ppp pick up a penguin… in Nottinghamshire!

When Muddy Matches encouraged the nation’s outdoor-loving singletons to Get Yourself Out There and explore the countryside on their doorstep this summer, we didn’t, for one minute, think it would relate to all creatures great and small.

No, and especially not a penguin – nicknamed PoPo – who was found waddling down the back streets of a sleepy Nottinghamshire village over the weekend.

Yes, a Humboldt penguin, more commonly found in the South American climes of Chile and Peru, was spotted on a jaunty Sunday morning stroll in Broxtowe, Notts after finding its way out of an enclosure on a local farm over a mile away in Strelley.

Whilst we often hear of sheep and cattle making their way off the pastures and into neighbouring rural communities, an inquisitive penguin raises more than an eyebrow here at Muddy Matches HQ. Then again, the village of Strelley is no stranger to the weird and wonderful with a lion keeper in the village. Strelley’s answer to Tiger King also is doting father to a full grown puma who lives in an enclosure in the fields!

Back to the bird though and PoPo the Penguin was ppp’picked up by police on patrol who thought something a little fishy was going on. Officers say the ‘friendly bird’ was safely returned home after posing for selfies with the force. So no frosty reception then.

“We see some very interesting things while out on patrol, but a penguin walking up the middle of the road has to be one of the more bizarre findings we have come across,” PC Gareth Philp, from Nottinghamshire Police, said.

The Humboldt penguin, like most other species of the bird, mate for life. Unearth your soulmate with us at Muddy Matches country life dating.