No blogging yesterday as we were off having THE most AMAZING adventure which I now plan on sharing … be prepared for a lot of photos and I seriously have only selected a tiny portion.
Dawn Inskip, who designs those amazing kits and collections I am so lucky to work with and who is such a friend, invited us for a really special day to visit where her daughter works at a bird of prey sanctuary. It was an incredible experience. Her daughter is so knowledgeable and clearly has an incredible bond with the birds, some of whom she had helped to hand rear and train.
We met so many birds I can't remember all the names and breeds so no doubt I will be e mailing for help!
The first bird we met way Marbles.
To see a young girl so at one with the creatures she cares for and see the love that she has for her work shining through everything she said and did was a treat in itself. But she also enabled us to have a one of a kind close up encounter with so many stunning birds. Not just a quick, ‘hold this owl, take a picture and we will remove the owl’ type of experience. More of a chance to see the birds properly, study them closely, really interact with them and learn so much about them. They have such a huge selection of different birds of prey, from more different types of owls than I knew existed to eagles, vultures, hawks, falcons, storks, pelicans and more.
Then we got to meet Rodney. Barn Owls are my favourite birds and we had heard a lot about Rodney who had been with the family at home when he was a baby.
All of the staff clearly love their work and treasure the experience to work with such beautiful birds and that was evident from all we saw. We were able to hold the birds, see flying displays, learn so much from Carly as she really does know so much about the birds in her care and even fly birds with her.
I'm not sure who this was ... but they were seriously LOUD!
I know this was Lincoln and that it was an eagle but I can't remember the type of eagle. I was listening - honestly - but we met A LOT of birds.
It was an incredible day we will never forget. I foresee lots and lots of bird pages coming up in the near future, but meanwhile, I hope you enjoy a small selection of the photos on this post.
Carly flew a falcon on the lure and was brilliant.
we all flew owls
and the gloves got bigger and so did the birds. I never ever ever thought in my wildest dreams we would get to meet a bald eagle. She was beautiful and as she is not yet fully mature she doesn't have her white head feathers yet. What an amazing bird - and a little tiny bit scary and very heavy!
and I love this one
We also met Sid and I have never ever seen a bird love a human like this. The bond with Carly was so strong.
and finally Carly handled the giant Sea Eagle - a truly magnificent bird but nearly as big as she is. She was very skilled handling him.
I said finally - I lied a bit. There was also a gorgeous little farm with free ranging ducks, geese, hens, a donkey and the most adorable little piglets
Thank you Paul, Dawn and Carly for an amazing adventure.
Today I am thankful for
- wonderful experiences
- beautiful birds
- good friends
What an amazing experience!! Those owls are so pretty! And Sid--- I never knew birds could be cuddly! :-) Oh my! That sea eagle looked like it could carry Carly off into the wild blue yonder! Can't wait to see your pages of birds.
Posted by: Barb in AK | August 21, 2014 at 07:42 AM
It was a fab day wasn't it ... thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and was so good to see you both again - photo's are adorable - please could you send me the first one of Carly with Rodney (the up close one)?
The grey eagle is called 'Levi' and is a Chilean Blue Eagle... the the cuddly one with Carly is 'Sam' - can't remember the species, I'd need to ask the expert LOL and the big sea eagle is 'Emma'. I think the exceptionally loud one is 'Marie', but can't be sure. No idea how she tells them all apart.
Thank you for a very special day - including a delicious meal and a giggle in Photoshop LOL XXX
Posted by: dawn | August 22, 2014 at 09:25 AM
what a fabulous experience! Thanks for sharing
izzy x
Posted by: isobel | August 26, 2014 at 03:34 PM