Zoo Day

Just had a whim to go to Chester Zoo. Haven't been for ages and decided it was time for a return trip! 
It was a beautifully sunny day on Monday, can't believe this amazing autumnal weather we have been having, hope it lasts a while yet! 
It costs £20 to get in, but I intended to spend the day and its funny that it doesn't seem so expensive when there is just me and not a family of 4 or 5!

So first stop of the trip are the warthogs!

Is he not magnificent! There were a few in the enclosure, plus about 3 much smaller ones but he was the show-off. He would take a few steps and then stop and pose, look at me as if to check if I had got his right side, then step and pose again. Hours of fun!

There were some wonderful animals, but the biggest "aawww!" came for the baby elephant. So incredibly cute.

The elephants were great to photograph as they weren't rushing about. There was a wooden fence I could lean on to steady the telephoto and I was very pleased with how they came out.

The zoo was really quite quiet, there were a few school parties (nothing cuter than a couple of 6yr old girls walking along hand in hand singing "all about the bass") and a few lone photographers, so I wasn't having to fight through crowds to get a shot.

Next visit was to the butterfly house. Incredible. Worth the entrance fee just to go in there. You are standing in a greenhouse made up like a tropical garden and the butterflies are just fluttering free around you.

Not a huge amount of varieties, think only about 5, but it was amazing. Tried to capture a few in flight but failed dismally at that, need to practice that one. But managed to get a few shots when they stopped briefly.

It was spellbinding. And hot, very hot. After removing as many layers as is socially acceptable, I stood in there for about 20 mins, just watching.

The main problem I had was that the lens kept misting up, so many of the shots were through fog! Not sure how to overcome that, but I suppose its like glasses, going from a colder environment into a hotter one will make the glass misty.

Then off to the section I had been most looking forward to: Big Cats!

One of the main problems that I faced was shooting through obstacles, be it fencing or glass. The fencing in some ways was easier as you could get really close to it and it often blurred into almost nothing. The above pic didn't quite do that, but I still really liked the two lions together so I am putting up with it. I am sure if I was really clever on photoshop I could get rid of them, but I'm not, so I haven't.

However, because I zoomed in really close to the lioness, the fence has gone and it almost looks like I am in there with her.

Many of the animals were being very kind to the visitor, and were just relaxing in the unseasonal sunshine. The cheetahs were no exception.

There is however something a little unsettling about having something so fast and dangerous look straight at you. It's almost as if he is working out just how fast he would have to run to jump over the fence to get to that live buffet just standing there, watching him. I didn't wait for him to work that one out!

This next photo has got to be one of my favourites, taken in the jaguar house.

I think there is something very soulful about his expression and it makes me feel sad whenever I look at it. They have really big enclosures in Chester and I don't know if the Jaguar has ever known life in the wild but you can't help but believe he is thinking of a different life.

Talking earlier of fast and dangerous animals looking right at me, here is another.

I was the only person walking along the path and his eyes followed me every step of the way. He was a real beauty and absolutely massive. There were a couple of walls and a large ditch between us, but somehow that didn't quite feel enough! So moving swiftly on!

There is a lot of redevelopment going on at the zoo. They have built a series of themed islands and I must say have done a fabulous job of it. Its not just enclosure after enclosure, they have created it like a series of African villages and it is splendid. Not finished yet and they are in the process of moving the Orangutans, but when it is done, it will be fabulous. There is even a boat ride! The new tiger area is here, but they were the only creatures not feeling sociable so I didn't even get to see one, never mind photograph it.

Most of the monkeys were behind glass which was a devil to shoot through, especially as it was so sunny there were a lot of reflections. It was either that, or being so far away, but I did like this one shot.

Last but not least, giraffes. Another baby, again very cute.

However, achievement of the day has got to be the bat cave. We have been coming to the zoo for about 20 years and I have always refused to go in the bat cave. The idea of it being dark and having things flying around my head terrified me. However, as regular readers will know, I am doing all sorts of things now that I used to flee from, so to the bat house I headed.

I took a deep breath and walked in, behind a sobbing child who wanted to be there as much as I did!

It wasn't completely dark, you could see a bit and at first it wasn't too bad, but when I got to the bit where the ceiling was lower and something flew past, brushing my hair, I will admit that I nearly lost it! But kept my head and got to the exit. Didn't rush out, made myself stay and look around. OK then, done that, never doing it again!

Lessons Learned: Bats are evil. Although I am assured they would never ever get caught in your hair, they can sense who is scared and like to divebomb them just for the sheer hell of it. OK, that might not be strictly true, but that was certainly what it felt like. But at least I did it, so one more thing crossed off the list!

Diet Diary: Due to lack of demand, diet diary has been temporarily suspended. (too much cake recently!)