The day started very slow today as there were quite a few jobs that needed doing before we opened our doors for our first activity experience, this was at 12noon for our
Hawk & Owl Flying Experience.
This went down really well with our visitors, first Leighton the Buzzard was flown, this enabled the visitors to fly from the gloved hand, a species that is now commonly seen, souring the skies of the English countryside.
After a short coffee break, all visitors & staff then ventured back down in the fields to fly 2 of our Eagle Owls, these were Kaln & Turner. With staff positioned at a good distance away from the visitors, Vince our main bird handler stayed with the visitors to fly these Eagle Owls to their gloved hands. Everyone loved the experience & they were all surprised on how heavy these birds are once they have landed. With a 5ft wing span & with those amazing orange eyes heading in your direction, you soon realise this is one serious Owl to be heading towards your gloved hand.
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| Kaln is a gentle giant |
At 4pm, our
Owl Flying Experience began & also with a new set of guests arriving to take part. Some were old faces on a returned visit & some were new faces which is also really nice too. With the weather still very pleasant, off we went to fly some of the Owls.
Whilst flying Luna the Barn Owl, all agreed to start with a brief photo session, at times, this is very helpful for the charity because now & again we do need fresh images showing what visitors do when they join us on one of our experiences. Once the quick photo session was over, flying the owls continued & without Vince's camera pointing their direction. The visitors enjoyed the experience & all left with the images you see below as a memory their day & of course of a thank you. All had a great time flying the birds, which was Luna the Barn Owl & Turner the Eagle Owl, Turner at this time is now on his second flying session & poor Kaln did feel a bit left out by this but he is used to it.
Below are a number of images that were taken with our visitors kind permission, the Barn Owl being flown is Luna. we hope you like them.
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| Image taken during the 4pm Owl Flying Experience |
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| Image taken during the 4pm Owl Flying Experience |
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| Image taken during the 4pm Owl Flying Experience |
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| Image taken during the 4pm Owl Flying Experience |
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| Image taken during the 4pm Owl Flying Experience |
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| Image taken during the 4pm Owl Flying Experience |
With all the birds fed & watered, it's now time to prepare for the week ahead & the organising of what will be needed for the new aviaries this week.
This evening ended with Juliette getting Leighton back in from his outside aviary, because it was dark, within the hedgerow close to the aviary were 3 Badgers, all were munching on the Perry Pears, which have fallen from an ancient Pear Tree. With the badgers being completely unaware of Juliette, they continued to scoff the Pears whilst Juliette watched them whilst getting Leighton out of the aviary, she was amazed that they were just too busy to even notice her. Juliette came back in with a big grin on her face like a cheshire cat after encountering their eating behaviour.
Hopefully more news tomorrow.
Thanks for popping by to read todays blog.
