New Forest Wildlife Park
Encyclopedia
The New Forest Wildlife Park (formerly The New Forest Otter, Owl and Wildlife Conservation Park) is located on the edge of The New Forest close to the towns of Ashurst
and Lyndhurst
. The Park specialises in native and past-native wildlife of Britain and otters and owls from across the globe, housing 3 species of the former and 16 of the latter. The Park is recognized as the UK's leading institution in the rescue and rehabilitation of sick, injured and orphaned wild otters, along with the rehabilitation of other wildlife such as owls, deer and foxes in similar situations, and it is involved in several conservation projects, including breeding programmes for endangered native species such as Scottish Wildcats, Water Voles and Harvest Mice.
), who turned the site into New Forest Nature Quest, a collection specialising in native wildlife. However, when Vardon was taken over by Merlin Entertainments
in 1998, the park was put up for sale. Some of the animal collection was taken over by a company called 'Nature Quest' owned by Kenneth West, that eventually was housed at the newly created Wildwood Discovery Park
in Kent. The remainder of the collection was taken over by Roger Heap who had already been running the Chestnut Centre, an Otter and Owl specialised collection in Derbyshire, since 1984 when he took over ownership of the Park. Along with the many native animals that Nature Quest had fixed into the park, the Heap family added a large collection of otters and owls on par with the Derbyshire Park and The New Forest Otter, Owl and Wildlife Conservation Park was born. 12 years later, the Park was re-branded into simply The New Forest Wildlife Park to emphasise the large and expanding collection of native and past-native wildlife in addition to the many otters and owls.
The Park's 15 Owl species include:
Ashurst, Hampshire
Ashurst is a village in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England, which together with Colbury hamlet makes the parish of Ashurst and Colbury. Ashurst is on the A35 road near the Southampton conurbation. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 2,011. The parish is on the...
and Lyndhurst
Lyndhurst, Hampshire
Lyndhurst is a village and civil parish in the New Forest, Hampshire, England. It is a popular tourist location with many independent shops, art galleries, cafés, restaurants, pubs and hotels. The nearest city is Southampton located around nine miles to the north-east...
. The Park specialises in native and past-native wildlife of Britain and otters and owls from across the globe, housing 3 species of the former and 16 of the latter. The Park is recognized as the UK's leading institution in the rescue and rehabilitation of sick, injured and orphaned wild otters, along with the rehabilitation of other wildlife such as owls, deer and foxes in similar situations, and it is involved in several conservation projects, including breeding programmes for endangered native species such as Scottish Wildcats, Water Voles and Harvest Mice.
History
The site itself was opened as The New Forest Butterfly Farm in 1981, and the main glasshouse complex that formed the farm still stands today. Eventually that venture closed in the early nineties, and it was taken over by entertainment company Vardon Plc. (which also owned the UK's numerous Sea Life CentresSea Life Centres
Sea Life Centres are a chain of commercial sealife-themed attractions. There are twenty-six centres located in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom , and the United States...
), who turned the site into New Forest Nature Quest, a collection specialising in native wildlife. However, when Vardon was taken over by Merlin Entertainments
Merlin Entertainments
Merlin Entertainments Group Ltd is a British operator of amusement parks and other attractions. It is the largest such company in Europe, and globally the second largest after Walt Disney Parks and Resorts....
in 1998, the park was put up for sale. Some of the animal collection was taken over by a company called 'Nature Quest' owned by Kenneth West, that eventually was housed at the newly created Wildwood Discovery Park
Wildwood Discovery Park
Wildwood Discovery Park is a woodland discovery park in north-east Kent, England. It features over fifty species of native British animals such as deer, badgers, wild boar and wolves...
in Kent. The remainder of the collection was taken over by Roger Heap who had already been running the Chestnut Centre, an Otter and Owl specialised collection in Derbyshire, since 1984 when he took over ownership of the Park. Along with the many native animals that Nature Quest had fixed into the park, the Heap family added a large collection of otters and owls on par with the Derbyshire Park and The New Forest Otter, Owl and Wildlife Conservation Park was born. 12 years later, the Park was re-branded into simply The New Forest Wildlife Park to emphasise the large and expanding collection of native and past-native wildlife in addition to the many otters and owls.
Animals at the Park
The main bulk of the collection consists of animals that are or were at one time native to Britain, along with various species of otters and owls from around the globe and tropical butterflies in a walk-through exhibit that calls back to the Park's early days as a butterfly farm. These include:- European OtterEuropean OtterThe European Otter , also known as the Eurasian otter, Eurasian river otter, common otter and Old World otter, is a European and Asian member of the Lutrinae or otter subfamily, and is typical of freshwater otters....
- Oriental Small-clawed OtterOriental Small-clawed OtterThe oriental small-clawed otter , also known as Asian small-clawed otter, is the smallest otter species in the world, weighing less than 5 kg. It lives in mangrove swamps and freshwater wetlands of Bangladesh, Burma, India, southern China, Taiwan, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines,...
- North American River Otter
- Badger
- Pine Marten
- PolecatEuropean polecatThe European polecat , also known as the black or forest polecat , is a species of Mustelid native to western Eurasia and North Africa, which is classed by the IUCN as Least Concern due to its wide range and large numbers. It is of a generally dark brown colour, with a pale underbelly and a dark...
- FerretFerretThe ferret is a domesticated mammal of the type Mustela putorius furo. Ferrets are sexually dimorphic predators with males being substantially larger than females. They typically have brown, black, white, or mixed fur...
- European Grey WolfEurasian WolfThe Eurasian Wolf , also known as the, European, Common or Forest Wolf is a subspecies of grey wolf which has the largest range among wolf subspecies and is the most common in Europe and Asia, ranging through Mongolia, China, Russia, Scandinavia, Western Europe and the Himalayan Mountains...
