British wildlife - a photo tour : Not Exactly Rocket Science

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British wildlife - a photo tour

Category: Amphibians • Birds • Mammals
Posted on: September 13, 2009 9:00 AM, by Ed Yong

The British Wildlife Centre is one of my favourite places in the country. It's like a small zoo focusing solely on British wildlife and everything in it lives in lovely open enclosures with naturalistic environments (the otters have about three lakes to play around in). It's a fantastic place to visit, especially for people who've most likely only ever seen a badger or a fox as a roadside carcass. Here are some photos from yesterday's trip:

Badger

Buzzard

Eagle owl

Frog (pool frog?)

Harvest mouse (note size of blackberry for comparison)

Otter

Wotta lotta otter

Pine marten (Britain rocks for mustelids)

Red fox

Red squirrel

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Comments

Great photos, Ed! Most of these animals (or close equivalents) also live in the Grand Teton/Yellowstone area, although you saw more in the zoo than I did in the wild.

Posted by: Laelaps | September 13, 2009 9:30 AM

That reminds me of Toronto's zoos. There is a big one in the suburbs east of the city and two small ones in the city, one with farm animals.

Posted by: Lilian Nattel | September 13, 2009 9:36 AM

lovely photos -- definitely a place i'd like to visit if I'm in England

Posted by: solanum | September 13, 2009 3:24 PM

Interesting. Close enough for a day trip, (although probably not 'til next summer). I've been fortunate enough to see most of them in the wild, including recently urban badgers, trotting down the street outside my house.

Posted by: Simong | September 13, 2009 3:25 PM

Thanks Ed, to my great regret I have never seen a badger; we will plan a trip immediately!

Posted by: bric | September 14, 2009 2:44 AM

Love the red squirrel one - an instantly placeable English beastie!

I took a photographic day there last year, and we were even allowed into the wildcat enclosure. Wild? They were furious:

http://www.cedgray.com/item.php?id=1301

Posted by: Chris | September 14, 2009 12:19 PM

@Chris - those are amazing! I am definitely going to book on one of those days.

Posted by: Ed Yong | September 15, 2009 6:45 PM

Am I the only one young enough here to think of Brian Jaques' Redwall series?

Posted by: Zan | September 18, 2009 12:12 AM