How Helmsley’s giant birds of prey have survived lockdown

If he could have furloughed an eagle, Charlie Heap would have gladly have done so.
Charlie Heap, Director of the National Centre for Birds of Prey, with Zonda, a Grey Buzzard Eagle. 
Picture: James HardistyCharlie Heap, Director of the National Centre for Birds of Prey, with Zonda, a Grey Buzzard Eagle. 
Picture: James Hardisty
Charlie Heap, Director of the National Centre for Birds of Prey, with Zonda, a Grey Buzzard Eagle. Picture: James Hardisty

But as he pointed out, birds – even captive ones – are not naturally well disposed to being locked down.

Those at the National Centre for Birds of Prey in the North York Moors are, however, residents – and expect to be fed whether or not anyone is paying to come and see them.

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“They have the same needs whether we’re open or closed,” said Mr Heap, who runs the attraction at Helmlsey.

Charlie Heap, director of The National Centre for Birds of Prey, weighing Zonda, a Grey Buzzard Eagle, aged seven.Charlie Heap, director of The National Centre for Birds of Prey, weighing Zonda, a Grey Buzzard Eagle, aged seven.
Charlie Heap, director of The National Centre for Birds of Prey, weighing Zonda, a Grey Buzzard Eagle, aged seven.

The question of when the paying punters will return is one that has been preying on his mind. He doesn’t think it will be as soon as March 8 – the earliest date on which schools may reopen – but he is getting the place ready for then, just in case.

“We can’t go from being mothballed to being open at the flick of a switch. It takes us about a month to get everything ready,” he said.

“So we’d rather be ready and not able to open than be able to open and not ready.”

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That was what happened last summer. The centre was one of many tourist destinations to open its doors on the first permissible day, June 15. The problem was that the tourists didn’t start to arrive until three weeks later when the B&Bs and holiday cottages reopened.

“Out here we have a small local population to draw on but we’re in a big tourism area,” Mr Heap said. “So for the first few weeks, while people weren’t coming into the area, our numbers were really low and that was quite scary.

“But when the tourists returned they came flooding through our gates, and thank God they did.”

The income was enough to see the centre through the winter, and was bolstered by cash from advance sales and adoption certificates. Nearly 500 adoptions – five times the usual number – at between £20 and £100 have guaranteed its survival so far.

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“The long and short of it is that the birds will never miss out, I’ll take food out of my own mouth before I allow their welfare to be compromised in any way,” Mr Heap said.

That has not proved necessary but he has had to scale back the maintenance programme for all but emergencies, find cheaper suppliers and pull the plug on advertising.

It costs £5 a day to feed the largest birds at the centre and after the breeding season the number of those looks likely to increase. A Griffon Vulture egg has begun its 58-day incubation and a Grey Buzzard Eagle egg could hatch in three weeks. In a process known as candling, Mr Heap has directed a bright light through the shell to try to predict the outcome. “I think it’s fertile, but it’s devilishly hard to tell,” he said.

But he will measure the last year by the number of humans, not avians, who can still call the place home.

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“When we had our last staff meeting before all this started, there were seven of us,” he said. “It’s our ambition to have the same number when it’s over.”

The National Centre for Birds of Prey is set within the 300-acre Duncombe Park on the outskirts of Hemlsley, and is continuing a long tradition of falconry there.

Its his story can be traced to 1864, with the foundation of the Old Hawking Club, whose number included His Highness Sir Duleep Singh, the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. The club remained in existence until well into the 1920s.

The current centre, which was established nine years ago, is due to host the British Falconry Fair, the biggest event of its kind, this June.

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