Heckmondwike care home residents go on owl adventures
Staff and residents at Barchester’s Spen Court care home in Heckmondwike were treated to a virtual tour of Owl Adventures, a small but growing bird of prey education centre in Ripon, North Yorkshire.
Owl Adventures was started in 2011 by Head Falconer, Ryan Stocks. Ryan first started work in a bird of prey centre and instantly fell in love working with these majestic creatures. He soon decided to create his own company specialising in falconry and birds of prey shows.
Residents joined Dani, a qualified bird of prey handler, to discover how Owl Adventures care for their birds of prey and their role in rescuing and rehabilitating wild birds. They met the owls that live at the education centre and found out all about their personalities and the work they do visiting different community groups, performing flying demonstrations at shows and even their roles as ring bearers at weddings.
Dani said: “It was wonderful to be able to show the Barchester residents around the centre and to share all the different work we do. We were so happy to be able to introduce the residents to our wonderful birds of prey and talk about how we care for them all.”
Bex Vernon, Resident Experience Coordinator for Barchester Healthcare, commented: “We are excited to work with our amazing partners like Owl Adventures to bring a wide range of fantastic experiences into our homes for all to enjoy, particularly as this talk provided such a lovely opportunity to see the owls up close and learn all kinds of fascinating facts about them.
“Our varied life enrichment programme keeps residents active and socially connected, providing a daily choice of engaging physical, mental and spiritual activities tailored to residents’ interests and abilities,” Bex added.
Deputy Manager, Nicola Smith, said: “All our residents love animals so we were delighted to be able to go on the virtual tour and find out about the centre, the owls are all such characters. We had so many questions, it was brilliant to be able to ask Dani all about the work they do with these beautiful creatures.”
Spen Court care home is run by Barchester Healthcare, one of the UK’s largest care providers, which is committed to delivering high-quality care across its care homes and hospitals. Spen Court provides residential care, dementia care & respite stays.