Herrings Green Activity Farm & Bird of Prey Centre — Attraction in Cotton End

I enjoyed a full day Hawking experience today 11/10/20. We started right on time with getting to know the birds we'd be using and we were off!

To start with there was a gate and log to mount and cross over to reach the hawking ground so I wouldn't recommend this experience to anyone less mobile or unsure of their footing, anyone else will be fine. The morning was a little bit of a write off if I'm honest as one of the birds in our group of 5 disappeared so our falconer spent a lot of time trying to locate him while we just sort of stood there. However it was wonderful to be up close and personal with the birds in this time and we all chatted so it was ok. (The bird did return eventually don't worry!) We pressed on minus one bird and waded through field and woodland unfortunately unsuccessfully in terms of game and spent a fair while just trying to tempt the birds back to us after they settled in a tree!

I'd anticipated getting a snack at the tea room for lunch but it was shut due to Covid 19 which is of course understandable so can't judge them on that at all. Bring sandwiches as it's a bit miserable going hungry!

The afternoon was just 3 of us doing the full day so we went out again with different birds to a different set of fields which was MUCH easier to access though there were a few sections like a small bridge to cross a ditch that would require steadier feet and some balance! Much more opportunity for game in this second set of fields though unfortunately we weren't able to catch anything this time as the birds had decided to sit in a tree and preen/chill out for the most part but we did have one good chase!

Our birds today didn't seem too interested in the chase which our falconer suggested could be because they need some warming up as it's the start of the season for them so they haven't been doing too much. I'm not an expert but feel that perhaps their recall to the glove could be better if they're going to be let out hawking with people. However, these are ultimately animals so we can only expect so much!

Our falconer was lovely, she seemed to know a lot about her profession and she was forever smiling despite the birds not always cooperating and the people on the experience (myself included of course) not being able to keep hold of them sometimes! She did confess that she'd never had as large a group as ours before and that she is rarely let out to go hawking which I think could easily be remedied by the management if only to help her confidence as she was as good as we could hope for! She's a credit to your business, give her the chance to shine and I'm sure she will!

All in I really enjoyed my day and will absolutely return because I'd love to see these birds flying at their best and doing what...

Not a nice place! This was the only place I could find to offer a junior owl experience for my 7 year old granddaughter (most places children have to be 8) so I bought a two hour owl experience for my granddaughter's 7th birthday! On arrival at the centre we were met by a very abrupt lady who wasn't at all welcoming and contradicted the facts, re price and how the experience worked, we'd been told when we booked! Not a great start! The two hour experience was probably about half an hour handling the owls! Part of the experience time was taken up watching a half hour public flying display! When my granddaughter did eventually get chance to fly the owls, she ended up only flying 3 different owls as a fair amount of time was spent waiting for the handler to take one owl back to it's cage and get the next one - why someone else couldn't have brought the owls to and from the flying arena I don't know! Also one of the owls was enormous and my granddaughter was unable to handle it alone - why say this experience is suitable for 7 year olds and then bring out an owl she can't handle alone - she was very upset! After the experience (at 4pm) we headed to the cafe to be told, by the same abrupt lady who had 'welcomed' us at the start, they were shut, despite advertising they are open until 5pm. Also we were led to believe we could look around the birds after the experience, only to be told that area was shut too - I think they had all decided to knock off early! Why advertise that you are open until 5pm when actually you threw us out at four! This place didn't sit right for me, it was very run down and dirty and some of the birds seemed stressed, in particular I was very upset to witness the African Hornbill pacing it's enclosure and then frantically pecking it's way through a wooden board that had been erected as a wind shield in it's enclosure! Also the public toilets...

Herrings Green Activity Farm and Birds of Prey Centre has to be one of the most depressing places imaginable. I got the impression the birds housed here were rehabilitated, but in truth the animals are kept in inhumane conditions. Over 200 birds are either tightly chained to a wooden log under a small roof, or inside the tiniest (and in many cases, the smelliest) glass cases - I honestly felt as though I were looking at taxidermy or inside a biology laboratory. The caged parrots wouldn't stop screaming - they could barely turn 360 degrees - and while the larger mammals were kept in better conditions than the avians, many of the enclosures lacked even grass.

I did vocalise my concern to a member of staff and she assured the conditions had worsened due to coronavirus lay-offs, and that the staff wouldn't work at the farm is they did not care for the well-being of the animals, but I cannot fathom these arguments. I was told each bird is let-out to fly for 2 hours daily - this is mathamatically impossible given the sheer number housed here to staff ratio. Workers here also argue that if the birds hated living here so much, they wouldn't return from flights, but this is idealistic reasoning... consider the role of conditioning. Ultimately, even with more staff, the enclosures are inexcusable and the birds would be better off probably absolutely anywhere else. The staff should be ashamed. I was shocked at the legality of this and I will be challenging it formally.

I have worked first-hand with avians, specifically Common Ravens, for research purposes. They actually compete with primates and dolphins as some of the most intelligent creatures, and I've seen their emotional displays and personalities intricately. I only hope that as the research catches up with their incredible value, as too will...