UK Birdy Places

[Sasq]

Hi All, As a recent convert to birds only a couple of years back - I don't really know many good bird places to visit in the UK - and wondering if any of our other UK members have any ideas. To give you an idea ill start with my list :-

Places to visit

BirdWorld - near Windsor (M4)
Off the beaten track a little, but a huge park with free roaming macaws, the biggest outdoor parrot flight I have ever seen, and birds of all kinds including a few rare cockatiels.

Paradise Park - St Ives Cornwall
A Medium sized park with parrots and birds of all kinds. They have a fantastic Australian aviary where they sell pots of nectar and allow people to get swamped by a flock of rainbow cockatiels (?). They also free fly parrots at shows daily.

Good Avairys
Heathrow Aviaries - Wraysbury (J13 M25)
A good stocked aviary with our favourite baby room. I usually end up wanting to bring home 2 or 3 babies every time we visit. Luckily sense gets the better of me and we don't, but this is where we got our Senegal from.
Worth a visit if your anywhere in the area.

[bellarains]

Wow Steve,

Those sound like awesome places. I wish we had at least one like that near me. We have our local zoo which does have a few parrots, but most aviaries are closed, and won't allow anyone in. I know this is for the fids safety, and probably best for me too. If I were to get inside with all those babies, I'd be a gonner :happy:

[Sasq]

For those interested, we have pictures.

LOTS of pictures.. (http://www.sasq.co.uk/gallery/Gallery.aspx?w=160&h=120&collection=Public%20Gallery)

Click on a picture to enter the gallery behind it. If a picture has a grey border, then its a real picture, and clicking on it will show a larger version of that image.

My favourate include the grey sticking his head out the cage at birdworld, and the nectar eaters at paradise park.

[Jezz]

great pics Steve :D

[bellarains]

Steve,

Those are awesome, and what and Birdworld is like a heaven for us birdy lovers.

I can tell from the pics that the Grey was your favorite. I don't know what all the species were, but they were all gorgeous. I especially liked the kissing Toos :)

Thanks for the pics. I really enjoyed them.

[Sasq]

I would love an african grey, but theres a lot of things stopping me.

Its status in the wild, its lifespan, and me being at work 12 hours a day are a few of them. Obviously id always only purchase native bread from a repuatble breader / avairy, but thats not the point.

[cassysmiley]

Hi All, As a recent convert to birds only a couple of years back - I don't really know many good bird places to visit in the UK - and wondering if any of our other UK members have any ideas. To give you an idea ill start with my list :-

Places to visit

BirdWorld - near Windsor (M4)
Off the beaten track a little, but a huge park with free roaming macaws, the biggest outdoor parrot flight I have ever seen, and birds of all kinds including a few rare cockatiels.

Paradise Park - St Ives Cornwall
A Medium sized park with parrots and birds of all kinds. They have a fantastic Australian aviary where they sell pots of nectar and allow people to get swamped by a flock of rainbow cockatiels (?). They also free fly parrots at shows daily.

Good Avairys
Heathrow Aviaries - Wraysbury (J13 M25)
A good stocked aviary with our favourite baby room. I usually end up wanting to bring home 2 or 3 babies every time we visit. Luckily sense gets the better of me and we don't, but this is where we got our Senegal from.
Worth a visit if your anywhere in the area.

Also there is the Falconary centre in Newent In Glos. It was and is the only faclonary centre that bred these lovely birds rare 1 `s to in captivity. the Previous owner sold up to go to states to set up a programme there. It as new owners now and well worth the visit. I cant recall the web addy. but its quiet easy to find. There was also another Birdworld at Rhodes Bird centre but that unfortunatly closed down after about 50 yrs. It was near Longleat. I remember going there as a child and a Macaw took a shine to me.
Also there is the wildlife park at Cricket St Thomas, they have an indoor avairy made just like aJungle with humming birds etc. Very Humid but some lovely birds there. Also there Slimbridge Wet and wildfowl Trust. also in Glos.
another worth a visit to.
Hope these Help you.
Cassy.

[linda040899]

Steve,
Thanks for the link to all the photos!!! I certainly can't complain because there aren't enough to look at! Thanks for sharing. I had a great time looking! :lol

[Bella]

BirdWorld is great. I especially like the bit for sea birds where they have the beach and the artificial waves and stuff.

There is an excellent falconry centre in Suffolk.

The RSPB wildfowl and wetlands parks are good too - Martin Mere up North and Slimbridge in Gloucestershire.

There is always an article in each month's Birdkeeper magazine about bird places to visit in the UK.

[Sasq]

Hi Bella,
I didnt realize birdkeeper had places to visit articles, ill haev to pick up a copy. When it came to subscribing to a magazine, we just picked one - parrot parrot - and then also got the US version of birdtalk. Can you believe that to get the US birdtalk shipped all the way to the UK is still 1/2 the price of the UK one :/

Thanks

[Bella]

Hi Steve

What's Parrot Parrot like? And the US Birdtalk? I've not seen the UK Birdtalk.

I subscribe to Birdkeeper but it can be a bit mundane at times, and there is an awful lot about canaries. Cute birds but not my cup of tea.

Oh, and what is that cute animal in your avatar?

Bella

[Sasq]

I may be getting my magazine names in a twist - it is the us bird talk and the uk is birdkeeper isnt it :)

I like parrots parrots. They dont often have much about lovebirds, and i carnt remember ever reading anything about canaries - but i think its better than the US birdtalk. We also used to get cage and avairy birds every other week, but that just seems to be purly budgies.

My avatar is Scratt from the movie Ice Age. To be honest im not sure what it is (i dont think anyone is), but hes a glutton for punishment. Think of Wile E Coyotee from roadrunner, and replace the roadrunner with an acorn and you get the idea.

Thanks for your list of places casseysmiley, sorry i somehow missed it before. I had to admit when walking around birdworld to wondering how it got the money to stay open. Unfortunatly i dont think our birdies are as loved by the general public as we like to believe. They did a bumper trade in selling bunnyrabbits tho.