QUOTES OF THE WEEK FROM OUR VISITOR BOOK

"What a lovely day out. Very good for photography wish other Parks were half as good. Very clean will recommend. Thanks. Keep up the good work." The Fletchers.

"Excellent. We come every year and you never fail to impress. Long may you continue." Mrs. & Mrs. Young

"Lovely place. Very clean and well looked after. Relaxing and great to walk amongst the birds." Peter & Dawn ~ Brighton.

"Love this place, no wonder we've been coming here since 1998!" Bekky, Nicky, Hazel ~ Surrey

LETTER OF THE WEEK

I am writing this letter to thank you for my lovely birthday treat. My brother Billy and I had a great time at the Park it was very interesting.

Thank you so much for letting us feed Willaby. I really liked the lizards and it was great to see them out of their tanks.

I will never forget the lovely day I spent in the Park.

By Jacques age 11 and Billy age 7

LETTER OF THE WEEK

Dear Staff,

I just wanted to thank you very much for the lovely time we had in your Park. From the moment we arrived from the lady at the pay desk to the ladies in the cafe to the lovely staff that helped us feed Willaby to the other staff helping around the Park, you are all friendly, polite, happy and nothing is too much trouble.

The Park and the animals are clean, well cared for and the place is beautiful. My children Jacques and Billy had a fantastic time feeding Willaby. They also enjoyed the other great activities that go on all through the day.

So I would like to say many thanks to everyone.

From The Wild Family.

KOOKABURRAS FLEDGING THE NEST ....

What's that laughter you can hear .......? Kookaburra, Kookaburra in the old gum tree ........ our resident Kookaburras have successfully hatched and raised 3 healthy chicks this year! Demand is such that we've had no problem finding excellent new homes for each of the youngsters! One has gone to Banham Zoo, one to Birdworld and one to Drusillas - all reputable collections on the UK mainland. We look forward to monitoring the young birds' progress in the months ahead!

CRIMSON WING - HERE IN SEAVIEW!

This week Disney is launching its first Disney Nature movie venture in the UK - its first nature epic in 40 years! It's as though the threatened species of Chilean Flamingos at Seaview Wildlife Encounter heard the 'jungle drums' and wanted to contribute to the magic - we now have ten of the rare chicks - the first to hatch at the Park for three years! At the moment the chicks are leggy youngsters of varying sizes, covered in grey fluffy down - they'll only start to grow their pink plumage nearing two years of age. The Park closes for winter on 1st November, so why not make the most of the Autumn sunshine and make the most of this opportunity to see nature in all its glory?

COMMENTS FROM OUR VISITORS BOOK

"Last came when I was 7 ~ 17 now and still loved it! " Piers, Natalie & Alex ~ Canterbury

"Can I please buy a duckling and a Wallaby ~ price is no issue! " Gemma & Vicky, IOW

"Best Day Ever" Lydia & Katherine ~ London

"Fed the penguins it was fab ~ I had a great day and will tell all my friends" Casey

"Wonderful place, so much to see and do. Staff very helpful. Can't wait to bring our family to visit one day. Penguins rule!" Sarah & Daniel, Devon

"Wonderful to visit somewhere where the staff and animals are happy!" Rosie & Joyce ~ Bedworth

"Better than anywhere else on the Island ~ Lovely day out. " Christine ~ Grimsby

"Lovely enjoyable visit. Everything kept in beautiful order. Such a clean Park and animals a joy to visit" Pat & Neil ~ Ramsgate

Thank you from Shanklin Primary!

Dear Flamingo Park
Thankyou so much for coming to our school. We have really enjoyed you being here. We collected some money to help you feed your animals. We hope to see you again soon.

Lots of love Maple class at Shanklin C of E Primary School x x x

Tara and Fern go back to school!

Keepers Tara and Fern went back to school for a day to give school children at Shanklin Primary a chance to meet some of our creepy, crawley and cuddley animals we look after at the park!
Lots of fun was had by all and we even managed to get the children 'hissing' like cockroaches!
We would both like to thank all the children and teachers for inviting us to their school and for their very generous donation. We hope to visit again soon.

Guess what these will be when they grow up....?

Other new arrivals this week included three Lovebird chicks. This photo shows the 'ugly ducklings' at two days old - in no way resembling the beautiful parent birds!

Autumn Hatchings!

Some of our resident and semi-resident birds (we have many avian species that come and go as they please!) are still hatching out young chicks. Other than broody hens on their clutches we've had 3 broods of Muscovy ducklings hatching out this week - this photo shows one of the proud Muscovy Mums! Fortunately there's plenty of shelter and food available here at the Park for the new arrivals to have a good chance of survival as we move towards the colder winter months.

LETTER OF THE WEEK ~ CONGRATULATIONS!

I am delighted to inform you that the judges have selected your entry as a finalist in the Tourism Excellence Awards 2009 in the 'Best Tourism Experience' category. Congratulations!

The exclusive Gala dinner and Awards ceremony will take place on Thursday 22nd October at the Wentworth club, Surrey.

In addition, we have selected your entry as a number of finalists that we would like to invite to take part in a short awards video. This footage will be used on the awards night, form part of the PR activity and also be available for your own use.

Once again, many congratulations and I look forward to welcoming you to the Gala Awards Dinner at the Wentworth Club on Thursday 22nd October, 2009.

