Silent World
| Contact | Ginny Batt |
|---|---|
| Address | Slippery Back Narberth Road Tenby Pembrokeshire SA70 8HR |
| Phone | 01834 844498 |
| Website | http://www.silentworld.org.uk/ |
Silent World is few minutes walk from the centre of Tenby housed in the unusual surroundings of an attractive 19th century chapel. The Aquarium and Reptile Collection gives visitors a fascinating view of all sorts of aquatic creatures as well as reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates.
"We originally started with a zoo on St Catherine's Island, having moved to the area from Bristol in the 1960s. But by the early 70s thoughts turned to setting up an aquarium. The problems on St Catherine's Island made it impossible to do it there, so we looked around for other suitable places - from beach cafe's to the basements of council offices.
Then in 1987 we saw an ad for a chapel in Tenby. And two years (and a lot of money) later we opened our aquarium. It's off a lane called Slippery Back, which we thought was a really appropriate name!
Right from the start we decided that we didn't want what we call a 'gawp and gasp' exhibition, but one that actually taught people about what they were seeing. So, besides running the aquarium itself, we also do talks for schools, youth clubs, young farmers etc.
The exhibits are arranged in habitats, showing the creatures that naturally live together in the wild. Upstairs we have snakes, lizards and amphibians from around the world. And we operate a very successful captive breeding programme, which help keeps some endangered species alive.
Downstairs are the aquarium tanks, full with fish, crabs, lobsters and invertebrates such as anemones and starfish. And all the sea creatures you see we collect ourselves from around the Pembrokeshire coast. The beautiful Snakelock Anemone (which is green with pink tips) we get from Manorbier, sea horses from St Brides, and pipefish from Gelliswick Bay.
The funny thing is we tend to know the various bays and coves by the names of the creatures we collect. So the inlet on the Pembroke River near Monkton, for example, we call 'Clingfish Bay'. We collect fish and other sea creatures as eggs or babies and then, when they've grown, put them back into the sea.
We harvest rainwater and use it for the reptiles and all our water needs, except drinking. We recycle our paper and green waste and we're looking at solar panels too. But then, being so very close to nature, we're obviously very conscious of looking after the environment. So we do all we can to preserve it."
