A Grand Day out at the Zoo, Part 2

Here are some of Bev's photographs of the cute and cuddly animals at Whipsnade Zoo.

Ok, this one is not what you would call cute or cuddly, but he is impressive! This is a bald American Eagle (his head is covered in feathers, so I'm not sure why the Americans think he is bald), and he is a lot bigger than the sparrowhawk we had in our garden. If this bird came into your garden, you would run for cover because both you and I would just be a tasty snackette for a big bird like this!

Moving on to something a little more cute and cuddly, though very tall, is a giraffe. He was very sweet, but I got a crick in my neck looking up at him. They had a very cute baby giraffe, who was already taller than Bev, and it came out with its parents to have a look at the humans visiting the zoo. It was kinda strange, as if we were in the zoo and the giraffes were visiting to see us :-)

And this was my favourite cute and cuddly animal - he is a rock hopper penguin, and I just love those eyebrows! They are so cool - I bet the ladies love them!

Ok, on to the cutest and cuddliest, but most elusive creature at the zoo - the red panda. The whole time were were there (from 10am - 6pm) it hid up the oak tree, presenting a serious photography challenge for both Bev and Paul. Anyway, after much perserverance and muttering, they finally got a shot of this beautiful creature!

I know this animal is neither cute nor cuddly, but we had to get a photograph of Spike, the male lion. Spike looks very fierce. I wasn't about to test Spike's patience by poking him with a big stick, so I stayed behind the thick plate glass window and just admired Spike and his wonderful hairdo.

And finally to the sweet little otters on their island and swimming in their moat.

A Grand Day out at the Zoo

Ok, it was August Bank Holiday yesterday, and for a change it was sunny and warm-ish. Bev and Paul wanted to go out for a walk and take the cameras, so decided to go to Whipsnade Zoo - it's a large open space with lots of walking and plenty of cute and cuddly animals for them to photograph. And they took Bill, Phoebe and myself along too, so that we could go and play with the bears - they have brown bears at Whipsnade, and while they are very friendly, they are a bit on the big side to be playing with us little bears. Never mind, we had a lovely afternoon with them, managing to escape with only a few scratches and bruises, and we also got to see some other animals too - sleepy but scary tigers, cute ring-tailed lemurs sunbathing on the grass, delightful little otters living on an island with their own moat, two very elusive red pandas high up an oak tree (Bill and I were going to climb the tree and poke them so that Bev could get better photographs, but Paul threatened to smack us if we did!), stripy zebras, reindeer, a very regal lion called Spike, some ferocious lionesses (luckily we were behind some very thick glass at this point), lots of cute penguins, beautiful birds of prey, a baby elephant and a baby giraffe.

All in all, it was a brilliant day out and we will definitely go back to see our new furry friends.