Saturday 3 October 2015

A Parrot Zoo

Thank you so much for the lovely comments about my dressing table, makes a girl feel good!

I haven't much to write about this week, it's been pretty quiet as Imogen as been ill all week and off school. It was a struggle to persuade her to stay at home because the school rewards 100% attendance with end of term trips and she didn't want to miss out. She dragged herself in on the Monday and felt awful, so we had to put the proverbial foot down on Monday night and say no more. I think she was actually relieved as she ended up spending the next 3 days sprawled out on the sofa surrounded with boxes of tissues, throat soothers and heat sacks for her ears. Getting better now, back to her usual self I'm pleased to report.

In the summer we had to drive through Lincolnshire to pick Imogen up so thought we'd make a day of it, picked Adam up and on the way back went to visit a Parrot zoo. I hadn't heard of the place and it's always good to go somewhere new.

It was quite tucked away, but still quite busy. So many birds in one place...





Bit photo heavy, but there were so many... I found the noise of all the screeching birds bit much outside some cages, but others were a pleasure to behold, flying to the grill to take nuts from your hands and even striking up a conversation with you!





I love African Greys. We did have one ourselves, but we rehoused her after she took a strong dislike to me after falling in love with my husband, the hussy!



Such intelligent birds. It was sad to see some of the ones that didn't look as healthy as others. That's why this place is so amazing though, it's a sanctuary, they rescue birds and keep them until they can be safely rehomed or they stay there for the rest of their lives





 'The sanctuary, the largest it's kind in the world, was founded in 1994 and opened to the general public in 2003. It now houses just under 2,000 parrots as well as a growing array of other exotic animals all of which fall victim to the pet trade, such as Lemurs, Meerkats, Coatimundis, Giant Tortoises and much, much more...' (from their web site here)






Don't you think he looks like the leader of his gang, coming to check us out while the others stay back on the perches.



 When we went in we bought some bird food at the kiosk, different types for different birds. I think the best part was when we passed through the open aviary and had birds sitting on our shoulders and hands.






This little one tugged at my heart strings, it had a bad foot, but was so friendly. I felt quite privileged to have it sit with me for a while and nibble on a piece of apple.





 There were other animals there too, we saw lemurs and the cutest little family of meerkats as well as Giant Tortoises.





 And fluffy, friendly and very relaxed looking Tigers (fluffy and friendly behind their glass of course)





 It was a lovely visit and I recommend it. If you don't like the idea of birds flying around you, you can miss the walk through aviary and stay on the other side of the grilles. Surely something that saves the lives of so many beautiful creatures has to be an amazing place.

Take care
xxx




18 comments:

  1. Hello Cheryl - what a lovely day out you have had, and such lovely phot's, too.
    Really is so good to read your posts - you always brighten my day!
    Take care of yourself, and have a wonderful weekend,
    Lynda.

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  2. Sorry that Imogene is ill but glad she is on the mend now.
    Enjoyed seeing all the birds and I love the giant tortoise!

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  3. What a fantastic day out, the sort of thing I really enjoy x

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  4. What a fantastic place. I expect that many people buy birds like this on a whim without actually realising what it takes to look after them, the same with many animals. Sanctuaries such as this one do such a good job in rehoming them or looking after them if they can't be rehomed. It's great that you can get up close to them too, it's definitely somewhere I'd like to visit. Sorry to hear that Imogen's been ill, I always found that my two would pick something up as soon as the new school year started again, all those germs flying around. I hope she's feeling better now.

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  5. Funny about your Grey. We had a double-yellow-head Amazon that did the same thing. Mace LOVED my husband, but barely tolerated me and absolutely HATED my best friend.

    The rescue place has sooo many. Sad that many people don't realize that a parrot can be a lifetime commitment AND they aren't always so sweet and almost ALWAYS noisy.

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  6. That looks like a fascinating place, I'm going to check out the website now.

    I'm glad Imogen is feeling better, it's such a shame that it affected her attendance, she sounds very dedicated

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  7. I hope that your daughter is all better now and back to school, I think that it is very unfair that her attendance will be penalised because of this. Animals can be so funny with who they do and don't like can't they, so odd about your parrot who fell out of love with you. Not fair! xx

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  8. What an amazing place indeed. All such wonderful creatures. The little apple nibbled is super adorable! :)

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  9. Those birds are so pretty. Hope your daughter is feeling better.
    Hugs,
    meredith

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  10. Hi Cheryl, me again - did you get my email? xx

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  11. Hope your daughter is feeling better. What a lot of birds! Lucky you that you could hold that lovely bird.

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  12. Attendance be damned, if the child is ill, she's ill. But schools have attendance targets set now of 95 or 96 percent which they can't actually achieve if (like ours) you have a few bad-attending families so we rely on the 'excellent attendance' children to make up the shortfall. Very mean. I'm glad she's feeling better.

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  13. Hope your daughter is on the mend. I have visited the parrot sanctuary a few times when it first opened, I haven't been for awhile and didn't realise they had tigers. I must go and visit.

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  14. I hope Imogen is recovering, there are so many nasty bugs around at the moment. Yes the 100% attendance reward I s a double edged sword, it is not fair to those children who are genuinely ill. The parrot sanctuary looks fun!
    Caz xx

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  15. I hope that your daughter is starting to feel better now.... there have been some horrible bugs at the beginning of this school year. Jx

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  16. Looks like a really interesting place to visit. Hope Imogen is all better now.

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  17. Poor Imogen! Must have been a tiresome week for you as well. Glad things are looking up.
    Amalia
    xo

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  18. I love the post! Have a wonderful weekend:)

    Www.theprintedsea.blogspot.com

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