going too, I love going to this zoo it a good size and has lots of awesome species from elephants to sloths, they often put on events for school holidays.

London Zoo

Being a city zoo London is constantly busy, this is a nice size zoo with 592 different species of animals. This zoo makes a nice day out with lots of history to be learned as well as animals to see.

Whipsnade Zoo

Whipsnade zoo is the sister zoo to London as both come under ZSL. this zoo is a zoo/safari park as you can drive around but the animals are in their enclosures. The bears are great to see and my favourite was the sloth bears.

Edinburgh Zoo

I have only visited Edinburgh zoo once and it was part of a college trip, the focal point of the zoo is the pandas and they are well worth a visit!

Yorkshire Wildlife park

Polar bears! Need I say more? I had a great time when I visited a few years ago, we watched the polar bears for ages, I enjoyed their craft village and I have seen some of their event advertised including summer sleepovers and music concerts.

Welsh Mountain Zoo

Welsh Mountain Zoo is a small zoo with some big species, my favourites to see when I visit is the snow leopards, tigers and the bears.

Combe Martin Wildlife And Dinosaur park

I am blown away by the amount of species here, I love the primates and the racoons, it was actually the first time I saw racoons in a zoo and I watched them for ages! You can also swim with sealions here!

Exmoor Zoo

Home to the Exmoor beast this is a small but cute little zoo and well worth a visit for the big cats!

Newquay Zoo

I haven’t been to Newquay zoo in a long time, and all I remember is the zebras but I hope to visit again soon.

Sea life centre Southend

The aquarium at Southend has recently expanded to include some mammals. I love aquariums and Southend is great if you need to kill an hour or two.

Sea life Birmingham

I have not visited sea life Birmingham yet but I hope to do so in the near future as they are the only place in the UK to house rescued sea otters. This aquarium is high on my bucket list of places to visit this year.

London’s Sea life centre

I haven’t been to this aquarium in a few years as it is always busy but being in the centre of London it offers a good day out. See the sea life and then head round to Trafalgar square.

I hope this list helps, there are quite a few on there that I am going to try to visit again this year, lets just hope my plans can go ahead!.

Thanks for reading,

Megan xoxo

An Anniversary Trip To Chester Zoo

For my anniversary I was still at Uni so Michael came up to visit for a few days and we went on some day trips. On the day of our anniversary we drove over to Chester zoo for a great day of animal photography.

We started with the green section which is the section we done last on our last trip. We watched the giant otters for a long time but we missed out on the fossa.

Yet again we wanted to see as many animals as we could so we followed down and saw the mongoose and the jaguars before heading back to the chimpanzees.

We were really lucky with the animals and the photos we got on this trip, it seems that we were in the right place at the right time, we saw both the sun bears and the Andean bears and the anteater was in his outside enclosure which was really cool to see.

We had perfect timing with the orangutan, we wanted to see Emma with baby Hilda and as soon as we got there we got some good pictures and 5 seconds later Emma pulled a blanket over her head covering both her and the baby.

We saw the rhinos and the hunting dogs and this time we walked around to see the meerkats but it was very crowded so we headed back to the hunting dogs.

As we headed back towards the jaguars we stopped off to watch the elephants as they were putting on a bit of a show. The younger members of the heard were messing about, they were following each other around the enclosure and playing on a ledge. The babies were struggling to get get up and they were hitting each other with their trunks and kicking each other. It was quite hilarious but they were just playing, if they were fighting they could do some serious damage.

After the elephants we realised the zoo was closing soon so we rushed to the Lion and the Jaguars and then we headed back to the car and headed home.

It was such a good day and we saw so many animals!

I am glad we got so many good images this time around and some that look very autumnal (I’m looking at you giant otter!)

Thanks for reading, you can find the video over on youtube: https://youtu.be/FcKOOwl5mfA

Megan xoxo

A Trip To Jimmy’s Farm

Jimmy’s farm is one of those places that I have been meaning to go to for a long time but I just haven’t got there until now. After watching Jimmy’s farm on TV and seeing on social media that there was a baby tapir I wanted to see the baby before it got too big so me and Michael took a trip to the farm!

I had an amazing time, I actually know some of the keepers there so wanted to visit and see their work and I was blown away by the species they have there.

