Our Visit to Bristol Zoo

My baby boy is three on Monday. I can't believe the time has gone so fast. I have one day a week with him so today I took him to Bristol Zoo. He loves animals and was really excited about going. Unfortunately, with it being "Black Friday" it took us quite a while to get there.


Charging his batteries up ready...

Once we got through the doors, he was off like a shot. He ran over to look at the monkeys then disappeared into the flamingo enclosure. In fact, I think he spent the entire time we were there running around! The first thing that stopped him was the lions.

Its a shame about the reflection on the glass in this picture as he was stood so close. Their enclosure is raised so they stand looking at you at eye level. Its quite daunting as they have a very piercing stare. I dont know what he had spotted but it was probably a good thing the glass was there!

Nocturnal world was good. We stopped to see the mongoose and the spiny mice. Had a quick peek at the fruit bats then we whizzed through the reptile house, with the babies in the hatchery being all that slowed him down. Next we were off to the aquarium where we looked at all the fish and searched several tanks for Nemo, just in case.

There is an amazing under water walkway with some impressive fish swimming around above you. Their silhouette against the sky light is fantastic.

The size of some of the fish was breathtaking. They were as big as my little man! He loved sitting next to them watching them swim around.


We had a short stop in the cafe for a hot chocolate and a cake.

Then we had a play outside and a drive around the zoo in a safari jeep.

Bug world provided a brilliant maze for him to run off in, little monkey. Getting the buggy through all the doors and the heavy plastic door curtains made keeping up with him impossible. So we had a bit of a dispute and the reins came in to play.  I managed to get a photo of my favourite "Bugs"  the Jewel Beetles. They are so pretty and this photo doesnt do them justice at all.

Their bodies change colour in the light from blue to purple and green. Stunning!
I also love scorpions. I know you might think that's a little odd but if you put a scorpion under UV light their bodies glow in the dark. Stunning, right?! There are so many beautiful invertebrates that get overlooked just because they are bugs.

Picture found on Google

We also spotted some pretty butterflies. I think I might have a go at making some of these with the boys as baby loved staring at them. They would be fab hanging over her cot! 

It was about now that little man started to get really tired. We headed off to the aviary to feed the lorikeets. Along the way we found this guy hiding in the bamboo. After sliding off his back a few times, we managed a great photo! 

Unfortunately we were too late to feed the Lorikeets but luckily he was too tired to really notice. The birds fly free in the aviary so are quite used to people. This means you can get quite close for some great pictures. 

Unfortunately, I didnt take note of the names of these pretty birds. I love their shiny plumage. 

After playing in the house outside we heading home. We had a great day but I think we will wait until the "season" restarts as we missed the main things we went for. The reindeer hadn't arrived yet and the Lorikeets feeding time had been reduced to an hour at lunchtime due to the lack of visitors. Understandable but disappointing for little boys (and their Mummys).