That’s amazing! I’m extremely envious indeed. When I was a teenager I learned all I could from the local library about falconry and made some bizarre and probably entirely illegal plans to try and obtain and train a kestrel or a sparrow hawk, which I planned to keep in a converted wardrobe in my mum and dad’s garage. Sadly (or thankfully) my plans came to nothing, though I did have a few blackbirds, starlings and sparrows staying in the wardrobe from time to time because for some reason I had a knack of finding sickly songbirds and then nursing them back to health. The wardrobe/aviary eventually got pressed into use as a gerbilarium after the girl down the road gifted me her male gerbil and when I put him in the cage with my female, nature took its course and before long I had too many of them to house. When they were weaned I used to swap them for a pound of rabbit food at the local pet shop, but my rodent trafficking operation couldn’t keep pace with their reproductive capabilities and at one point I had 56 of the little blighters so my mum said enough was enough as it was turning into an infestation.
Just for you. This is Bill with one of our two Eagle Owls. It was always a pleasure to be there from day one for the seven years I was there, it was my version of being in willy wonka's factory. I loved every minute of it. Kestrels in the wild live 2 to 3 years as it's a harsh environment, barn owl a little longer, however barn owls in captivity living over 20 years is to be expected If anyone is over this way and want to spend a little time with either or both, drop me a line(and I mean this), they don't bite, TeeTee shouts a bit and Joe is pretty passive, you won't believe how light he is.
Well, forgot to mention, this big bird did a runner one day, was reported seen a few days later in some woodland a couple miles away, he was eventually re-captured a few weeks later as he is people friendly despite his size, however they found where he had been nesting in the tree, along with several cat/dog collars
There were a pair living near Catterick, North Yorkshire. Exact location not known but some squaddies were looking after them. Soon found dead though. Farmers aren’t so keen on them… That was the rumour anyway…
We have red kites, buzzards and even a pair of migrating sea eagles that visit these parts each autumn and when I was walking my Iggy (a smallish cocker spaniel) a couple of months ago a pair of large birds of prey were circling overhead and seemed to be taking an interest in him. My girlf thought I was overreacting but I insisted we went home because I know that buzzards can take hares and there’s debate about them sometimes trying their luck with lambs so I didn’t want to find out if they’ll also have a pop at a dog too.
Yes… I’ve had this too. Our last staffie was a small bitch. And one day out walking I noticed a muhassive buzzard crisscrossing over us, about 200ft. Was definitely sizing her up. I did have a little chuckle thinking about what would happen if Mr Buzzard attacked her. She was a superb scrapper When I was in Aberdeen a buzzard attacked a small dog on an extended lead being walked by the lady owner. Poor little dog got badly injured. Puncture wounds and lost an eye. Mr Buzzard managed to get airborne with Rover but luckily Dorris yanked him free with the lead….
