Penguins named after Only Fools and Horses trio

Del Boy, Rodney and Raquel have swapped Peckham for the Cotswolds after a public vote to name three penguin chicks.

The Only Fools and Horses characters have new namesakes in the form of the trio, born in 2025 at Birdland Park & Gardens in Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire.

Birdland, which is also home to king penguins French and Saunders, named the birds on Penguin Awareness Day on 20 January. The park hopes the comedic names will help raise awareness of the threats faced by Humboldt penguins.

Head keeper Alistair Keen recently went on a conservation mission to Southern Peru, where the birds are facing growing pressure from climate change, overfishing, El Niño events and avian influenza.

With fewer than 10,000 birds, the Humboldt penguin is one of the rarest of the 17 species of penguin, Birdland said.

The Humboldt penguins at the park are captive bred, and fed a diet of fresh whole sprats, plus vitamins and salt.

In the wild, they live along the coasts of islands of Chile and Peru, including at Punta San Juan, which is home to one of Peru's largest colonies of Humboldts.

Keen, who constructed 100 artificial nesting boxes designed to protect eggs and chicks from predators and rising temperatures as part of the programme at Punta San Juan, said he helped collect "vital data" to give the species "a real chance".

Back home, Keen said he hoped the familiar names of the Humboldt trio at Birdland would allow visitors to connect with them.

"But it also opens the door to much bigger conversations," he added.

"Every penguin matters, whether it's here in the Cotswolds or on the wild coast of Peru."

Birdland has been partnered with Penguins International since 2023, when its king penguin, Spike, was crowned the world's favourite.

Since then, the bird park has helped fund population surveys and raise awareness of the plight of penguins, and said it would continue to support the Punta San Juan Programme.

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