Merry Christmas to all

Winter is here, and there is lots of news about snow and frost; most seems to be 'spun' to make the stories more dramatic. Luckily this part of Cambridgeshire is pretty well placed and seems to avoid the worst of the weather experienced by some other parts of the country. During the same week in 2009, temperatures were lower and snow-fall higher, but this year it did start very early - November is usually wet. Short days, and cold weather make work harder for our animal staff; although our animals are little concerned by it all. Many species are from regions which have far worst conditions than temperate England, and all of our tropical animals have enclosures kept at optimum conditions year round.

Winter is expensive though... Food consumption increases as natural grazing is not available, and fuel consumption (and cost) is always an issue. Our green energy projects are well underway, and next winter promises to be quite different. Work has started on the wind-turbines which should be erected in February 2011, closely followed by two arrays of solar-pv panels and the installation of our bio-mass/waste boiler.

A big 'thank you' to everyone who has used our new on-line shop. The cash-flow from this is extremely useful in the winter; season-tickets, advance day-tickets and animal sponsorship and contacts packages have all proved to be very popular Christmas presents. We managed to process and post all purchases within 24 hours of receipt, and hope that the Post Office has been equally prompt with their delivery!