Friends & Family - Antony Simpson - Author, Blogger, Nurse & Witch.

The Superb Blackpool Zoo – Get CLOSE to the Animals

By AntonyFriends & Family, Happiness & Joy, Nature3 Comments

Yesterday a good friend, her son, two of his friends and I went to Blackpool Zoo. It was raining heavily, but we didn’t let the rain dampen our spirits.

Blackpool Zoo is a superb Zoo, I can’t believe I’ve never visited it before. It is the perfect size, allowing you to see everything in a day at a stroll.

Blackpool Zoo has all the animals you’d expect in a Zoo (plus a few more) and you can get really close to them. The animals look happy and well looked after. Here are some photos from the day, along with my comments, click any photo to see the full size:

The Elephants – Indoors sheltering themselves from the rain.	The camels didn’t seem to mind the rain or the temperature that was significantly lower than their natural environment.
Blackpool Zoo has Amazonia an exhibit where you can walk freely in an enclosure with monkeys and other wildlife from South America. It transports you into a rain forest like environment and is where we saw these cheeky little monkeys.	I saw these gorgeous pink birds and just had to take a photo.
A white wallaby. I’ve never seen a wallaby in real life, they’re so cute.	The kangaroos were all taking shelter from the rain. The first time I’ve seen kangaroos. I don’t blame them for taking shelter from the rain, it was bucketing down at that point.
Sea Lions. The photo was a lucky shot, as they were weaving around and in and out of each other quite quickly. As if they were doing some sort of intricate and improvised dance in the water.	A giant in the Orangutan world – just look at the size of his face, never mind the rest of him.

I am particularly proud of this awesome photo:

This photo of a penguin is most probably the best photo I’ve ever taken. The penguin was swimming at great speed, although you wouldn’t have guested. I looked at this photo when I got home and it looks like it was taken by a professional. A total fluke.

Here’s even more photos:

Blackpool Zoo even has an exhibit of Farm Animals. These animals included two Shetland ponies, goats, donkeys, pigs and sheep (photo is of one of the sheep).	A pair of attention seeking otters. Wonderfully fun, playful and liked to upstage one another. I love the spirit of these animals.
Look how close we got to this tiger at Blackpool Zoo. In Chester Zoo I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tiger, let alone been able to get close enough to appreciate its stripy beauty.	Another of the beautiful tiger. Blackpool Zoo have two tigers from what we saw. The tiger is more than slightly moist because of the rain.
Lion: yawn Me: I totally understand how you feel. I’ve walked around Blackpool Zoo all day.	This is how close we got to a Lion. Able to look in its eye and see the intelligence, along with the hunter instinct. He appeared to be eyeing us up as a snack. Blackpool Zoo had two male Lions living in the enclosure together from what I saw. They seemed pretty well bonded and one went and groomed the other while we watched.
Quickly becoming my favourite animal, the giraffes. What I love about giraffes is that every time I’ve politely called over to one (in different Zoos I might add), they come over. They look at me with their big black eyes and some times, if I’m really lucky, they let me take a photo before they walk off.	Another photo of the giraffes. I had politely called out to the one in the foreground.

Essential Info

Parking: There is an onsite car park, with overflow parking. It is charged reasonably at £2.50 for the day.
Opening Times: Vary throughout the year, click here to see opening times.
Admission Prices: Vary throughout the year, but are cheaper if you buy them online.
Facilities: Toilets, two gift shops, a cafe, a Starbucks Coffee at the entrance, a small train that takes passengers (for a charge) from one end of the Zoo to the other, an indoor children’s play area (separate to Zoo and doesn’t require Zoo entry), experience days.

Chester Zoo VS Blackpool Zoo
I couldn’t help but compare my many visits to Chester Zoo with my experience in Blackpool Zoo. Chester Zoo could learn a few lessons from Blackpool Zoo including:

Have more of the bigger and more popular animals. Chester Zoo’s selection of big and popular animals is pitiful when compared with Blackpool Zoo.
Ensure good viewing opportunities for visitors in enclosures. Blackpool Zoo have done this really well. It makes visitors feel that they can get really close to the animals. Chester Zoo hasn’t got this right.
Make it realistic to visit everywhere in the Zoo in one day. Currently to see everything in Chester Zoo you need about a day and a half of rushing around.

We had a brilliant time at Blackpool Zoo and I would highly recommend it to you all.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Sunday 9 September 2018

Autism & Asperger’s Syndrome Series – What they are, Signs/Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment Approaches

By AntonyEducation, Friends & Family, Life, ThinkingNo Comments

During my working and personal life I have met people who have told me that they are on the autistic spectrum or have been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. But I’ll be honest, I don’t know that much about autism or Asperger’s syndrome.

So I’m writing this Autism & Asperger’s Syndrome Series to educate myself and others.

What is Autism?

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is the name for a range of similar conditions, including Asperger syndrome, that affect a person’s social interaction, communication, interests and behaviour.

In children with ASD, the symptoms are present before three years of age, although a diagnosis can sometimes be made after the age of three.

It’s estimated that about 1 in every 100 people in the UK has ASD. More boys are diagnosed with the condition than girls.

(From: NHS Choices – Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), last accessed: Sunday 15th July 2018.)

Here’s a video that explains more:

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What is Asperger’s Syndrome?

Asperger’s Syndrome is a Pervasive Developmental Disorder that falls within the autistic spectrum. It is a life-long condition, which affects about 1 in 200 people, more commonly in men than women. Those with Asperger’s Syndrome are usually of average or above average intelligence.

The condition is characterised by difficulties with Social Interaction, Social Communication and Flexibility of Thinking or Imagination. In addition, there may be sensory, motor and organisational difficulties.