Although small, the site is well laid out and there is a mixture of exotic and farm animals to be seen. The first animal I saw (and fell in love with) was the tiny orphaned fawn that the farm rescued, she was so sweet and at a time when I needed some love she sucked on my fingers as I fed her and I took this as a sign.

We fed the goats and the sheep and wandered around following the one way system. We passed the donkeys and followed around to see the macaques and the zebras.

We then headed round and watched the racoons and the coatis for a while before walking through the wallaby walkthrough and going into the crocodile house.

We headed back up passing the reindeers and we walked around the woodlands.

We stopped off for some lunch next to the piglets and as we were leaving the woodlands we got a glimpse of the anteater so we watched him as he played with some enrichment.

We saw the rabbits and the camels and then we went around again.

The only animal we didn’t see was the skunks.

It really was a great day out and I would highly recommend going especially if you have young children.

Thanks for reading,

Megan xoxo

Things to do in North wales

Welsh Mountain zoo

This small zoo is also worth a visit as they have big species such as the bears, tigers and snow leopards. This zoo is great if you need to get out for a few hours and the tickets are not that expensive either.

Newborough Forest

This is the first place that comes to mind when I give advice to someone who is visiting north wales, the forest leads right onto the beach and this is the perfect place to get the best of both worlds.

Conwy Castle

I am obsessed with castles and although they are only ruins Conwy castle is still an awesome day out as you can climb up to the top of the castle walls an look out over the ocean.

Penrhyn castle

Penrhyn castle is located in Bangor and is owned by the national trust, you can look around the castle, visit the gift shop and the café or just wander around the grounds and see the sheep but this castle is well worth a visit.

Bangor University

As a student here I highly recommend paying a visit to the University. The main arts building of the university is dubbed the Hogwarts building and it is magical.

Portmerion

I have not been to this Italian inspired village yet but it is definitely on y bucket list. I think it should be on yours as well!

Snowdonia

Snowdonia national park is rather large so depending on what you are looking for you can probably go do it here. From shopping in bewts-y-coed to hiking up mount Snowdon, there is something for everyone.

Chester Zoo

Although not technically in North Wales Chester zoo is only a one hour journey from Bangor so if you are in the area it is definitely worth the trip over there to see all the amazing animals they have.

I hope this gives you an idea for some things to do if you are ever in north wales.

Thanks for reading,

Megan xoxo

Things To Do In Cornwall

As a child we would visit Cornwall every year for our summer holiday, we went to lots of different places from beaches to theme parks and these are some of the places I still want to go to as an adult now.

Tintagel

Tintagel is one of the most magical places I have been to, home of king Arthurs castle and Merlin’s cave the whole town is quaint and filled with this legend. The walk to the castle is all downhill and the walk back is strenuous but the views of the castle and the ocean from the headland is breath taking. There are cute crystal shops and souvenir shops and the perfect place to grab an ice cream.

Boscastle

I love going to Boscastle, aside from the harbour which is perfect for crabbing there is a few shops to have a look in as well as a witchcraft museum. Boscastle is cared for by the national trust and there is a small museum in the visitor centre which shows the devastating flood that happened in 2004. it is very interesting to see.

Bude

Bude is a bit different to other sea side towns, there is a car park at the visitor centre and from there you can walk two ways. The first takes you on a walk along the canal which leads to a very sandy beach which is perfect for sunbathing and the other takes you up the road and into the high street. Both are recommended.

Pengenna pasties

Pengenna pasties is the best pasty shop in Cornwall with shops in Bude, Tintagel and St Ives there are plenty of places you can get a proper Cornish pasty.

Widemouth bay

Widemouth bay is the perfect beach for rock pooling, you can find crabs, fish and starfish to name just a few species. There is also a little café in the car park where you can grab an Ice cream.

Padstow

Padstow is amazing, the harbour is perfect for crabbing and for those not interested in that there are restaurants and shops for you to have a look in, you can get boat trips and there is also a lobster hatchery you can have a look around.

Newquay

Newquay is a nice beach which is perfect for surfing, there is also an aquarium and a town with some shops to look around. You can also visit Newquay zoo.

I hope this gives you some ideas on where to visit if you go to cornwall,

Thanks for reading,

Megan xoxo