Meerkat

Recently, my family took a day trip to somewhere that we had never been before and somewhere that would interest and hopefully wear-out my five-year-old daughter, who doesn’t seem to appreciate that nearly everyone in her family is her senior, by twenty-four years or more and therefore lacking her enthusiasm and ability to climb steep surfaces in some cases.

It took us around an hour and a half to get to the Wild Boar Park and it was a warm day and a Bank Holiday, therefore very busy and difficult to get a parking space, but we managed and also managed to find a suitable seating area to grab some lunch, before looking at the animals that the park had to offer as there were other creatures other than Wild Boars at the Park.

Personally, I would have loved to see a male Peacock, but we could only hear his cries every fifteen minutes or so. I would have especially liked to capture him with his tail on full display as the patterns and colours are quite divine.

There were many farm animals, including fluffy, yellow chicks that we were able to hold for a while and seemed to fall asleep in our hands pretty quickly before they were collected once again. My daughter was a big fan of that particular event, but it was hard to get a picture with our hands full of yellow fluffy baby chickens.

I also recall two owls had their own cages, but there was no sign of the Barn Owl, and the Eagle owl was very high up and fast asleep in a dark corner, it just wasn’t the right time of day for them, and it was a hot, bright day.

My daughter also spent some time in an outdoor play area, luckily as the area was quite large, she wore a distinctive yellow hat so that we could easily locate her at all times, she would have probably played there all day if her Stepfather hadn’t bribed her with a cold drink and ice-cream for us all.

Just across from the play area were the Meerkats. Aside from adverts and cartoons I don’t think my daughter had ever seen a real-life meerkat before. She was captivated by the way they stood and moved around, it was just a pity there weren’t any babies at the time, she would have loved them the most and they seemed to be captivated by her large yellow hat, which made getting pictures of the lovely creatures a lot easier.

The picture I chose for the competition, was the best of the bunch, taken with a phone and I am not really much of an expert, but he or she is a lovely example of wildlife, even if they are in captivity, they did have a large area to run, play and dig in. It was also quite secure as my daughter needed to be lifted up to see them properly. It was edited slightly to zoom in on the meerkat and cropped to take away some of the walls around it, to give it more of a wild feel.

I love how he or she is standing and due to the weather and brightness, you could almost believe that it was taken in a more meerkat approved habitat further away. They were very popular on the day, there was hardly a moment where they were not surrounded by visitors, captivated by their cuteness and ways of life.

Credit where it is due to Bowland Wild Boar Park, for their care for the animals and how they were able to create such a good day out for all animal lovers and adventurers.