(From: Asperger’s Syndrome Foundation – What is Asperger’s Syndrome, last accessed: Sunday 15th July 2018.)

Signs and Symptoms

The signs and symptoms include difficulties interacting with others and unusual thinking patterns. Behaviour is likely to be affected, as explained below:

Examples of Autism Spectrum Behaviours:

Communication

Echoing words/phrases without context

Taking an adult to the biscuit tin rather than asking or pointing

Taking language too literally

Social Interactions

Preference to play alone

Difficulty relating to other people

Not understanding other’s thoughts and emotions

Repetitive behaviours

Hand flapping

Toe walking

Spinning wheels

Lining up cars

Restrictive behaviour

Eating only yellow food

Insisting on walking the same route

Only watching Thomas the Tank Engine

…

People with autism may or may not have the following:

Exceptional attention to detail

Sensory differences, this is most noticeable when children are over-sensitive to stimuli e.g. distress at loud noises

Trouble with co-ordination

Unusual eating behaviour such as only eating certain foods

Additional learning disabilities

A very small percentage have unusual abilities for example with music or memory

(From: Child Autism – Symptoms, last accessed: Sunday 15th July 2018.)

People with autism and Asperger’s syndrome are at higher risk of developing or have these other conditions: learning disabilities, ADHD, epilepsy, dyspraxia, dyslexia, dyscalculia, OCD, depression, anxiety, bipolar, sleeping problems, Tourette’s syndrome or other tick disorders.

Diagnosis

People get diagnosed with autism or Asperger’s syndrome by their GP referring them to a Specialist Team. These days people are often diagnosed as children. The specialist team usually includes a Paediatrician, a Psychologist, a Psychiatrist, a Speech & Language Therapist and a Occupational Therapist.

Treatment Approaches
As every person with autism or Asperger’s syndrome is different, the treatment for each person is different; depending on the individual’s needs. However treatment includes interventions around developing communication skills, interaction skills, the ability to imagine and traditional academic skills.

It is also useful for parents/carers and other family members to go on a parenting and autism course. This is because these courses are packed with strategies to best support a child with autism.

Parents/carers and other family members can also get peer support which will help them feel less isolated and give them opportunities to learn from others at a local support group. If there isn’t a group locally, there’s lots of message boards online.

In the next post in this Autism & Asperger’s Syndrome Series I’ll be listing useful websites around autism and Asperger’s syndrome.

Write soon,

Antony

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Wednesday 18 July 2018

Chester Zoo with Jayne

By AntonyFriends & Family, Happiness & Joy, Nature2 Comments

On Monday, my good friend Jayne and I visited to Chester Zoo. The weather was glorious, sunshine, temperatures 30+ °C and not a cloud in the sky. It was so warm that Jayne and I were grateful for Chester Zoo’s unlimited refillable drinks cups for sale at around £10 each.

Jayne hadn’t been to Chester Zoo for years. These days Chester Zoo is massive and I’d recommend that you do visit the zoo over two days to see everything.

Here are photos from the day, click on any photo for full size image:

The elephant family.	A close up of the baby elephant.
The smiley bull elephant.	Exotic squirrels.
An exotic squirrel eating a grape upside down.	My new lover! He’s the strong, wooden, silent type.
Deer.	Butterfly (1).
Butterfly (2).	An Okapi.
The Giraffes.	This gorgeous beauty came to say hello and flirted with me (by winking with her big eye and long eyelashes) when I said ‘Hello Gorgeous.’ to her as she passed by.
My gorgeous giraffe at a distance.	The pink flamingos.
The penguins (1).	The penguins (2).
A rhino.

Essential Info

A massive zoo with a variety of animals.
Opening Times: See opening times here.
Admission Prices: See admission prices here.
Parking: Ample free parking.
Facilities: toilets, restaurants, refreshment stalls, gift shops, experience days.

Chester Zoo is a brilliant day out. It was great to see volunteers around the zoo.

However it’s a large zoo with not enough big animals. Jayne and I saw quite a number of empty enclosures for larger animals. They should put better signage up on the Islands Exhibit to direct visitors back to the main part of the zoo.

The zoo is so huge now, that they really should consider transportation methods in the zoo. The monorail is too limited. Perhaps they could look at golf buggies for hire or something similar. This would enable visitors to get around and see the whole zoo in one day.

Write soon,

Antony

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Tuesday 3 July 2018

Awesome A-Ha at Blackpool Football Club

By AntonyFriends & Family, Gigs & Shows, Happiness & JoyNo Comments

Jayne and I waiting for a-Ha. I had even styled my hair into a mohican that were very in in the 80s.

At the weekend Jayne and I went to see A-Ha at Blackpool Football Club. I was Jayne’s last minute stand-in. I’m always happy to help a friend out, especially when it comes to going to a gig.

A-Ha was awesome. Superb singing and enjoyable light show. The atmosphere was amazing, with the audience singing along to many of A-Ha’s songs.

However I was disappointed with Blackpool Football Club. Before the two warmup acts had finished the venue had ran out of everything drinks-wise. They only had lager and cider left and that was only because it was on tap.

Here’s some photos from the evening, click on any photo for the full size image:

a-Ha’s vocals were spot on, as was the playing of instruments.	a-Ha (1).
a-Ha (2).	a-Ha (3).
a-Ha’s singing and stage lighting reminded me of the time I saw the British Musical Firework Championships.	Perhaps my favourite photo of the evening, except for the one of Jayne and myself of course. Rainbow lighting whilst playing the last few tracks. The last track of course was Take On Me.
A close up of the rainbow lighting.