Turbary Woods Owl and Bird of Prey Sanctuary

I cannot recommend Turbary Woods highly enough - it was simply breathtaking. We went for a Family Experience and had the place to ourselves during lockdown. We got to visit the aviaries, do a fairy treasure hunt (with a special goody bag at the end) and handle/fly 9 (I think) different owls and birds of prey and see another flown to the lure. We were so very well looked after and all the staff (all volunteers) clearly care deeply about the birds and their welfare.

We arrived at about 11.30 and wandered leisurely through the garden centre which was lovely. After paying our very reasonable entrance fee we were warned that the paths had flooded in places and told where the display would take place, at 12.30.

The weather had been bad but was cold and dry during our visit. Despite some flooding of the paths we were still easily able to get around and see all the birds.

There are a good variety to see and as some of the volunteers were close by we got to see a number of the birds interacting with their human carers and even stroke a little owl.

The display was excellent. Very educational and interactive. We got to stroke and hold some of the birds, watch them being fed and heard so many interesting facts about them.

My children are 9 and 11 and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It was a bit colder than we had anticipated and we weren’t prepared to be wet under foot or we would have stayed even longer.

Would definitely recommend for a family trip out.

I work in a language school and took some of my students to Turbary Woods yesterday. We easily got there from the town centre on the 119 bus and really enjoyed our time there. I was surprised to see some pretty exotic birds as well as some UK regulars and the students too were very impressed. The display boards were nice and simple to understand and the staff were incredible.

The highlight was the flying display - it's really not to be missed so I wouldn't recommend going on a rainy day. It was engaging for everyone and really made for some great photo opportunities. Holding an owl the size of a dog may have seemed daunting but the staff were so relaxed and knowledgable that the experience was just wonderful.

As all of the birds have been rescued and cannot be released into the wild, the sanctuary does a wonderful job of looking after them and the £10 entrance fee for adults is really a bargain!

This was our first visit to Turbury Woods, it was recommended by a colleague, we took our grandchildren, Noah & Esme (10 & 7) . and what a revelation. we got there late, just before the the flying display started, it was a brilliant experience for the adults and kids. the falconer made sure the large crowd was involved with the demonstration prompting various owls and birds of prey to land on heads, shoulders and gloved hands. the demaonstrations where not technical and was kept at a level designed to engage the youngsters.

There is a fairy house hunt and a missing animal hunt with little prizes for the children, this has been very well thought out and entertained most of the adults as well as the kids. the addition of the rock painting area where, for a small fee, you are invited to design your own souvenier, all paints and brushes provided.

A small shop at the exit offers well priced gifts and keepsakes.

The staff are brilliant, friendly and knowledgable and they obviously care for the animals in thier care.

Noah said that this had been one of his favourite days out, it was one of ours too. our only regret is that we did'nt get there earler.

We have had a very enjoyable day at the owl sanctuary. The staff are friendly and helpful and we're all walking around with owls giving them lots of love and attention. The owls looked very well cared for.
The flying display was lots of fun! Everyone had the opportunity to hold the birds and watch them catch prey and glide.
There is a cute Fairy Woods for children and adults to spot the fairy houses.
The gift shop was very cheap in price, fantastic value for families although I would still have been happy to see a higher price tag on the items.
Looking forward to another visit in the future!

First time to Turbary Woods after meeting some of the volunteers and owls at a Christmas Fair in Penwortham (which FYI was also awesome I got a cheeky hold of wee Sammy Owl there too).
Didn’t know quite what to expect on arrival but the little sanctuary is wonderful and the staff all so friendly and approachable. The display is definitely worth the visit for, make sure you time it to attend. It’s 12.30 every single day. It almost wasn’t so much a display (although flying is included) as a tell, show and hold. It was fabulous, the guys all made sure everyone got a hold of at least one owl. They were so knowledgeable, passionate and really quite funny. They engaged with the audience really well. Despite the cold, the display lasted well over an hour and the kids absolutely loved it adults did too. I was very impressed and will certainly be returning. Thank you for a wonderful afternoon.

