Zoo Day.

A grey day today with low clouds occasionally dropping light drizzle.

The builders were here again putting up fascias and gutters while I spent a long morning at the zoo.

The building with the sloping roof is the local small supermarket/Post Office. The upstairs was a cafe but it's become a victim to the pandemic and the owner is now turning it into holiday accomodation.

At the zoo I started with the usual sweeping of the main paths. Next to me two of the young workers were sweeping out one of the marmoset enclosures but one kept being distracted by a marmoset that kept sitting on her shoulder. She was having a fun morning. Then I moved on to the never ending weeding of the gravel. I don't mind doing it but I can only do it for so long before it affects my back. So it was helpful when one of the owners mentioned that should I fancy a change there was a flower bed by the wolf dogs that needed weeding. That's it above, after my weeding efforts. Before I started it was a solid mass of 4ft high weeds including some nasty stinging nettles. Those I gave to the rheas. Both of the free roaming peacocks were in the same enclosure and they enjoy nettles too. I began by working my way from the gate to the wire fence and then went along the wooden fence to a lovely rose bush (out of sight) on the right. During this I was closely watched by the wolf dogs, sometimes at ground level and sometimes from the platform above. Being me I chattered away to the wolf dogs and while I wouldn't be so foolish as to put my fingers through the wire when I offered one a long grass stalk she gently ate the leaf. 

When I took this photo the male wolf dog's attention was on a barking dog outside the zoo.

Most of the meerkats were fast asleep while the sentry sat up on top of their tower. (That's a melon hanging from a rope.) 

I spent longer than usual at the zoo today so once I got home, edited my photos and had a rest there wasn't much of the afternoon left. I wanted to buy a large scale OS map for the local area so I can start exploring but very annoyingly the map stops halfway through Borth. That means buying and carrying two maps unless I get the standard scale map.