Penguins plan to net fish and chill in their new £100k home

Blackpool Zoo’s penguins are ready to net fish and chill in their redeveloped £100k home.

The improvement works on the newly named Penguin Cove started in January when the colony relocated to a specially designed off-show facility complete with their own pool.

A brand-new beach, which has sand from an estuary on the River Mersey, is eight times bigger than the previous one and more nest boxes have been added for mating pairs.

The pool has also had an overhaul, which includes a state-of-the-art lining and the entire area now has a net cover to help to protect the animals from bird flu.

Visitors can enjoy better views than before with an extended walkway that goes all the way round the beach and pool and new planting provides natural shading for the residents.

Luke Forster, Deputy Team Manager on the Birds and Events Section at Blackpool Zoo, designed the new facility and oversaw the entire project.

He said: “We are thrilled to be reopening our improved and extended facility!

“The penguins moved to the new beach over Easter but this week we finished and opened their new pool, which marks the completion of the fabulous new Penguin Cove. 

“This investment will make a real difference for the residents, the staff and our many penguin super fans and there is plenty of room for the colony to grow, which is great as they are a real zoo favourite.

“We’re hoping the additional nest boxes will lead to lots of fluffy little new arrivals and the new netting will help to protect the penguins from bird flu, which has been particularly bad this year.

“We are delighted that the national restrictions on birds have now been lifted, which means we can reopen our World of Wings walk through and start to open our Rainbow Landings exhibit too.”

World of Wings is now open seven days a week, while Rainbow Landings will reopen on weekends and bank holidays from Saturday 29^th April and will be available for visitors to enjoy every day from Saturday 27^th May. 

Blackpool Zoo holds the UK’s only collection of Magellanic penguins, which arrived in 2009 as part of the Active Oceans Arena development.

The Magellanic penguin is a South American penguin, breeding in coastal Patagonia, including Argentina, Chile and the Falkland Islands.

The species was named after Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who first spotted the birds in 1520.