May 4, 20183 min read

Bird of Prey experience- Bridport

For my Christmas present from my Nana and Grandad I got a bird of prey experience at Bridport which I was really excited about and not quite knowing what to expect! We arrived early and greeted by the staff that look after the birds and were offered a drink or facilities before we went to do the experience which was nice and meant I could say hello to their two dogs which were really friendly.

I was expecting that the experience was there in their garden where I could hold a few of the birds and learn about them but found out that we were going in a car to a farmers field where we could fly and hold the birds another lovely thing that made it feel special was the fact mum could join in too. We got to this field and he set up his perch that the birds could sit on. Before we got our first bird out of the box. The first bird we had was an owl called Troy, Troy is a tawny owl who was a stunning bird. I got to call him to the glove a good 10 times which gave us plenty of photo opportunities as well as learning about the owl and the centre they are building.

The second bird that I got to fly was Bert the Indian Eagle Owl. Unlike Troy Bert preferred to sit on the car and fly to you instead of the perch in the ground. Again we had at least 10 flies with Bert which allowed us to get some photos of him and learn all about him. He was a bit heavier than Troy but wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

After we put Bert away the man asked if we would mind having a gentle walk around what we thought would be that one field but ended up being two fields which we said that is fine with us so he got our next bird out which was Mikey the Harris Hawk which is my dads favourite birds. We let Mikey fly around and occasionally asking him to come to the glove so I could hold him and have some photos of him which was amazing he was one of my favourite birds but they all were really good to hold.

After Mikey we met Freya who was a ferruginous x red tailed hawk which was a stunning bird and a lot heavier than any of the other birds so far and was completely different she is a more nervous bird and didn't like any sudden movement or phones but she didn't seem to mind having a camera at a certain distance away. Again she had around 10 flies with us before moving on.

After the beautiful Freya I was intrigued to what the last bird was going to be as it was a bigger box than Freya's. The bird that was in the box is one that not everyone likes so he made sure that we were ok with the species before letting it out. We found out that there was Robin the Hooded Vulture in the box and it is true that people go there and are scared of the vulture but the centre is trying to change peoples mind about them as they are amazing creatures. One of the best bits for me was when Robin decided to follow the man around like a dog and of course loved having Robin really close up so you could see all the feathers and the face.

It was then time to head back as the time had run out when we were about to say thank you to the man for taking us there and making it special he said it was not over and that I got to hold their Bald Eagle which was very heavy but was amazing to have the bird so close.