Ängelholms Hembygdspark
This is a very small, farm-like park with free admission. The focus is mainly on domestic animals, but they also keep a few birds and fallow deer.
The main reason for our visit was that I’d seen some time ago that they kept brown-headed parrot (Poicephalus cryptoxanthus), a species I needed for my lists. Unfortunately, we didn’t see it, despite visiting two days in a row. The species wasn’t signed anymore (not all birds were signed either), so it’s possible the parrot was indoors both days. Hard to say.
Overall, it’s a nice little collection. There’s a newly built chicken and pheasant house, a few aviaries for parrots, pigeons, and finches, plus enclosures for pigs, fallow deer, goats, sheep, and more. They used to have a pond with several waterfowl species, but the pond is now empty and overgrown, and I’m not sure why.
One interesting detail is that this park is partly responsible for the presence of free-living, breeding mandarin ducks in southern Sweden. They previously kept this species in the pond, and several birds escaped. Some of those still show up in rivers and ponds around Ängelholm today. I’ve heard that one local group reached over 50 birds a few years back.
For me, this stop was mainly about documentation and checking a potential species. It’s not a destination collection, but as a free, small-scale park it’s pleasant to walk through, even if this time the target species didn’t cooperate.