Hawk Conservancy Ride Out

  
  A ride out to the Hawk Conservancy is an event never to be missed, but with the clocks going forward and a dinner-dance on Saturday night, the chances of Arl & I actually getting to the rendezvous on time were pretty slim. Having climbed into bed at gone 3 am the alarm went off far too soon and truth be told, the snooze button got hit a few times. But, the sun kept beaming through the bedroom window until we finally conceded and got up. We are sooooo glad we did. 

The ride was lead by Colin with Baz as rear gunner and we got the Vultures tradition out of the way at the first available opportunity ....... Wokingham to be precise, but Arl cheated and turned around in a petrol station instead of in a narrow side street! Beautiful, but sometimes damp country lanes we rode and eventually emerged on the A303 for a quick blast down to Weyhill.

The work undertaken during the winter is evident with a new Reception, some new and some re-vamped aviaries, a super new Corporate entertainment facility and terraced seating for the main display area. The flying displays were the best ever, even by their very high standards, with a promise of bigger and better things to come from what Ash was telling us. We even had out own private viewing of a training session which went extremely well. It is hard to imagine how you can come up with new ideas for flying display formats but they are well on their way to blowing all previous shows out of the water. Without giving anything away it promises to be awesome, and I would urge everyone reading this to go see for themselves, I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

The laid back atmosphere of the place, the professionalism and enthusiasm of all the staff and the care lavished on the facilities, the grounds and most importantly, the birds make this the most wonderful day out for all ages. Just take a look at some of the photos and though you may get a slight flavour of the spectacle, it is far better to experience it first hand and feel the air move as enormous birds  soar inches above your head.. Fantastic!

John 'n Arl