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Pictures: Ricky Mills

If you're wondering what to do with a spare day off or how to entertain the children during the holidays, a visit to the Hawk Conservancy in Andover offers an interesting and educational experience.

It's a chance to get up close and personal to anything from tiny owls to the largest raptor in the world, the Andean Condor.

And when I say close, I mean close. The birds are kept in enclosures but the park's philosophy is to allow all their birds flights throughout the day, some of which take the form of demonstrations. You'll see kites circle and swoop right over your head (so take the demonstrator's word seriously when he tells you to duck) and vultures glide effortlessly close but the best is yet to come. During the larger display in the afternoon looking across the wildflower meadow, you are asked to look for two specs on the horizon about a mile-and-a-half away. Against a backdrop of soft classical music, the specs quickly come into view, swooping and gliding on currents of air and before you know it two magnificent bald eagles are coming in to land on the assistant's thickly gloved hand.

It was fascinating to see how the wild birds around reacted to the birds of prey. Pigeons instinctively raced for the cover of the trees when the peregrine falcon was released, while during the woodland display some blackbirds that were still nesting and rearing their young squawked incessantly and swooped protectively when the tawny owl came into the view.

There are three flying demonstrations throughout the day plus feeding times and the chance to watch herons and wild birds from the hides, so it makes for a full day out. It's wise to take a packed lunch and drinks - there's plenty of picnic areas around the 15-acre woodland park, otherwise Duffy's Coffee Shop serves hot and cold snacks.

Some sessions allow handling of the birds afterwards, and for a premium you can pre-book private sessions to fly and land certain birds of prey.

As a charitable trust the Hawk Conservancy is committed to the conservation of birds of prey and funds breeding programmes, research and rehabilitation of injured birds back into the wild, so it's also a great cause.

3:20pm Friday 25th July 2008

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