Birdworld

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On the 16th of July (just over a week ago) I visited Birdworld and Underwaterworld near Farnham, Surrey and I quite liked the little collection overall. There were a few rarities in the collection such as White Woodpeckers, Crested Guans Pink Pigeons and few nice Turacos (Black-billed etc.), Splendid Glossy Starlings, Duyvenbode's Lories, Great Bustards, three Rainbow Lorikeet subspecies and more as well as a few more common species (of course it was nothing compared to Walsrode which I had visited not long before).

The place was nice looking in general and had some very nice areas such as an area of woodland fenced off with free-roaming pheasants and a nice area with a pond and various aviaries as well as the rather nice temperate house which makes a nice impression when you first enter.

One particularly attractive exhibit was ‘Penguin Beach’ home to African Penguins and themed after Robben Island in South Africa. It was planted with some plants native to the area and rather nicely done I thought, not too over-themed and it was fairly large and netted over the top with a raised pathway with boards that the visitors walk on (part of it can be seen in the second picture) with free flying Little Egrets, Speckled Pigeons, Black-crowned Night-herons, Red-winged Starlings, Sacred Ibis and Wattled Starlings as well as the African Penguins.

Other rather nice bits were the fairly new walkthrough flamingo cove and the particularly nice seashore enclosure which is a netted over walkthrough that houses Redshanks, Crowned Plovers, Waldrapp ibis, Red-billed Chough, Black-winged Stilts, African Spoonbills, Pied Avocets, Inca Terns, Common Shelducks, Hamerkops, Northern Lapwings and Masked Lapwings.

Within Birdworld is Jenny Wren Farm which is a small childrens farm with a range of domestic breeds (including some animals for sale) and this was a typical small farm park.

Within the car park is a building that is Underwater World which is a small aquarium building home to a few small to medium sized tanks of both salt and fresh water with notable species being Upside-down Jellyfish, Pacu and a Florida Soft-shell Turtle as well as the main exhibit of the building which was a slightly small enclosure for African Dwarf Crocodiles



Entry to Underwater World, Jenny Wren Farm and Birdworld were all included in one ticket.

I liked Birdworld overall, not huge, but a very nice small collection with a few very nice species and some very nice exhibits. There were a few aviaries that were a bit too small such as those for the lorikeets and a rather ugly Kea enclosure, but nothing terribly bad and for the most part the enclosures were very good. There was a small flight show with just four species (Trumpeter Hornbills, Barn Owls, Kookaburras and Striated Caracaras) but it was quite good and there was viewing into a room with incubators for 70 Great Bustard eggs to be released in Salisbury plain (as well as a pair of adults that could be viewed) with signage explaining all about this which I thought was a very nice feature. A rather nice little collection.

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