The New Forest Wildlife Park

It's not often that I get to do things in my local area, so on my birthday a few weeks ago, Bradley, my Mum, Dad and I headed to The New Forest Wildlife Park for a day trip. I absolutely adore butterflies, so when I heard that they had a butterfly house I was sold. Initially, I thought that the park was going to be geared towards small children (and to a degree it is, as there are play parks and information boards aimed at children) but there was so much to do there for adults too. We arrived about 11 in the morning and I had initially thought that we would be for a couple of hours max but we didn't end up leaving until about 5pm!

Of course we headed for the butterfly house first, which was conveniently situated near the entrance. There were quite a few butterflies flying around and even new ones which were emerging from their chrysalis. The butterfly house was a lot smaller than I had anticipated, after visiting the butterfly house at Longleat the previous year I thought it would be similar but it was still lovely to watch them flying around (one even landed on my eye!).

The park is also home to lots of other animals, including several different types of Otters, Eurasian Lynx, Bison, Deer and Wild Boar and many more. The Wild Boar had some young piglets which when we saw them were sleeping in a huge pig bundle! As soon as the mother moved, they were up like a shot ready to suckle! It was so sweet to see! We also watched the Lynx get fed and listened to really interesting talk from one of the keepers.

Later in the day we were also lucky enough to be by one of the otter enclosures as they were being fed, the Otters knew it was almost feeding time and whenever someone came close to the enclosure they were squeaking. A keeper came along and threw some fish in, and they went mental! By this point it was quiet in the park too as most of the families had gone home, so it was really nice to be able to observe the animals quietly.

If you live in this area, I strongly recommend that you pay the park a visit. It only costs £10.50 per adult and £7.50 per child. I had a great day and hope to visit again soon!

Have you visited The New Forest Wildlife Park before?

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