Chester Zoo

Black jags and more

 March 5th 2013

I was very young when I first visited Chester Zoo with my Uncle Jack and my cousin Rachel. I guess it was around 1959. I can remember studying the zoo map when I got back home and carefully checking that I had seen everything: I was quite upset that I could remember seeing the buffaloes, but I hadn’t seen the buffet! My mother had to explain to explain to me what the Buffet was.

The zoo has expanded greatly since those days; a few of the buildings from that time remain, but they have all been modernised and many new ones have been built and indeed rebuilt. There is no doubt that Chester is now the best all-round zoo in the UK and I know that the zoo’s staff are determined that it will continue to be so.

As I had only made one short visit previously in 2013, I made sure that I had a full day on March 5th. I took the same kit as I used at Paignton, but I just used the 105mm macro and the 500mm without the coverter. The weather was good and the zoo was fairly quiet, although there were a few school parties as it was a Tuesday (I usually visit Chester at weekends, although the zoo is busier I often meet friends who are also regular visitors, plus the traffic is easier).

I was particularly keen to see some of the new arrivals, but my first decent photos were of 'Pele', the old male black jaguar. He has been allowed to use the outdoor waterfall enclosure of the jaguar house for a while now, and I think he looks very well on it. This is my favourite shot from a sequence taken with my 105mm lens as he walked around the enclosure. I like the angle of the light.

 

The other jaguar enclosure now holds a young pair of jags who have arrived this year. I saw them both for the first time, but they didn’t pose for me. I wandered around the zoo, but I didn’t really get any worthwhile photos until I reached the Tsavo aviary, where I paused for my packed lunch. It is supposed to be an ‘immersion exhibit’ making you feel that you are in Africa, but Chester in March isn’t warm enough to be convincing. Still the birds looked well and I used the 500mm to shoot this nice pose of a blacksmith plover.

I was delighted to get my first view of 'Tafari', the female okapi born last November. I was particularly pleased to see her as she is the zoo's first okapi calf and I had seen her parents attempting to mate in 2011. I particularly like the colour and texture of the coat of an okapi and I think that the contre jour lighting shows this well, I don’t particularly like the fussy background and I had to clone out a yellowish spot which was very distracting, but the bonus of that amazing tongue adds another element. I took several shots in the sequence, but this is the only one where the tongue is sharp.

This is the perhaps the point to say that I think that a good test of an animal photo is to ask if it shows you something new about the animal. Does this image pass the test?

Afternoon sunshine sometimes makes it possible to get good shots of the free-flying birds in the tropical house with a long lens. I was pleased to get this shot of a Madagascar red fody from the balcony, although the colour balance was tricky and I’m not absolutely sure I have the colours quite right here. This little guy does have garish red plumage, but perhaps this is a mite too garish.

Back at the Jag house, I managed to shoot the new young female 'Goshi', who is a black jaguar like 'Pele' (the zoo’s other two jags are normally coloured). This outdoor enclosure has a fence of very thick chain link and hot wires (the Curator of Mammals says you could keep a T. rex in there). So you have to work hard to get a clear image. I used my 500mm lens and increased the shutter speed to keep the aperture at f/4.5 to reduce depth of field and get the wire well out of focus. I also plunged my monopod into the thick border of spiny Berberis between the standoff barrier and the fence to get the front element closer to the wire (while still staying safe of course). I also picked a dark coloured area of wire to shoot through. Each of these precautions help technically, but you also need a proper pose to make the picture complete. I am satisfied with this one.

As it was getting towards closing time, I fitted the 105mm again for the walk back to the entrance, which was fortunate because the hyacinthine macaws were in their flight: this breeding pair can be quite secretive. One posed in front of the window and I took my chance.

 
 I hope it won't be too long before I have another day at Chester.