My name is Kim and I have been a volunteer/part timer at the park for the last two years. I first came here on work experience for a summer and have really never left. Nobody seems to be able to get rid of me however hard they try!

I normally go to the Hawk Conservancy once a week or whenever I am not at university, but over the summer period it has been a seven day a week job. With the summer being the busiest period, I was able to be a helping hand (as you can probably tell I am addicted to the place).

Kim raking over the gravel in a mews bay

A normal day’s routine for me is very varied, it ranges from feeding ‘sections’ in the mornings (all full times falconers have their own section on the park and when its their day off someone else will feed the birds on that section for them), to cleaning out the mews bays during the day (the mews bays are where falcons, hawks and eagles stay at night and as you can guess they get very messy so need cleaning pretty often). Cleaning the mews bays is not the best job going, but now that we don’t need to re-clean the gravel it’s more of a bonus as you don’t smell as much! Not only do I help with day to day routines on the park but also with Activity Days and Owls by Torchlight evenings, so I am always on the go.

Flying Harris Hawks with visitors is one of our daily attractions

Being a volunteer to me is not just about working one on one with the birds and getting the hands on experience that so many people want. It’s about learning how everything goes into making the Hawk Conservancy what it is. The way that everyone works together to provide the public with such a brilliant day and the way that people just don’t want to leave and can’t wait to come back, a lot of organisation goes into it and the results do show.

I am not saying that being a volunteer is easy, far from it. A general day is from 8.30 - 5.30 but I can assure you that half of the time that’s not the case; training of birds is often done after hours and if a bird has gone off for a daily jolly you know its going to be a late night. But that’s part of the job, you get good sides and bad sides. But to be quite honest...I love it!