STAFF at a popular wildlife park have exciting plans for Father's Day this weekend.

As summer approaches the team at Birdland Park and Gardens in Bourton-on-the-Water are extremely busy with new born chicks eggs but want to highlight the important role of male birds on Sunday, June 18.

The park cares for more than 500 birds, ranging from the UK’s only breeding colony of king penguins and birds of prey to parrots, cassowaries and cranes in a mix of free-flying and aviary displays.

This weekend visitors will be able to attend a talk about some of Birdland’s most hard-working dads and describe how some fathers hold the baby.

Male incubation is especially common in ratites, which are large flightless birds such as cassowaries, emus and rheas. 

The females typically mate with several males and lay eggs in different nests to increase the chance of success.

Birdland’s cassowary is currently laying eggs so visitors to the park this week are likely to see the hard-working father incubating for up to 50 days. 

Successful cassowary hatches are rare – there were only two in Europe last year. 

In some cases, such as the park’s King penguins, the parents share incubation of their single egg – taking it in turns to keep the egg warm on top of their feet.

Head keeper, Alistair Keen, said: “Some of our most prominent birds are male, such as Seth, the oldest male King penguin in Europe, Asia or Australia.

"He is the last remaining penguin to star in the movie Batman Returns.”