Zoo Trip #12: Bristol Zoo

I was half way to Bristol on an afternoon birthday outing when the weather turned and it began to rain heavily. I was on my way to the zoo to take another look at the two lion cubs and knew that they were likely to shelter away from public scrutiny. I was in luck, though, as Jay and Kaly were sheltering on their cosy ledge with their mother, Shiva, while her partner, Kamal, prowled the grounds, snarling proudly from time to time.

I took a number of pictures of them, both when I arrived and as I was leaving (when they had come down to play and to attack their patient mother), but until I got home I wasn't sure if any of them had come out, as the glass walls of the enclosures were covered in raindrops, confusing the autofocus so that I had to focus manually.

Many animals had indeed taken shelter, but there was still plenty enough to see for the trip to have been well worthwhile.

When I emerged from the zoo, I spied a very tiny blue tit chick that had fallen from its nest into the roadside, tweeting piteously. I wondered whether to pick it up and take it in to zoo reception as a crow was hopping about in the road in an insincerely nonchalant fashion. I glanced up at the trees momentarily to see if its parents were around, but this was a fatal error as when I looked back the crow was making off with the little chick. Nature is very cruel.

The zoo was closing when I left and the traffic through Bristol was very congested, so I pulled up on Cumberland Road for a splendid half-hour walk around the Floating Harbour. I also pulled up on the return trip at the visitor centre near the Dundas Aquaduct in Limpley Stoke on a preliminary recce for a future visit and got a few pictures of narrowboats on a short stretch of the restored Somerset Coal Canal.

Lozarithmmas concluded with a fried egg and grated cheese sandwich at a friend's.

L.
27.5.2011

Lens: Sigma 70-300mm

Day #424
Blip #422
Consecutive Blip #419

Alternatives:
Ferocious
Jay and Kaly
North American river otter
Floating Harbour
Boat in Floating Harbour
Somerset Coal Canal At Dundas

Brstol Zoo, 23 May 2011 (Flickr Set of 62 pictures)

Back-blip:
22 May 2011: Painter Man


Zoo Trip series


One Year Ago: Marwell Wildlife (Zoo Trip #1)