The Aviary at Waddesdon Manor

Spot rare and beautiful birds in our Aviary

Our Aviary is a rare example of a working aviary housed in an historical structure, restored to its full beauty and stocked with colourful birds, a must-see on your visit.

The Aviary

The structure is made of iron, and is painted and gilded in the style of a Rococo trelliswork pavilion - reminiscent of those erected at Versailles and Chantilly in the mid-18th century. Aviaries were often a feature of Rothschild gardens, although this is the only one which still exists today. Comprising primarily of perching birds, there are also pigeons and doves, pheasants, barbets and turacos to be spotted.

The Aviary was a 'must-see' for Baron Ferdinand's guests when doing a tour of the garden in the 1890s. Ferdinand was particularly fond of the birds who would come to the front of their enclosures to be fed with treats by him. His sister, Alice, continued this tradition.

Video

Watch the story of Waddesdon's Aviary

Aviaries were an important part of many Rothschild gardens all over Europe in the 19th century. This followed a custom established by rulers and noblemen from the late 1600s, when owning exotic birds and animals was also a display of power, wealth and knowledge. Waddesdon's cast-iron structure, erected in 1889, is similar to trelliswork pavilions designed for the gardens of Versailles.

Conservation and projects

The team at the Aviary are involved in a number of national, European and global captive breeding programs and many birds bred here have been returned to their native countries to take part in reintroduction projects. Our conservation fund, sustained by public donations collected from the Aviary Grotto, currently supports projects in Indonesia.

The Aviary's conservation fund supports the Begawan Foundation in Indonesia. The foundation was established in 1999, and the Rothschild's Mynah (Bali Starling) Conservation Project was its first initiative, aiming to save this critically endangered bird from extinction. Named after the zoologist Lord Walter Rothschild the Rothschild's Mynah bird (Leucopsar rothschildi) is endemic to the island of Bali, Indonesia.

Distributed across an extremely small wild range and with a tiny population which fell to just 6 birds in 2001, it's still suffering from illegal poaching for the cage bird trade. Having bred this species since 1971 at Waddesdon, in 2011, 4 females were bred here at our aviary and were sent to Bali to improve the genetic pool of the foundation's breeding programme.

The programme had the first of many successful releases into the wild in 2012. Find out more about the project and the Begawan Foundation.

Livestream of a Pagoda Mynah nesting box at Waddesdon Manor — Watch a livestream by Citizen Bird of Pagoda Mynahs nesting

Waddesdon Manor Buckinghamshire

Watch Pagoda Mynahs nesting

We are one of only a handful of places worldwide that has successfully bred Pagoda mynah's in captivity. We've teamed up with Citizen Bird, a project to study breeding birds with a series of automated nest boxes collecting detailed life and history data.

Watch a livestreaming video of Pagoda Mynahs

A Rothschild Peacock-pheasant chick in the Aviary at Waddesdon Manor, a National Trust property in Buckinghamshire — A new arrival at Waddesdon's Aviary

Waddesdon Manor Buckinghamshire

New arrival in the Aviary

We've recently welcomed a Rothschild's peacock-pheasant chick to our collection of beautiful birds. Vulnerable in the wild, we excitingly bred this species for the first time ever last year with a male and female being reared. On 14 March this little one hatched and joins eight other Rothschild's peacock-pheasants at Waddesdon.

Saving our critically endangered birds

This year we have successfully bred some very important birds, two Rothschild Mynahs who are thriving under the care of our Aviary team. There are less than 100 left in the wild and we have one of only 17 sets of chicks that have hatched in Europe within the last year.