- Red FoxRed FoxThe red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...
- European Lynx
- Scottish Wildcat
- Red-Necked WallabyRed-necked WallabyThe Red-necked Wallaby is a medium-sized marsupial macropod, common in the more temperate and fertile parts of eastern Australia, including Tasmania.- Description :...
- HedgehogEuropean HedgehogThe European Hedgehog , Common hedgehog or just Hedgehog in the anglophone parts of Europe, is a hedgehog species found in northern and western Europe. It is about 20 to 30 cm in length. Adult mass typically ranges from 600 to up to 1,200 g ; occasionally, it may reach as much as...
- European SouslikEuropean ground squirrelThe European ground squirrel , also known as the European souslik, is a species from the squirrel family Sciuridae and is besides the speckled ground squirrel the only European representative of the genus Spermophilus...
- European Water Vole
- House MouseHouse mouseThe house mouse is a small rodent, a mouse, one of the most numerous species of the genus Mus.As a wild animal the house mouse mainly lives associated with humans, causing damage to crops and stored food....
- Harvest Mouse
- European BisonWisentThe wisent , Bison bonasus, also known as the European bison or European wood bison, is a species of Eurasian bison. It is the heaviest surviving land animal in Europe; a typical wisent is about long, not counting a tail of long, and tall. Weight typically can range from , with an occasional big...
- Wild Boar
- Red DeerRed DeerThe red deer is one of the largest deer species. Depending on taxonomy, the red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor, parts of western Asia, and central Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains region between Morocco and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being...
- Fallow DeerFallow DeerThe Fallow Deer is a ruminant mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. This common species is native to western Eurasia, but has been introduced widely elsewhere. It often includes the rarer Persian Fallow Deer as a subspecies , while others treat it as an entirely different species The Fallow...
- Sika DeerSika DeerThe Sika Deer, Cervus nippon, also known as the Spotted Deer or the Japanese Deer, is a species of deer native to much of East Asia and introduced to various other parts of the world...
- Muntjac Deer
- AdderVipera berusVipera berus, the common European adder or common European viper, is a venomous viper species that is extremely widespread and can be found throughout most of Western Europe and all the way to Far East Asia. Known by a host of common names including Common adder and Common viper, adders have been...
The Park's 15 Owl species include:
- Snowy OwlSnowy OwlThe Snowy Owl is a large owl of the typical owl family Strigidae. The Snowy Owl was first classified in 1758 by Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish naturalist who developed binomial nomenclature to classify and organize plants and animals. The bird is also known in North America as the Arctic Owl, Great...
- Tawny OwlTawny OwlThe Tawny Owl or Brown Owl is a stocky, medium-sized owl commonly found in woodlands across much of Eurasia. Its underparts are pale with dark streaks, and the upperparts are either brown or grey. Several of the eleven recognised subspecies have both variants...
- Barn OwlBarn OwlThe Barn Owl is the most widely distributed species of owl, and one of the most widespread of all birds. It is also referred to as Common Barn Owl, to distinguish it from other species in the barn-owl family Tytonidae. These form one of two main lineages of living owls, the other being the typical...
- Little OwlLittle OwlThe Little Owl is a bird which is resident in much of the temperate and warmer parts of Europe, Asia east to Korea, and north Africa. It is not native to Great Britain, but was first introduced in 1842, and is now naturalised there...
- European Eagle Owl
- Milky Eagle Owl
- Brown Wood OwlBrown Wood OwlThe Brown Wood Owl, Strix leptogrammica, is an owl which is a resident breeder in south Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to western Indonesia and south China. This species is a part of the family of owls known as typical owls , which contains most species of owl...
- North American Great Horned OwlGreat Horned OwlThe Great Horned Owl, , also known as the Tiger Owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an adaptable bird with a vast range and is the most widely distributed true owl in the Americas.-Description:...
- South American Great Horned OwlSouth American Great Horned OwlThe South American Great Horned Owl, Bubo virginianus nacurutu, is a subspecies of the Great Horned Owl, Bubo virginianus. It lives in tropical South America. It generally occurs in more open areas than the North American Great Horned Owls, and avoids dense humid forest, e.g. the Amazon Rainforest...
- Mckinder's Eagle OwlCape Eagle-owlThe Cape Eagle-Owl is a species of owl in the Strigidae family.It is found in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe....
- Spectacled OwlSpectacled OwlThe Spectacled Owl, Pulsatrix perspicillata, is a large tropical owl. It is a resident breeder from southern Mexico and Trinidad, through Central America, south to southern Brazil, Paraguay and northwestern Argentina...
- Ural OwlUral OwlThe Ural Owl is a medium-large nocturnal owl of the genus Strix, with up to 15 subspecies found in Europe and northern Asia....
- Southern White-faced OwlSouthern White-faced OwlThe Southern White-faced Owl is a fairly small owl in the family Strigidae. It is native to the southern half of Africa. It was formerly regarded as a subspecies of the Northern White-faced Owl but the two are now commonly treated as separate species.It is 22-28 centimetres long and weighs...
- Boobook OwlSouthern BoobookThe Southern Boobook , also called the Mopoke, Morepork, Ruru or Tasmanian Spotted Owl, is a small brown owl found throughout New Zealand, Tasmania, across most of mainland Australia and in Timor, southern New Guinea and nearby islands.The bird has almost 20 alternative common names, most of which...
- Northern Hawk OwlNorthern Hawk OwlThe Northern Hawk-Owl is a non-migratory owl that usually stays within its breeding range. It sometimes irrupts southward.-General:It is the only living species in the genus Surnia...