Get your teeth into zoo’s first Green Fair!

© ZSL

There’s plenty to inspire and inform at the zoo’s first ever Green Fair, including green trails taking you around the zoo and past some of the world’s most spectacular animals.

As well as tips on how to make your home greener and your garden more wildlife-friendly, the zoo welcomes several local conservation groups to the fair. The Bedfordshire Bird and Bat Groups - who carry out wildlife surveys at Whipsnade and organise walks - will be among the ten participants.

Children can enjoy many of the activities, such as making a bird feeder, crafts and trails and also get the chance to meet Wally the Woppapotamus, star of Helen Bonney’s book of the loveable space being who is trying to save the earth.

Visitors will also get to see a very special recycling project. When one of the zoo’s trees began to die, it was decided to cut it down. The bench around the bottom meant a sizeable stump was going to be left. ZSL’s Dave Hicks said: ‘It was decided it would be nice to make a feature out of it rather than remove it. Local wood carver called Dan Cordell was called in to do something with it.

‘As the stump was twin stemmed it lent itself to the idea of becoming a crocodile head. It's a great way to increase the biodiversity of the site by keeping deadwood for the mini-beasts whilst also adding visual impact.’

The Whipsnade Green Fair is designed to encourage visitors to engage in environmental activities in their own neighbourhood.

Green zoo - did you know?

• The zoo has already created its first “eco-friendly” exhibit this year – the Rhinos of Nepal exhibit uses solar panels to heat indoor pools, a high-tech biological water filtering system to save water as well as rubberised flooring improving the foot care of the Asian one-horned rhinos who use this new facility.

• ZSL Whipsnade Zoo has many green initiatives to reduce water consumption, improve energy efficiency and enhance the native plants and animals on its site. The site includes a site of special scientific interest on the chalk down land slopes, home to many rare plants and animals. Native plants, such as bluebells, are encouraged and the zoo has built new hedgerows on its 600-acre site to provide crucial habitats for rare plants, birds, insects and mammals.