Went with my ten year old daughter who is bird mad, we paid £15 to get in and had a walk around all the bird cages looking at the different owls and other birds of prey, it’s a pretty typical rescue/ sanctuary type place, money is tight and they spend it where it counts on the birds. At 12.20 we headed to the field at the side for the bird display, I’m thinking 30 minutes lots of rubbish chat about birds flying then you see a bird fly and if you’re lucky 3 or 4 birds
Oooh no, not at this wonderful place, after 1 hour 30 minutes of different birds all flying from person to person in the crowd (it was amazing) whilst being entertained by about 5 different volunteers giving us the story’s behind each individual bird we where mesmerised
They are all so very passionate about birds and this really came through, I’ve never in my 52 years been to a bird display like this one,
it is head tails above any other bird display.
Go and visit, put on a glove (they supply) at the display and you can have some amazing memories of these wonderful birds sitting on your hand. We both enjoyed it so much we stayed and took part in a quiz type sheet they give to kids at the start
One is to find all the fairy houses in the fairy woods, it took a while but it was great fun then we did the second sheet and collected the numbers off animal photos, when we took them back to the shop she was given a lollipop and a bouncy ball as a prize
my ten year old daughter loved it and I have to say so did I
We spent £16 in the shop and couldn’t believe the stuff we came out with the prices are very cheap and kids will love the stuff they sell
I will visit again I can’t rate this volunteer run place enough the work they do is staggering

I was genuinely surprised by the impressive variety of owls and other birds of prey species they had on display in their aviaries. Most owl sanctuaries only have British and European owls (usually just the Barn and Tawny species, which, to be fair, Turbary Woods have as well), however Turbary Woods also have everything from the Australian Kookaburra, to the enormous Steppe Eagle of Kazakhstan to the beautiful American Kestrel. Their owl species also have an equally diverse distribution from all over the world, which led to some amazing moments of being completely blown away by the beauty (and cuteness) of some of the more exotic species of owl.

The flying display was also easily the best flying display I have ever witnessed/participated in. It allowed everyone to hold the birds so that we could all appreciate the birds up close. Each of the birds that came out to greet us were also flown between the audience as well, which was brilliant as well. John and Andy were fantastic presenters / bird handlers throughout the display with their fascinating and funny anecdotes, facts and jokes. But the best thing about the display was that it was 1.5 hours long, which is about 3x longer than most bird displays allowing for plenty of opportunity to ask questions or to just enjoy what birds do best: fly.

Turbary Woods really was a great time, and I would recommend it to anyone in the area to go visit it.

I have previously visited Turbary woods with family and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience, however on this occasion I visited with a patient from work, who is a wheelchair user. The website advertises the site as wheelchair friendly but this is incorrect. The access road is not wheelchair friendly and the website does not make it clear that you can no longer access the sanctuary through the garden centre.

Once at the sanctuary, the entrance contained a soft pad covering a puddle that made it almost impossible to manoeuvre a wheelchair over. After paying the entrance fee (£25) we then had a stretch of crazy paving to tackle which proved painful for my patient and resulted in her being almost tipped from the wheelchair on two occasions.

The patient then needed to use the toilet which was in a portacabin back in the direction we had already travelled (marked as a wheelchair accessible toilet). The toilet consisted of a ramp that was too steep to comfortably manoeuvre a wheelchair up and a room so small that staff cannot fit inside to support others with personal care. There was no grab rail and no frame around the toilet seat to improve the safety of those using it. After the experience in the toilet plus the terrible road surface, the patient did not wish to return to see the birds, meaning she had only spent 10 minutes in total in the sanctuary.

I emailed the charity over 6 weeks ago to offer advice on how they can improve their facilities for wheelchair users (I am an occupational therapist) but sadly they have not responded which is unfortunate.

First visit yesterday to this wonderful sanctuary - loved wandering through the aviaries seeing the different birds, but the best bit was the amazing flying display. So interesting to hear about the individual birds and their characteristics. The owner Andy and his volunteers really love them and care for them. A great experience having birds landing on your hand, or shoulder. All very well organised, and Covid safe, but very relaxing at the same time. Would definitely recommend it as a day out, Take a picnic and eat it overlooking the fishing lake, whilst soaking up the peace and quiet.