Reporter KAREN DARLEY meets the man behind Ryedale’s newest visitor attraction who has turned his childhood dream to open a birds of prey centre into reality

AS a boy Charlie Heap first became fascinated with falconry – training his first bird at just 13.

Nearly 30 years on, Charlie has achieved an ambition, held since those teenage years, and opened the International Centre for Birds of Prey (ICBP) at Duncombe Park, near Helmsley.

The new attraction is the northern branch of the ICBP in Newent, Gloucestershire, which is run by Jemima Parry-Jones, and opened just before Easter.

Charlie, 42, and lives near Wrelton, is completely hands-on with the centre, which has taken just over a year to complete after planning permission was granted in January 2012.

He is to be thrilled to be running the centre and seeing the first visitors through the gates.

“This is the largest collection of birds in the north of England with more than 100 birds,” he said.

“It is such a relief to be finally open and already we have receive overwhelmingly positive feedback.”

Charlie was at Chatsworth Country Fair in 1981 when he first fell in love with birds.

“I spent so long staring at the birds Jemima Parry-Jones had brought with her that she eventually noticed this shy 11-year-old and I ended up in the ring pulling the dummy-bunny for her Harris Hawk,” he said.

“My falconry career kicked off properly a few years later with a common buzzard and I worked for Jemima for a while at Newent, before going to agricultural college.”

Charlie worked flying birds at Drumlanrig Castle in Scotland for five years before becoming a property developer.

“The down-turn in the property market pushed me into following my life-long dream, so Jemima and I started the search for a location for the new branch of the worldrenowned ICBP,” he said.

“We felt this area was well placed to attract the sort of visitors we were interested in and amazingly the first people I approached – Duncombe Park – were immediately interested.”

Charlie said that, incredibly, Jemima had a family link to Duncombe Park.

Captain Knight, her great-uncle used to obtain merlins from the moors at Duncombe and was a regular visitor to the estate.

“ICBP Newent has a reputation as a centre of excellence for everything from public education, to raptor breeding and conservation,” said Charlie.

“The vision was to build a new facility to be run on the same ethos and to the same standards as Newent, but using the experience gained there and the lessons learned over the last 45 years.

“In addition to being located near other tourist destinations, the site needed to be large enough for our plans and to be attractive in its own right.”

Charlie said the area offered to them by the estate ticked all the boxes. Partly covered in some veteran oak trees, there was space for a large flying ground and some old Christmas Tree plantations could be used for aviaries and other buildings.

It took nine months for planning permission to be granted for the site and the day after it was passed Charlie was at Duncombe with his chainsaw and digger.

“After so many frustrating months of talking, it was time for action,” he said.

Charlie has had just one week off since – to recover from a burst appendix, despite doctors prescribing six weeks’ rest.

The last aviary was finished in the New Year, with Jemima providing Charlie with the birds and his right-hand woman, Anabelle de Chazal.

Charlie said that despite the colder than average weather, the centre is well-equipped with heated shelters for the birds at night.

“The birds have been bred in captivity and so it is all they know and the aviary’s are designed using all the ICBP’s knowledge of behaviour,” he said.

“They don’t fly much – even in the wild. It is only when they need to eat and given the choice they wouldn’t fly at all, so we entice them with food.”

Breeds include the Steller’s sea eagle and the great grey owl, as well as the griffion vulture - one of the largest birds in the world.

Charlie said the centre would also play a key part in the conservation of rare breeds with three pairs of birds already producing eggs.

“The centre is also about conservation and education – we provide a genetic reservoir and every bird we have is an ambassador for the species,” he said.

“Allowing people to see them and appreciate them is crucial in raising awareness.”

With three flying demonstrations daily, Charlie has been encouraged by the initial reaction to the centre.

“People have been coming and we did pretty well over Easter despite the snow flurries,” he said.

“One family came from Helmsley and said what a fantastic time they had which makes all the hard work worthwhile.”

Charlie said: “I have been planning to do this since I was 13 years old. It is the achievement of a life-time ambition and I hope people come along and share my vision.”

For more information visit www.icbp-duncombe.org or phone 08447 422035.