Dom found this place on Groupon when we were on the hunt for something a bit different to do over half term. Based in Risley in Warrington, this proved to be a good find!
This centre looks after birds of prey who cannot live in the wild. Most have been pets and have been surrendered by their owners for many different reasons. It’s hard to believe that someone actually thought having a golden eagle as a pet was a good idea!!!
They also have an onsite rehabilitation centre which is closed to the public. This works hard to return wild injured birds back into the wild.
We spent just under 90 minutes here and really enjoyed our visit. There are plenty of different birds to see and there were incredibly knowledgeable volunteers on duty who shared so many stories and facts with us about each of the birds. One bird stood out in particular – an Eagle Owl called Mumbles. He loved to call out to you as you walked past with the loveliest “whoo”. If you imitated his call, you’d get an enthusiastic “whoo” back. Peggy had quite a conversation with him!
There were so many different breeds of birds to see but an unexpected highlight for us was the enclosure containing two racoons who were given up as pets. We fell in love with raccoons after visiting and feeding Sully at Bridlington Animal Park so we were so happy to see another one. This one wasn’t as friendly/greedy as Sully but we loved watching her.
We definitely recommend visiting this centre and supporting them in their work to look after these beautiful creatures. It’s best to check on their website and Facebook page for opening times as they have limited hours (just Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at the time of our visit) and closures for private events.
