What birds spend all their time on their knees?
Birds of prey!

The £18 for a £78 a hands-on Falconry Experience with Hawks, Owls, Buzzards and Falcons at the Birds of Prey Centre was too good for Su Yin and I to refuse. However, I hadn’t counted on it being so hard to organise – we must have changed weekends at least three times and with this weekend being basically our last chance to take advantage of the offer the weather was horrible – which meant the whole thing might have been called off! It wouldn’t have been so bad except that the Birds of Prey Centre was a £17 return train journey from London (40 mins on a direct train) plus a cab fare on the other end … but anyway. It did go ahead and it was a lot of fun. (The cab ride from the station was quite amusing – we’d pre-booked at a taxi in advance but four other people hadn’t so they all hitched a ride with us!)

There were clearly quite a few people who’d purchased the groupon voucher and who turned up today, even with the poor weather. We were split into smaller groups of max 20? which was a good thing as it meant that everyone got a chance to handle the birds – and I was impressed that even with time pressing and some birds misbehaving the bird handlers were all very patient and conscious of making sure everyone got their chance in the limelight.

It was p!ssing it down when we got the Birds of Prey Centre but luckily it held off for the most part during the actual experience even if it was still gray. Before the session started we were free to wander around and check out the birds. One particular bird took exception to Su Yin. Sooooo funny!

Our group started off with the owls – we got to “handle” two owls, and by handle I mean we got to hold out our arms, have the bird fly to us and land and then take-off again. Its all very safe as you have gloves you use so that both you and the bird are protected.

After the owls it was on to the “arena” where we got to see the Harris Hawks fly. Gee they are very fast! We also all got a chance to have them fly to us.

During all these demonstrations we were also given a few facts about the birds – for example, at the centre 900 baby chicks a day are consumed! (And no, they are not alive … I asked! The chicks come frozen to the Centre. To entice the birds a “fluffy” chick is used to entice.) The bird handlers were all very good and very knowledgeable. I guess taking us tourists around were more a second function that they have with the primary function being about raising the birds.

The photos with us and the flying birds are on Su Yin’s camera! If I ever get them from her I’ll post them up here at a later date …

After the fly and return session we got introduced to a couple of more birds. These ones we were able to hold for a longer time on our arms. The bigger one (I think his name is Levi and was a type of buzzard – he was really cute) was very heavy after a while!

After coffee and cake we headed back out to the Arena for a flying / hunting display by owls, hawks and then a stork! Very exhilarating to see the birds in action – they have awesome vision and the timing to grab prey out of the air was pretty amazing.

Finally, we got to hang around with these guys! Huge birds – fairly harmless to the extent you could put your hand into their mouth and come out none worse for wear!

A wonderful and unique experience. Allow three hours (not including travel to and from.)