January 2007.
IN JUST six years, Tropical Wings, at South Woodham Ferrers, Essex, has established itself as one of the counties leading tourist destinations. Set up from scratch in 2000 by proprietors Dennis and Rona Strong, the attraction has grown year-on-year to include new features to educate and thrill the 150,000 visitors that come through the gates annually.
Conservation manager Lucy Murray told Cage & Aviary Birds that site had started life as a farm shop, but that the Strongs were convinced they could develop a viable tourist attraction.
"When Tropical Wings first opened, it featured a butterfly house and a few caged birds that had previously featured in the owners' private collection," she said. "It proved very popular right from the start and has been continuously developed to the point where today the site extends to nine acres, has more than 60 employees and includes invertebrates, birds, mammals, reptiles and fish."
Lucy, who has been at Tropical Wings for almost five years, began working as a consultant to the project before joining the staff full-time. With her team of dedicated staff, she has worked closely with the owners to not only build the attraction, but to change the emphasis from relatively static displays to a more educational approach that brings the conservation needs of the species to the fore.
"What started as nice birds in cages for people to look at has turned into a lot more birds - many in breeding pairs and some quite rare - in light, airy aviaries," she said. "About one-third of parrot species are critically endangered, and even when we are talking to people about a parrot that is not at risk, we can still take the opportunity to educate them about all the other parrot species as well."
There are about 150 birds at Tropical Wings at the moment. Most are on display in the tropical house, garden aviaries or the bird of prey mews, although there are always a few that are not on display for one reason or another.*"While we have to constantly think about the public who are coming to the attraction, we don't automatically put them first all the time," Lucy said. "We also think about the animals and will close of exhibits if it will aid breeding programmes of give them peace and quiet when they're rearing young."
The avian side of Tropical Wings got a major boost this year with the appointment of a new keeper, who has brought a host of new ideas to the attraction.
"We had advertised the job in Cage & Aviary Birds and were extremely surprised when we got a reply from Italy," Lucy said. "We followed up the application and in March this year appointed Davide Frigo to the role.
"He had exactly the experience we were looking for and he was keen to come and work in the UK because they don't have attractions like Tropical Wings in Italy."
Davide, who comes from the Lake Garda area, has only been working with birds for the past 10 of his 31 years and had an unusual introduction to avian work.
"I had trained as an electrician and applied for a job at Gardaland, one of Italy's biggest theme parks," he said. "When I got there, however, I was put in charge of the park's parrot display."
The work suited him, however, and he spent several years there, learning how to look after the birds and put together bird displays, before moving on to a new job at Italy's National Parrot Breeding Centre, at Ancona.
"It was a tremendous experience and I got to work with about 70 per cent of the world's parrot species," Davide said. "I got to learn all about parrot breeding and the incubation process, but I was always aware that in Italy parrots are bred purely for business and not for passion or conservation."
Davide had a friend in the UK who occasionally sent him copies of Cage & Aviary Birds and it was in one of these magazines that he saw the Tropical Wings' advert. Even though the closing date for the post had past, he applied anyway to see if the post was still open.
The only thing Davide confesses to missing is the Italian sunshine, but he is more than happy in his new role, where he is able to combine breeding and display while working with species that he is genuinely interested in.
He has also been able to get out an about and been to see the bird collections at London Zoo - which has his favourite species, the hornbill - and Colchester, as well as the Stafford Show.
"It's obvious that people really care about animals here in England," he said. "And then there are all the programmes about wildlife on the television; it's just not like that in Italy."
Davide's early breeding successes include a double yellow head Amazon - from one of Tropical Wings' conservation projects - which has matured nicely, while two raven babies also fledged brilliantly.
Another work in progress is a colony of African grey parrots.
"We've got six birds living happily together in a colony," Davide said. "It's not a popular breeding method in the UK at the moment, but the birds do get on well and have started showing signs of breeding, although we've had no eggs as yet."
Davide is responsible for two bird displays at Tropical Wings: outdoor flying in the Wild Wings Bird Show - featuring a raven, a kookaburra, a red-legged Seriema crane, a Harris hawk and a barn owl - and an indoor parrot display.
Both have proved extremely popular with visitors, who get to see the birds flying free and displaying natural behaviour.
"It's not a case of teaching the birds new tricks," Davide said, "it's a case of observing the birds and adapting their natural behaviour into elements of the display."
A good example of this is the red-legged Seriema crane which will seek out rubber snakes and smash them against a stone, just as it would with real prey in the wild.
A buzzard, lanner falcon and a little owl will also be joining the Wild Wings Bird Show soon.
Lucy Murray is pleased with Davide's contribution to date and says he is rarely to be seen without a smile on his face.
"He likes his job and has brought a number of innovative ideas with him," she said. "There's been a whole new impetus to the bird elements at Tropical Wings."
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