THE Gentoo penguins finally got their family off the ground when the flightless birds hatched their first chick.

And the new arrival has helped put Hillside on the map.

"We think we are the first place in the world to have bred six different species of penguin," said curator John Horton.

"It is a great achievement and something we are proud of at Hillside"

The Gentoo pair spent a month building a nest out of pebbles and another 38 days incubating the eggs.

The different breeds at the Mobberley bird sanctuary are called Rockhoppers, Macaronis, Jackasses, Magellanics, Kings.

But it is the Gentoos who have really taken the biscuit.

"We only got our first pair of Gentoos last year and they have bred at the first attempt," said John, a former bird keeper at London Zoo.

Visitors often ask how the penguins live without snow and ice but the species at Hillside all come from the Falklands or Africa.

"The Jackass penguins in particular like to get out and soak in the sun whenever they can," said John.

Most recently it is Elvis the King Penguin who has been making a lot of noise.

Elvis's parents hatched a chick six days ago and the baby is now chilling out and following in mum and dad's webbed footsteps.

No doubt he'll learn to avoid some of the other penguins in the reserve.

"The smaller penguins like the rockhoppers are quite aggressive," said John.

"The Kings are quite docile but that's because they have nothing to prove."

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