Yesterday we went to a Live Crafts food & craft fair at Mapledurham House. The highlights of the day for us turned out to be the food fair, and the birds of prey.
Ben Potter had brought along owls, eagles, a kite and a vulture. Sadly we missed most of the actual displays, but Bramley the barn owl was out and about when we came past.
I jumped at the chance to hold him, and was genuinely surprised at how small a barn owl is. When you see them on the television, gliding silently over fields at sunset, they give the impression of being absolutely enormous. But you can see from the picture here that he’s actually quite a delicate little thing – especially compared to Oska the eagle owl who was also in the display.
The Hawk Conservancy Trust, who are only about an hour away from us, offer a really interesting range of courses. We’d looked originally for photography-based days, but we’re now extremely tempted by the Training Birds of Prey weekend.
Depending on how quickly I recover from my hip operation (I don’t think I can negotiate walking on crutches and holding a hawk!), we’d definitely like to book ourselves in for some kind of time spent with birds of prey in the not-too-distant future.