Called Secret Life of the Safari Park, the six part series gives us all behind the scenes access, with footage of the animals at the park, the incredible keepers caring for them and some of the visitors.
Knowsley Sfari Park is 10 miles from the heart of Liverpool. It’s home to 700 animals. There’s a Safari Drive, a Foot Safari, and there’s a new App to help you plan your visit. And they’ve got animal experiences (rhino, lion, tiger, meerkat, bush dog, and also an accessible experience). If you’re worried about your car being damaged by those naughty baboons, you can take the Baboon Bus instead!
In Episode One for example, the programme:
Delves into the dynamics of an African lion pride as they navigate their social hierarchy
Watches the heart-stopping intensity of a Congo buffalo calf’s birth
Follows Cosmo, a mischievous Fallow deer who is trying to charm the ladies
Watches the antics of Kevin, a baboon who is coming of age
It’s a chance to see Knowsley Safari Park, even if you don’t life anywhere near it, so tune in!
And you can watch it on demand on Channel 4, and check to see what’s happening in episodes by following @KnowsleySafari on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and X.
@KnowsleySafari
#SAFARIPARK
You can also give a gift membership to a loved one - there are plenty to choose from, with an Adult Membership, a Senior Membership and a Child Membership, plus a Child and Ride and a Ride Only Membership too.
I love the Wildlife Trusts. They are a grassroots movement of people from all sorts of backgrounds and they are on a mission: to restore a third of the UK’s land and seas for nature by 2030.
Each Wildlife Trust is an independent charity. Those involved (in whatever way) want to make a difference to wildlife, to nature, to our climate.
There are now 46 Trusts throughout the UK, from Alderney Wildlife Trust in the Channel Islands to the Scottish Wildlife Trust, from South and West Wales to Suffolk, from Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly to Northumberland. So wherever you are, or wherever the nature lover in your life is, there should be a Wildlife Trust in their area you can tap into and get involved with.
The Wildlife Trusts together have over 900,000 members. There are 600 Trustees, over 32,500 volunteers and 2,500 staff. That’s a lot of people who care about nature and who want to make a positive difference. If we all work together and we are committed to making life better for nature and wildlife – and for people, too – we can achieve much.
Members are helping their Trust to look after wildlife and the natural places in their area, and they receive a welcome back, regular magazines and lots of information. It’s the sort of thing where you can get as involved as you want; if you are really manic with life, you can at least know that your membership is helping your Trust continue with its vital work.
Membership benefits
Because each Trust is an independent charity, the memberships will vary on cost (most are about £3 a month) but generally they include a welcome pack of goodies, regular magazines full of news and features, access to beautiful nature reserves, talks, walks and events – these are a great way to meet fellow wildlife lovers who care about the natural world – and chances to campaign for wildlife.
It may be half price membership month at your local Wildlife Trust or offers may be available on memberships!
The good news is that in January, some Wildlife Trusts (but not all) have half price or memberships for the month, or an offer of some sort, so if you’ve been thinking about joining but not got round to it, this could be a great time to join.
Take a look at your local Wildlife Trust, you can find yours here – and sign up. It’s a great way to show your support for nature and to help Wildlife Trusts reach the 30x30 target - that's 30% of land and sea protected by 2030.
The Wildlife Trusts are aiming to put nature in recovery, making more space for it and connecting habitats on a large scale so that wildlife can pass safely through to new territories. The Trusts want to restore nature so that ecosystems can function again - the UK natural world is very much depleted now.
The Trusts are also hoping to inspire us all to act for nature and rewild our neighbourhoods, working with our communities. I am a member of a couple of Wildlife Trusts and love to receive news of how I can get involved and make a difference - and also to see success stories. Together we can all drive change and actually help nature help us - nature is vital for our wellbeing.
So give a gift membership to a Wildlife Trust and you'll be giving a gift that helps nature, wildlife and people and is a win-win for nature lovers all round!
If you want to treat someone to a trip to a special venue in London, you may want to know that there are a number of special offers for The View to the Shard, the tallest building in the city!
These special offers are from Virgin Experience Days and some of them involve just a visit to The View from the Shard, whilst others include a cocktail or champagne, or a meal (the meal may be elsewhere so you may need to transfer from The View to the Shard to another venue).
There are 22 options with Virgin Experience Days involving a visit to The View from the Shard
Tonight at 8pm on Channel 4, there's London Zoo at Christmas. The programme shows staff beavering away to give both visitors to the zoo and the animals lots of Christmas magic!
As well as Santa visiting, there's another silverback gorilla coming to the zoo from another zoo in Tenerife - very exciting! This is a fraught procedure and it has to be right for everyone's sake and safety. It takes about 30 people to do this. Kiburi is an extremely strong gorilla... And when will he meet his new family?
And there are still 15,000 mouths to feed, with 388 species of animals who live at the zoo! These include 3 Sumatran cubs who were born earlier this year too!