Kind regards,

Andrew Gostelow,
Head of Communications, Membership & Visitor Services
Tourism South East.

A DAY AS A KEEPER BY KIM POPLASS

At 1pm we went to the reptile house. I held the bearded dragon and a rush of braveness came over me and I held a cockroach which my little boy stroked ~ my second fear beaten!

I met Craig another Senior Head Keeper and we went to feed the wallabies. Craig gave the talk and I handed out wallaby pellets to the public so they could feed them. Next up, the Meerkats where I met up with Natasha a keeper and went into the Meerkat enclosure. I scattered food around while Natasha did the talk. It was amazing!

Then it was pets corner time and I held a Guinea Pig for the public to stroke. I watched Fern feed the Otters before heading back to the penguin pool where Jake and Tara were working really hard cleaning out the penguin enclosure before feeding them at 3.30pm and the visitors also got the opportunity to feed the penguins.

After that it was time to say Thank You and Goodbye. It was such a fantastic day and a great opportunity. A life changing moment for me. I have decided I'm going to study animal care next year and also do a few hours a week volunteering at the Park.

The staff work really hard and are amazing at what they do. It isn't about the time with the animals its about spending lots of time cleaning the enclosures to make it a nice environment for the animals and for the people who visit.

I would like to say a huge thank you to Tara for taking the time to work with me on her day off. Also a big thank you to Craig, Jake, Natasha and Fern for making me feel welcome. I can see the Park being a huge success for many years to come!

A DAY AS A KEEPER

A DAY AS A KEEPER BY KIM POPLASS

On Sunday 6th September, 2009 I had the pleasure of being a keeper for the day at the Park. I won this day at the Park's August Bank Holiday fund raiser weekend where 'A day as a Keeper' was auctioned and I was the lucky bidder!!

I arrived at the Park at 9am and was met by Tara one of the Senior Head Keepers. Buzzing with excitement I followed her down to the prep room where Tara explained where everything is, introduced me to the keepers and explained what the keeper staff do when they start work at 8am.

My first job of the day was to feed Willaby the albino wallaby his milk by syringe. He was extremely hungry!! (see picture above).

We then went up to the top prep room where we prepared the sprats for the penguins which included putting salt and vitamin tablets in the fish. We had to give every penguin a sprat containing the tablets which turned out to be quite difficult with 38 very hungry penguins! Also, trying to identify them and mark them off on the sheets at the same time to tick off who had had their sprat. Mission achieved 31 out of 38 what a success!

At 11am Tara and I went to Pelican Bay for the morning feed and talk. Tara gave an informative talk and I got to feed the pelicans their sprats ~ that was one of my fears overcome!

I then met Jake who gave the penguin talk and feed at 11.30am and then Tara and I went and fed the baby penguins. Next we went to the flight aviary and fed the parrots some grapes and Jake did the Parrot talk.

Lunch time! I met up with Deane my partner and my little boy Declan. Pizza and chips followed by double chocolate cake and a sloppy kiss from Dec!

LETTER OF THE WEEK

I was wondering if you take on voluntary work and if so I would love to help out on Saturdays and holidays off school. When I'm older I want to work with animals and I want to get a clue to how hard, fun and interesting it is to help out with looking after all the different varities of animals.

I have been to the Park many times and have fallen in love with all the animals you have. The reason I'm asking to become a voluntary worker at your Park is because all the animals seem extremely happy and well looked after and I would like to help be apart of one of the best animal Parks I've ever been too.

Yours sincerely,

Charlie.

LETTER OF THE WEEK

TO EXPRESS OUR APPRECIATON

Just a short note to express appreciation to all the staff at the Park who made our visit last week such a pleasure. We were there for the entire day and everyone from keepers to cafe staff were entertaining, courteous and knowledgeable my thanks to them all. Special thanks to the lady keeper who came to rescue a young quail that was trapped in the otter enclosure.

The wildlife of all kinds was fascinating and the hands on experiences with snakes, cockroaches, lizards and wallabies will be remembered for a long time. Hoping to return soon. Keep up the good work!!

Chris,
Derbyshire.

FUNDRAISER A GREAT SUCCESS!!

THE BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND FUNDRAISER WAS A GREAT SUCCESS!

What a fantastic weekend! The Team at Seaview Wildlife Encounter would like to thank all those who participated in the various activities and competitions at the Park over the August bank holiday weekend!

A total of £1,300.00 was raised over the three days in support of the charity SANCCOB (South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds). This will be taken over to Cape Town, South Africa, by Head Keeper, Tara Hayter, at the end of October this year. Tara has volunteered to assist in rescuing and rehabilitating rare and endangered marine birds including African penguins and Gannets affected by oil spills off the Southern African coast.

Great fun was enjoyed by all – from ‘hook-a-duck’, to creative face-painting, to a huge selection of prizes that were won at the tombola stall! Penguin footprint paintings were great fun too - winners met the penguins and were able to take their unique footprint portraits home! Many visitors were truly sporting in joining in the two unique auctions held on Sunday and Monday afternoons – visitors bid for the opportunity to be an animal keeper for a day! The excited winners will each be spending a day shadowing a senior keeper and assisting in feeding and looking after the various animals and birds at the Park! Congratulations to all winners and a huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who joined in, made donations and helped to make the weekend such a great success!