Newgrange falconry Birds of prey

Hi,

Odin, our golden eagle was ‘poetry in motion’ when he was flying yesterday. Three of the harris hawks were out hunting. Tom and Zena caught a pheasant!

We held a private falconry display for Joe O’Reilly Tours in the beautiful Killruddery Gardens last Saturday. As we put the birds on static display, a wild sparrowhawk caught a pigeon about 50 metres away from us, mantled it and proceeded to eat it. He was not perturbed by bigger prey ‘on static display’ nearby!!

The flying display went really well with our french visitors really getting involved in the displays. As it started to get dark, my little favourite, our reliable barn owl, Bartina, flew into action and, as usual, flew beautifully. She is always a huge hit when flying to the fist and sitting on the glove for photos. (She has been photographed 10′s of 1000′s of times at this stage with many more to go)!

We may be doing some kind of display for Drogheda’s ‘Local Heros’ this weekend. I will post it on twitter and facebook when I have confirmation.

Barbara