The Penguins are Back in Town

We had another trip to the zoo yesterday to see the new penguins that have arrived at Blackpool. The last trip to the zoo 3 weeks ago didn't include them as they were still in quarantine at the time.

Blackpool has had penguins before, but that was quite a while ago and otters now live in the habitat pool they used to have.

So Blackpool have created a new, much bigger and deeper habitat with glass windows so they can be observed under the water and it really is excellent.

In fact it was amazing how one individual in particular displayed as much curiosity about us as we did about it. It dived down to see us again and again, coming right to the glass and eyeing us over one by one!

Underwater shots another time perhaps - I had my telephoto lens on the camera and taking photos from less than 6 foot away was a no-no!

Large versions of all the photos from the day are available in a collection at my Flickr site.

A Penguin's Unexpected Shower

Horrible isn't it? For most of us it would have been the first day back at work yesterday after Christmas and straight away we're back to early morning rising, driving through the rush hour, struggling to park, dealing with the cold instead of staying warm at home...

So here's a few photos from November 1982 that I took at Blackpool Zoo. Hopefully they'll cheer you up a bit!

Hey! What's This?!?

I'm getting soaked!

Brrr! I'm going to have a word with him!

Hey! What do you think you're playing at?!?

Don't you yell at me!!!

Large versions of the photos: one, two, three, four, five

1000 Views Clocked Up

A landmark day!

According to the statistics on my Flickr account, this photo passed the 1000 views milestone today.

The photo was taken in September 1982 at Blackpool Zoo and from the time I uploaded it to Flickr has been a favourite with viewers. I uploaded it on 12 January 2007 and so far it has had 43 people flag it as a favourite and it's also my most commented on photo.

See the larger version at my Flickr account