The Bird of Prey Centre, Willstead

After all the drama of last night, We decided to have an afternoon out today, to make ourselves super cheery.

The Bird of Prey centre moved from Shuttleworth to Willstead over the last year- so we missed the centre at Shuttleworth as it was already closed to move everything to the new location, and then we've had to wait for the new place to be up and running.
It was definitely worth the wait.
Entrance was £10,but you can do the whole day, go to all 3 30 minute shows and have opportunities to hold the birds afterwards so really it's quite a good deal.

I was disappointed as we missed the 11:30 flying demonstration, because it was all owls!
We arrived about 1, so we paid and walked round all the birds in their shelters- most are just tethered on perches as they are either the falcons used to the day hunting experiences, or they take part in the shows- you can kind of tell which ones are ready to take part in the shows as they get a bit restless around 1:30 and 3:30!
It looks a bit mean, but actually, they all get a fair bit of free flight time and hunting time so it's probably much kinder than being in an avery.

The first show we were unprepared for- there were storks and bald eagles and hybrid falcons- and Traffs favourite was the caracara which is a scavenger from the falklands- and it's really clever- it was retrieving hidden food. The lady doing the show told us that they steal small items from washing lines to line their nests as it's more comfy than sticks and moss- and they steal food like seagulls do.

After the first show I got to hold a barn owl.
:)

We walked round and saw more of the birds- including the red kites- I don't usually miss Didcot, but the noise the red kites make made me think of my parents old garden- sometimes the Kites would land on the washing line! Then went and had a drink and linzer biscuits in the tea room (It's a very accommodating tea room, good selection of cake!).by the time we'd done all that it was almost time for the 3:30 show so we made our way back to the main field.
There were more Caracara's and turkey vultures (one of them landed miles away and had to be rescued), Eldis eagles and falcons.

After the second show I got to hold a tawny owl.It did not want it's photo taken.

Now, if we'd been clever we'd have realised that there was an open evening and BBQ today where you get to hold all the animals and see loads more displays, but unfortunately, as it was all a bit spur of the moment, we didn't book that. That would have been awesome.