Beale Wildlife Park and Gardens is situated by the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

, between the villages of Pangbourne

Pangbourne

Pangbourne is a large village and civil parish on the River Thames in the English county of Berkshire. Pangbourne is the home of the independent school, Pangbourne College.-Location:...

 and Lower Basildon

Lower Basildon

Lower Basildon is a small village in the civil parish of Basildon, near to Pangbourne, in the English county of Berkshire. It is the location of the parish church of St Bartholomew. The National Trust property, Basildon Park, is just above it....

 in Berkshire

Berkshire

Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It has three main areas of attraction: collections of small exotic animals, farm animals and birds; landscaped gardens and woodlands; and children's play areas.

The park was founded in 1956 by Gilbert Beale as his own private park. He was a keen collector and breeder of peacocks and these birds still roam free in the park. The park is known locally as both "Child-Beale" (after the founding charity) and colloquially as "The Peacock Farm."

Attractions

Over recent years the park has expanded to accommodate a wide variety of visitors, especially the youngest ones. The park has recently built a roplay area, a pets area, sand pits, paddling pools, Little Tikes

Little Tikes

Little Tikes is an American-based manufacturer of children's toys, with headquarters and manufacturing located in Hudson, Ohio. The company also has other manufacturing and distribution facilities in Asia and Europe...

 Play Area and the Beale Railway, a 1 miles (1.6 km) section of narrow gauge railway on which are run a steam train, "John Remmy", and a diesel "Sir Humphrey Davy", each capable of pulling 5 carriages and 50 people. Thirteen people were injured when a steam train crashed on the Beale Railway on Saturday, 27 June 2009.

For older visitors there are the garden

Garden

A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...

s, lake

Lake

A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...

s and the model boat exhbition.

There is also a gift shop

Gift shop

A gift shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collections and other souvenirs....

, education centre and restaurant

Restaurant

A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...

 on site.

Birds

Beale Park's aviaries are home to a wide variety of bird species that are threatened with extinction. Most notable are the Green Peafowl

Green Peafowl

The Green Peafowl or Javan Peafowl, Pavo muticus is a large Galliform bird that is found in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia...

, the Mountain Peacock Pheasant

Mountain Peacock Pheasant

The Mountain Peacock-Pheasant, Polyplectron inopinatum also known as Rothschild's Peacock-Pheasant or Mirror Pheasant is a medium-sized, up to 65 cm long, blackish brown pheasant with small ocelli and long graduated tail feathers. Both sexes are similar. The male has metallic blue ocelli on...

 and the Bali Starling

Bali Starling

The Bali Starling , also known as Rothschild’s Mynah, Bali Myna, or Bali Mynah, locally known as Jalak Bali, is a medium-sized , stocky myna, almost wholly white with a long, drooping crest, and black tips on the wings and tail. The bird has blue bare skin around the eyes, greyish legs and a yellow...

. There is also successful breeding programme and several birds have been released back to the wild.

There are many themed aviarys around the park including: Regional aviaries (home to Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

n, Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

n and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n birds), the walkthrough aviary, the owlery, Madagascan

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

 aviary and the flamingo

Flamingo

Flamingos or flamingoes are gregarious wading birds in the genus Phoenicopterus , the only genus in the family Phoenicopteridae...

s.

Changes

Over recent years the park has expanded greatly to a more zoological collection, the park now houses lemurs, owls

OWLS

OWLS is a mnemonic used by general aviation airplane pilots to assess an unprepared surface for a precautionary landing.Like all mnemonics this check has become part of aviation culture and folklore.OWLS:* Obstacles* Wind direction...

, and in 2007 meerkat

Meerkat

The meerkat or suricate, Suricata suricatta, is a small mammal belonging to the mongoose family. Meerkats live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, in much of the Namib Desert in Namibia and southwestern Angola, and in South Africa. A group of meerkats is called a "mob", "gang" or "clan"...

s, prairie dog

Prairie dog

Prairie dogs are burrowing rodents native to the grasslands of North America. There are five different species of prairie dogs: black-tailed, white-tailed, Gunnison's, Utah and Mexican prairie dogs. They are a type of ground squirrel, found in the United States, Canada and Mexico...

s and Tamarin

Tamarin

The tamarins are squirrel-sized New World monkeys from the family Callitrichidae in the genus Saguinus. They are closely related to the lion tamarins in the genus Leontopithecus.- Range :...

s arrived.

2008 has seen the arrival of various new exhibits and attractions including; A New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 Islands exhibit home Wallabies and Arapawa Goat

Goat

The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...

s, A Small African Mammals enclosure purpose built for Yellow Mongoose

Yellow Mongoose

The Yellow Mongoose , sometimes referred to as the Red Meerkat, is a small mammal averaging about 1 lb in weight and about 20 in in length...

 and Bat-eared Fox

Bat-eared Fox

The bat-eared fox is a canid of the African savanna, named for its large ears. Fossil records show this canid to first appear during the middle Pleistocene, about 800,000 years ago....

es with a raised walkway for improved viewing and also a new pair of Capybara

Capybara

The capybara , also known as capivara in Portuguese, and capibara, chigüire in Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador ronsoco in Peru, chigüiro, and carpincho in Spanish, is the largest living rodent in the world. Its closest relatives are agouti, chinchillas, coyphillas, and guinea pigs...

s.

External links