TWO members of staff at Birdworld will undertake a Parrot Challenge on Saturday.

Lenka Panackova, a volunteer keeper at the Farnham park, and Suzy Smithson, one of its PR team, will don parrot's plumage colours and attempt to spend the entire day, from 9am until 6pm, in the Parrots in Flight aviary, interacting with the birds, chatting to the public about them and setting little challenges and treats to enable the birds to showcase their skills. 

Birdworld supports a wide range of important conservation organisations through the Birdworld Conservation Fund, and this year funds are being raised for SANCCOB (penguin rescue and rehabilitation) and The Great Bustard Project (re-introducing the worlds heaviest flying bird to the UK).

There will be plenty of opportunity to chat to Lenka and Suzy throughout the day.

The birds are used to Birdworld's uniform colour of dark green and remain usually calm for their keepers, but brightly coloured strangers will cause much excitement and the duo expect to be inspected, pecked, hopped on and have their laces attacked throughout the day.

They will be given nothing to eat or drink except what the parrots receive in a day and there are no bathroom breaks.

Lenka and Suzy are giving their time to support Birdworld's conservation fund via sponsorship (their friends and family don't believe they will stay the distance with all those sharp beaks!) and they also hope to raise awareness of the plight of threatened species.

All of the money raised will go towards the rescue of penguins in the wild and the reintroduction of the Great Bustard to Britain, as well as local charities such as butterfly conservation and habitat protection.

Find out more online at www.birdworld.co.uk/the-parrot-challenge.