The penguins at Blackpool Zoo are now settling into their new home after its undergone an impressive £100,000 refurbishment.
Or, as the zoo has comically put it, they’re ready to “net fish and chill”.
The improvement works on the newly-named ‘Penguin Cove’ down at the Lancashire-based zoo – which opened in 1972, and is now home to over 1,000 mammals, birds, reptiles, and invertebrates – started back in January when the colony of penguins was temporarily relocated so their specially-designed facility could take shape.
Blackpool Zoo is home to the UK’s only collection of Magellanic penguins – a South American penguin named after Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who first spotted them in 1520, and who originate from coastal Patagonia, Chile, and the Falkland Islands.
The penguin colony arrived at the zoo in 2009 as part of the ‘Active Oceans Arena’ development.
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The £100,000 refurb of the colony’s living facility includes a brand-new beach – which is eight-times bigger than the previous one – made with sand from an estuary on the River Mersey, and coming complete with more nest boxes for mating pairs.
Blackpool Zoo’s penguins move into new home with a beach and pool after £100k refurb / Credit: Blackpool Zoo
The pool has also had an overhaul, and now includes a state-of-the-art lining and a net cover across the whole area to help to protect the animals from bird flu.
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Thanks to the new refurb, visitors see the cute aquatic birds in their new habitats much better than they could before, as there’s a new extended walkway that goes all the way round the beach and pool, and there’s also lots of new planting that provides natural shading.
Luke Forster, Deputy Team Manager on the Birds and Events Section at Blackpool Zoo, designed the new facility and oversaw the entire project.
“We are thrilled to be reopening our improved and extended facility,” Luke said.
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“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.”
On top of the new penguin facility, now that the national restrictions on birds have been lifted, Blackpool Zoo says it’s “delighted” to have been able to reopen its World of Wings walk-through, and is also getting ready to reopen its Rainbow Landings exhibit.
The World of Wings is now open seven days a week, while Rainbow Landings on weekends and Bank Holidays from next Saturday 29 April, and then every day from Saturday 27 May.
Featured Image – Blackpool Zoo
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Manchester ranked among the worst UK cities for throwing away food at Christmas
Emily Sergeant
A new survey has ranked Manchester among the worst cities in the UK when it comes to throwing away leftover food at Christmas.
If there’s one thing we know for certain, it’s that a lot of food gets consumed during Christmas time, but unfortunately, what then comes along with that, is a lot of food getting thrown away too – with a new study revealing that British families are expected to bin nearly £300 million worth of festive food this year alone.
And sadly, Manchester has been named one of the top festive food waste hotspots.
Ahead of the festive season, leading electricals retailer, AO.com, is on a mission to help Brits cut back on their food waste, as 54% of Mancs have admitted to chucking out leftovers.
The survey found that, on average, a British family spends £136 on their Christmas food shopping, but 11% of that goes to waste.
This equates to a whopping £292,822,360 in Christmas food waste in total this year.
With almost 78% of survey respondents saying they would prefer to have their meals at home during the Christmas period, rather than dining out, the research uncovered that a quarter of Brits often throw away their Brussels sprouts, while one in 10 even admitted to binning everyone’s festive favourite, pigs in blankets.
Manchester has ranked among the worst UK cities for throwing away food at Christmas / Credit: Freepik | Flickr
Other northern cities ranking alongside Manchester in the not-so-coveted list of highest festive food waste offenders include Newcastle and Sheffield.
The capitals of London, Edinburgh, and Belfast also feature.
The news that Manchester has been named a festive food waste capital comes after a shocking study, also by AO, revealed back in August that Mancs throw away more than £1,000 of ‘freezable’ food every year too.
Featured Image – gpointstudio (via Freepik)
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Tyson Fury says he hasn’t spoken to his wife in ‘three months’ whilst preparing for Usyk rematch
Danny Jones
Tyson Fury says hasn’t spoken to his wife Paris for three whole months while preparing for the much-anticipated Oleksandr Usyk rematch.
The Manc fighter is set to face the Ukrainian counterpart in the ‘Undisputed’ sequel, simply dubbed Fury vs Usyk 2, which will result in one unified heavyweight champion of the world.
Usyk’s victory over the Wythenshawe-born boxer back in May saw him take that title for the first time since 1999 (the only man to have done so in the four-belt era) but with the rematch nearly upon us, Fury could be set to steal that title away from him.
With that in mind, the pressure has clearly been on ever since he lost the first bout and, according to Tyson himself, he hasn’t spoken to his wife Paris Fury for virtually a quarter of a year as part of his immensely strict training camp.
Speaking to TNT Sports ahead of the match this weekend, he claimed: “I haven’t spoke to Paris in three months – not a word. [I’ve] not spoke to anyone, I haven’t been on my phone.”
Explaining that he simply removed all distractions to get his head in the right space ahead of the title decider, ‘The Gypsy King’ has been known to isolate himself from the rest of the world before a big fight in the past, but cutting contact with your spouse of 10 years and partner for nearly two decades is wild.
The 36-year-old went on to detail that in order to give himself the best shot at winning, he couldn’t keep switching between “beast mode to dad mode to wife mode” and so on.
In separate interviews with other outlets ahead of the highly-awaited rematch, Fury has made various other big claims about what boxing fans can expect from his own performance, including an admission that he needs to be “more focused this time and not do as much showboating” in the ring.
Nevertheless, he also assured the media that he isn’t a quitter and has promised he will not just “f*** up” his 37-year-old opponent but “retire” him. Usyk, on the other hand, has warned he will be a different challenge than the last time the two faced each other, predicting a knockout victory too.
Having downed Tyson more than once the last time around, he’s understandably confident of his chances.
Bold words from the pair of them, indeed, but this is all just part and parcel of the usual pre-fight build-up; all we really know is that Usyk won the previous face-off and Fury is the one with the point to prove.
While younger brother Tommy Fury recently had to pull out of his scheduled fight against Darren Till, during which tensions seriously boiled over during the first press conference, it looks as though there is no risk of more cancellations and any more ‘will they won’t they?’ antics between these two at least.
The rematch, or ‘Fury vs Usyk 2: Undisputed’ to give use its full title (the latest in Saudi Arabia’s growing fight scene and live sports programming as part of Riyadh Season) takes place this Saturday, 21 December, with the two set to clash once again from 10:25 GMT.
Who do you think will emerge victorious from this one and, more importantly, when do you think we’ll see the third and ‘final’ fight when they inevitably demand a trilogy?…
Emily Sergeant -
21st April 2023 
