Paradise Park

Wildlife Sanctuary • Cornwall

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Plan Your Visit

Opening Times

Paradise Park and the JungleBarn are open from 10am every day. Closing times do vary from summer to winter. Please check this page for details.

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Events & News

Events

Events and things to do throughout the year including Easter Egg Hunts, summer flying displays, Quiz trails around the Park, Halloween Pumpkin Trail and more.

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Attractions

Gardens

The gardens are designed to complement the exotic wildlife at Paradise Park, and to provide plenty of nectar for native pollinators.

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JungleBarn

Birthday Parties

Make it a birthday to remember with your choice of four themed party rooms with the birthday child’s name displayed on the door.

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Education

Enrichment Activities

One of the main jobs for our Keepers is creating fun, interesting, interactive enrichment activities which are key in encouraging a range of normal behaviours that birds and mammals find rewarding, providing them with mental stimulation, social interaction and exercise.

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Conservation

Operation Chough

Operation Chough is a conservation project established at Paradise Park, in Hayle, Cornwall in 1987.

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Flamingo Penelope lays egg early in season!

May 2025

We are excited at the early laying of a flamingo egg this year.

12th June
UPDATE
The first flamingo egg of the season was laid by Penelope. Sadly for her and her mate Colin, it is now a week overdue so we are pretty sure it is not fertile and maybe they laid too early. At some point Penelope and Colin will abandon their nest and then the Keepers we remove the egg to learn anything they can from it.
But we do have the second egg laid by Edwina and Anthony on the 1st June which we are more positive about, as they had been seen mating. This pair are also Derek’s parents (our only previous flamingo chick), so it is much more promising. Edwina’s egg is due to hatch at the end of June, fingers crossed for a brother or sister for Derek. YOU CAN WATCH HERE

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1st June
UPDATE to the story below: A second egg has been laid by Edwina and Anthony who are Derek’s parents. Will Derek get a brother or sister? More news soon.

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Flamingo Egg at Paradise Park Cornwall by photographer Josh Ryan MurrayAmazing up close egg photograph by Josh Ryan Murray

Head of Softbills at Paradise Park Becky Waite explains “The egg was laid very early on the morning of 3rd May, which surprised us as this is the earliest in the year that laying has happened. We’re keeping our fingers crossed this is a good sign and that it will also encourage the rest of the flock to breed.
It will be a month before it hatches, which will be around 2nd June. This pair did lay last year, but sadly the egg was not fertile. Because the shells are very thick, which you can tell by looking at the photo, we can’t tell if it is fertile so we stay optimist that all will turn out okay.
The Keepers keep a close eye on the nest just in case the parents should stop incubating, and then we would step in quickly and put the egg in an incubator and hand-rear, just as I did back in 2019 with ‘Derek’ our first flamingo chick.
All of us are very excited and it’s great that visitors can get such an amazing close view of the flamingo lagoon – when Penelope or Colin stand up you can clearly see their beautiful egg.”

BELOW: Penelope and Colin taking care of their precious egg. By Director Alison Hales

Flamingos Penelope Colin and their egg by Director Alison Hayles Paradise Park Cornwall

The pair with the egg are called ‘Penelope’ and ‘Colin’, named after the characters on ‘Bridgerton’, and they both share the incubation and are very committed to the task.

Video clip by Josh Ryan Murray of Penelope and Colin swapping over on the nest.

Video clip by Director Nick of the flamingo flock in their breeding lagoon.

BELOW: Penelope sitting on her mud nest in the lagoon. By Josh Ryan Murray 

Flamingo Penelope on nest at Paradise Park by Photographer Josh Ryan Murray
Flamingo Derek hatched on 19th August 2019 and was hand-reared by Becky. When Derek joined the main flock, flamingo Auntie Rita kept her company and looked out for her. Derek is now 6 years old which is the age they can breed and she has paired with Doris… Derek being female and Doris a male… you can read more about Derek’s story on the  website HERE
Watch the LIVE flamingo webcam HERE

Becky continues “Caribbean flamingos build their nests in the shallow muddy area of their lagoon. Flamingos form strong pair bonds, and just one egg is laid with both male and female feeding the chick on a special ‘crop milk’. They are long lived birds that can reach the age of 40.”

BELOW: Photograph by Director Nick Reynolds

Flamingo Lagoon by Directior Nick Reynolds Paradise Park Hayle Cornwall

Main photograph at the top of the page is by Director Alison Hales.

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