FALCONRY EXPERIENCE DAY

Your day will begin at 9.30 and you will be welcomed by Tony, our falconry manager.  Here you will be introduced to some of the equipment, before taking a few birds from their night time mews to the day time weatherings.  After a brief tour of the birds, you will fly a variety of our special birds to your gloved hand in the fields.  This will include 'Anuk', our great grey owl, 'Tundra', our snowy owl, 'Scirrocco', our peregrine falcon, and 'Shammar' the peregrine x saker falcon, along with a few others.  This session forms the basis of the British Birds of Prey Hour.  After a break for coffee, you will be taken on a River Trail Hawk Walk with a Harris hawk, where the bird will fly free, and follow you through the trees, and along the river, showing off its prowess at aerial manoeverability.

After lunch you will be given the opportunity of exploring the farm, so that you can meet many of our other animals, and enjoy the gardens.   Then you will be taken to the flying grounds where you will participate in an Interactive Flying Display, with four or five more owls, hawks and falcons. 

After the flying display our larger classic birds will be brought out especially for you, and you will enjoy the antics of 'Mwala', our palm nut vulture, 'Catori', our ferruginous hawk around the fields, and 'Keela', the tawny eagle, who will fly to your gloved hand, and be sure to impress you with her size, speed and agility.

On a full day you will fly up to 12 different birds of prey. No more than six people per day. Farmhouse lunch included. A really special day, and very popular - early booking advisable.

Have a look at the timetable of the Falconry Experience Day below.

HALF DAY FALCONRY EXPERIENCE

This day is incorporated into the morning of the full day.  After a brief tour of the birds, you will fly a variety of our special birds to your gloved hand in the fields.  This will include 'Anuk', our great grey owl, 'Tundra', our snowy owl, 'Scirocco', our peregrine falcon, and 'Shammar' the peregrine x saker falcon, along with a few others.  This session forms the basis of the British/European Birds of Prey Hour.  After a break for coffee, you will be taken on a River Trail Hawk Walk with a Harris hawk, where the bird will fly free, and follow you through the trees, and along the river, showing off its prowess at aerial manoeverability.

 

          BRITISH/EUROPEAN BIRDS OF PREY HOUR
Fun and interactive. During the hour you will fly range of different British and European owls and falcons and learn about their natural history in the wild. The owls will glide low over the fields, or quarter the ground searching for their prey (gloved hand). Our large collection of flying owls is one of the best interactive collections in the world. Here you may fly 'Anuk' our great grey owl, 'Pip' the tawny owl, or 'Caspar' our barn owl; 'Hercules' our European eagle owl or 'Tundra' our snowy owl.  Come and enjoy their beauty and be in awe of their aerobatic displays.

You will also meet our collection of British and European falcons, enjoy flying Scirrocco, the peregrine falcon, 'Shammar' is our peregrine x saker and 'Sana' our saker falcon and 'Gimley' our little male kestrel, and learn about 'hood-winking' your bird! You will learn about how they survive in the wild, and the different hunting techniques they have according to prey availability. Some falcons catch their prey aerially, whereas others hunt off the floor, but in common they all stoop to their prey at amazing speeds.  You may also meet 'Buzz' the common buzzard, many of which you may be lucky to see locally.

RIVER TRAIL HAWK WALK

A one-hour walk with one of our falconers and a Harris hawk along our private river trail, through the trees, and back across fields and open spaces. Really impressive aerobatics! You will be amazed at the way the birds will swoop through tiny spaces in the the trees above your head at incredible speeds, to land on your fist.
Bookable in advance or, sometimes, on the day of your visit.

INTERACTIVE FLYING DISPLAY

You can book onto the flying display session so that you get the opportunity to fly the birds yourself at any time of the year. During this session you will fly four or five birds to your gloved fist yourself, from small owls to larger hawks, and you will experience the thrill of falcons passing you closely by at speeds of over 100 mph!

Have a look at our History of Falconry page for an indepth insight into how falconry began.