Falconry

During my holidays I like to try new things, sometimes it is stuff that scares me other times just something I've wanted to do for a while.

This holiday I tried Falconry:

Wikipedia definition - Falconry or hawking is a sport which involves the use of
trained raptors (birds of prey) to hunt or pursue game for humans.

It was a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone as long as they are not squeamish (avoid the last picture if you are).

The Falconry company had five birds for us to see, first we got to hold Swivel the eagle owl. Eagle Owls are not native to the UK but are brought over from Europe as pets. It's thought they are let loose when people can't look after them. If a pair were to breed in the wild they would cause problems with our ecosystem. But enough of the lesson. The owl was giant and pretty heavy. I had to hold my arm up slightly as if you lower it Swivel likes to walk up and stand on your head. As he sat on my hand he had a good look at me with his giant yellow eyes. I stroked his feathers and he had a bit of a hiss at me. Found out that he hoots rather than the twit twoo that is only tawny owls.

Swivel the Eagle Owl

Sitting on my hand

Giant wings, so impressive

After Swivel we got to fly Moss the buzzard. They are supposedly very common and are often seen in the UK. Moss and other buzzards are pretty lazy, Moss had been hunting and had caught a worm, not very impressive really!

Moss was let loose and went to sit in a tree, he was pretty well camaflaged.

When a peice of meat was put on the glove Moss would swoop in and grab the food.

After that we had some fun with Loki the Harris Hawk. He was flying down rows of people between our arms and legs.

There was another Harris Hawk, a female to show the size difference and Norman the peregrine falcon who didn't really do anything :0(

After we had taken some pictures the birds were given some treats and then put back in their boxes to go home. Stop scrolling now if you don't want to see Swivel eating. The only bit of disappointment is that the company don't bring their Golden Eagle out to play in case it eats any small dogs. Wish I lived close enough to go and see it.

So thats my "What I did on my holidays" essay for this break, wish I'd had something like this to say when I was at school. If you get a chance to do some falconry it is definitely worth it.