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‘He’s quite an important person obviously’: Aviary keeper swaps Rothschild’s bird collection to work for Arabian prince
Simon Matthews is making the move to Qatar
A senior bird keeper at Waddesdon Manor is to spread his wings and move to Qatar.
Simon Matthews, 29, has been working at the manor’s aviary for the past four years, but jumped at the opportunity to move to the Arab state.
Mr Matthews said: “It’s quite incredible. It’s going to be a life changing, new experience.
“I’m nervously excited but I really want to be there now, starting the job.”
The bird keeper will be making the step up to curator of birds at Al Wabra, a wildlife preservation centre run by Sheikh Saoud Bin Mohammed Bin Ali Al Thani.
The Qatari prince is the former minister of culture, arts and heritage and founded the centre which has more than 2,500 animals.
Mr Matthews will look after a variety of rare bird species, except for the blue macaws.
While acknowledging his excitement ahead of the big move on October 4, Mr Matthews did say he was sad to leave Waddesdon.
“I love it here. I could possibly work here all my life but I want to move up in this position. It’s quite a special collection there.”
The bird enthusiast is moving to the Islamic state with his wife Hayley, who works at Whipsnade Zoo and will be employed as curator of mammals at Al Wabra.
Mr Matthews added: “We went over there and visited the collection. We feel quite at home there.”
Having joined Waddesdon four years ago, Mr Matthews said it was the challenge of working with new species which really enticed him.
While acknowledging that many people in his profession knew exactly what they wanted to do when they were younger, Mr Matthews said he was not like that.
“I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I just knew I wanted to work outside.”
The bird enthusiast added he was yet to meet the sheikh but he was looking forward to working under his new boss.
“He’s quite an important person obviously. He’s my sponsor. It will be very different.”
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Weather for Aylesbury
Sunday 26 May 2013
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