Celebrations as First King Penguin Chick Hatches in UK for 12 Years

While much of Britain has been sweltering in the summer heat, keepers in the Cotswolds have been sweating on the arrival of a much cooler new resident.

A king penguin chick has successfully hatched at Birdland Park & Gardens in Bourton on the Water, becoming the first of its species to hatch successfully anywhere in the UK since 2014.

Remarkably, that previous chick was also hatched at Birdland, giving the wildlife park the distinction of being responsible for Britain’s two most recent successful king penguin hatchings.

Weighing just 188g when it emerged from its egg, the new arrival is now being hand reared by Birdland’s specialist keeping team, who are providing round the clock care during the crucial early stages of its development.

The chick finally emerged following an anxious incubation lasting almost two months, bringing to a successful conclusion a breeding story that began when keepers discovered Birdland’s first king penguin egg in six years.

Its parents are French, one of the colony’s younger females, and Frank, Birdland’s most experienced breeding male and already the father of the park’s internationally famous previous chick, Spike.

French was breeding for the first time, while Frank is already considerably older than the age king penguins would typically reach in the wild, making the successful hatch particularly significant for the Birdland team.

The egg itself had presented keepers with an early challenge.

Shortly after it was laid, they discovered Frank had positioned it between his feet rather than balancing it correctly on top. With king penguins producing just a single egg and successful breeding notoriously difficult, the decision was taken to move the precious arrival into an incubator.

Weighing 298g, the egg was also slightly smaller than keepers would normally expect.

Against the odds, however, it proved fertile and, after weeks of careful monitoring, Britain’s newest king penguin finally began breaking through its shell.

When it eventually emerged weighing 188g, the focus immediately switched from incubation to hand rearing.

The chick is being carefully fed and monitored by Birdland’s experienced keepers, with its weight, feeding and development closely recorded as they guide it through the vulnerable first stages of life.

Alistair Keen, Head of Living Collection at Birdland Park & Gardens, said: “This is an incredibly special moment for everyone at Birdland.

“When the egg was first laid we knew there were several reasons to be cautious. French was a first time breeder, Frank is an elderly gentleman by king penguin standards and the egg itself was smaller than average.

“But nature has surprised us in the best possible way.

“To have the first successful king penguin hatch in the UK since 2014 is fantastic in itself, but the fact that the previous successful hatch also happened here at Birdland makes it particularly special.

“The chick weighed just 188g when it hatched and is now being hand reared by our team, so although reaching this point is a huge milestone, there is still a great deal of work ahead.

“We’re monitoring it extremely closely and every feed and every bit of weight gained is another encouraging step forward.

“We’ve been watching and waiting for almost two months, so finally seeing that little chick emerge from the egg was a wonderful moment for the entire team.”

King penguins are instantly recognisable by their striking black, white and golden yellow plumage and are the second largest penguin species in the world, behind only the emperor penguin.

Adults can weigh up to 18kg, meaning Birdland’s 188g newcomer could eventually become almost 100 times its hatching weight.

Unlike many birds, king penguins do not build nests. In the wild, their single egg is carefully balanced on the parents’ feet and covered by a warm fold of abdominal skin, with both parents sharing incubation duties.

Their breeding cycle is unusually long. Eggs typically take around 56 to 60 days to hatch and chicks can take up to 16 months to become fully independent and develop their adult plumage.

That lengthy process, combined with king penguins producing only one egg at a time and sometimes going several years between breeding attempts, makes every successful hatch significant.

In the wild, king penguins inhabit subantarctic islands across the Southern Ocean, making the fluffy newcomer an appropriately cool counterpoint to the temperatures being experienced across Britain this summer.

Alistair added: “People tend to associate penguins with ice, snow and freezing temperatures, so the timing has certainly made us smile.

“While everyone else has been talking about how to keep cool this summer, we’ve spent the last few weeks concentrating on one very important little penguin.

“There’s a long way to go and we won’t be taking anything for granted, but we’re delighted with the progress so far.”

The arrival continues Birdland’s long association with king penguins and represents an important new generation for one of the park’s most recognisable species.

For the keeping team, however, the immediate priority is rather simpler: plenty of food, careful monitoring and helping Britain’s rarest new penguin chick grow.

Images: Cotswold House Photography