Wildlife park welcomes two female king penguins

The new females were hatched in Germany

A wildlife park has welcomed two new females to its colony of king penguins in a bid to boost its breeding programme.

The females, who have yet to be named, arrived at Birdland Park and Gardens in Bourton-on-the-Water in the Cotswolds last week.

The pair hatched in Wuppertal, Germany, in 2021 and 2023 and are believed to be the first female king penguins to be imported to the UK in 15 years.

Staff learned in December that a supposed female called Maggie, who joined the park eight years ago, was in fact a male who has since been renamed Magnus.

One of the two new arrivals at Birdland

The discovery meant that for many years the park has had just one female, named Bill.

Until the latest additions to the park arrived, Bill was also the only female King Penguin in the UK.

She is 10 years older than she would live to in the wild.

Head keeper Alistair Keen said: "We've not had a [king penguin] egg at Birdland for three years, and we've had no breeding success for nearly a decade now.

"The fact we now have two young females who could potentially be breeding for another 10 to 15 years is absolutely massive for us and the breeding programme across Europe."

The new penguins have joined the park as part of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria Ex-situ Programme.

The programme aims to ensure a healthy and viable captive population of more than 500 endangered and threatened species is maintained in the long term.

"There was so much paper work to complete - jumping through various hoops and making phone calls and emails at all times of day," Mr Keen said.

"It was a day-and-a-half for them to travel by road from Germany but they are feeding great, they are looking great so we just can't wait to get them out and meeting the boys."

The pair will now go through a period of quarantine before they join the rest of the colony.