Helmsley; Birds of Prey

This weekend, I was doing a different kind of birding during a visit to the Helmsley National Birds of Prey Centre.

Whilst it might be cheating a little, watching the flying display did give me the opportunity to practice photographing birds in flight; a lot easier when you know the birds are coming, and (more importantly) where they will land!

The centre had a remarkable array of birds from all over the world, used in global breeding programmes to help prevent extinction. Whatever your thoughts on captive birds may be, it was clear that the NBPC team care well for the birds and are doing an important job in protecting endangered species for the future. I took hundreds of photographs, I have had to be conservative with my choices on here!

The flying display was wonderful and gave the audience a close encounter with magnificent birds, whilst giving the captive birds the opportunity to fly freely in the outdoors.

First up was a Sakar falcon, followed by a kestrel, Harris hawk and a grey buzzard eagle.

In the enclosures around the centre were a wide variety of different birds from around the world. As they all had wire surrounding, I have had to photograph through the spaces so only got good shots of their faces.

Outside in the enclosures were the birds which are flown in the displays and the opportunity to photograph these was much better.

The owls were much more difficult to photograph as they were behind mesh screens. However I could not resist capturing this burrowing owl; I feel in love with this cheeky little character!

It was a wonderful experience to visit and I will definitely go back. In the autumn, they fly the owls at dusk which I will absolutely be going to watch!