Throughout August we celebrated two important conservation events here at the Park: Lion Weekend and Rhino Month. Both fundraising stalls raised vital funds for conservation projects that the Park supports, all thanks to our amazing visitors and their generosity.
James with Park owner Reggie Heyworth and Professor Amy Dickman at the opening of the lion house that he helped to design in 2023.
The Safina Lion Conservation Fund was founded by one of our mammal keepers, James Welch. James is a dedicated carnivore keeper and is certainly the resident lion expert here at the Park! He founded the conservation and education charity in 2017 to support wild lion populations in Africa and the Park is proud to support the charity alongside James. You can read more about the Safina Lion Conservation Fund here.
The fundraising stall for Rhino Weekend was also a huge success and raised important funds for Tusk, a charity that the Park supports in working to conserve African animals.
Our current ‘crash’ of nine Southern White Rhinos includes Monty, Ruby and Nancy, our breeding adults, along with their calves Molly, Queenie, Henry, Susie, Markus and Mo. The breeding programme here at the Park has been widely successful with Monty, Ruby and Nancy producing 13 calves over 12 years. The older calves have since moved on to other collections as part of the programme, with the Park’s very first calf Astrid now a mum herself to two calves at Colchester Zoo. You can read about the work of Tusk here.
This year we welcomed our fifth cohort of Keeper Academy participants. In 2022 we introduced the brand-new concept of a week-long academy experience with the goal of offering an opportunity for young people aged 15-18 years old who are interested in pursuing a career working with animals. We are proud that we have now had previous participants return to the Park for work experience placements, volunteering positions and some that have even joined our staff.
The participants this year took part in various activities based on elements of a keeper’s role including: enclosure design, daily husbandry duties across the sections, enrichment theory and implementation, behavioural observations and conservation tasks. It was wonderful to see each of them get stuck into every task they were given and make new friends along the way.
We release 8 places every year for the Keeper Academy so if you know someone aged 15-18 who may be interested in taking part, you can read about the week-long experience here. Dates for August 2027 will be released in early November.
Over the extensive heatwaves we have experienced this summer, the Gardeners have been wielding hoses, cans and bowsers, trying to keep the bedding, tropical plants, precious plants and newly planted trees alive! The Grounds team have also been busy clearing pathways each morning as the first signs of autumn creep in and the trees drop their leaves early for a second year running.
We think you will all agree that despite the lack of green grass this summer, the plants around the Park have still remained a striking feature – thanks to the hard work of the Gardens team. It seems that rain will actually be very welcome in the coming months here at the Park.
EXTRA EXTRA!
Throughout the summer holidays ‘Bella’ the train has been offering daily rides to families (including family dogs).
‘Bella’ has been a permanent fixture here at the Park since the 1970s, and was named after the Park’s very first Southern White Rhino inhabitant, Bella (1972-2003).
She will be running until the end of October and tickets can be purchased at the Bradwell Grove Station by the Wolverines.
Opening times: The Park is open DAILY from 10.00 am until 6:00 pm or dusk (whichever is earlier, with last admission being at 4:00 pm)
Please could we remind visitors to always check our website or social media for updates ahead of visiting the Park.