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Wanderers Ways. Neil Thompson 1961-2021

Birds of prey


Alf Hartigan

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3 hours ago, Sweep said:

yes, see them flying across the common, one sometimes sits on the little bridge over the river, not that you can ever get close to it though.

 

The other week, I was lucky enough to see a kingfisher in the morning and the barn owl sat on the bridge in the evening  - never seen both of them in the same day or even week before

Once went to a farm up in southwest Scotland whilst on holiday.

The did their own Gloucester old spot pork, and we fancied getting a bit.

Once there we were given a bit of a tour, saw the pork of the next few months happily playing and munching.

Then the farmer told us to look up in the corner of the barn, and there was a family of barn owls, young uns quite well grown, but not fully.

Doubt I'll ever see that again, except on springwatch!

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Used to watch the Perigrine Falcons that lived in the town hall clock tower have ongoing battles with the Ravens from the office windows in the wellsprings. 

On the town hall roof the Ravens could throw their weight around but they were no match for the falcons in the air. Used to terrify the pigeons. 

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Went to Settle falconry centre, good day out if you fancy the trip, and was speaking to one of the handlers after a show they put on. They had, owls, kestrals, sea eagles, vultures and other BOP in the show. I asked about Perigrins and why the don't seem to have any. He said that Perigrins are the skinheads of all the avian raptors. They will attack anything that flies. No matter what the size.

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Don't know if it's still there but there was a barn owl often seen in day time off Belmont Road over the fields between Belmont & Egerton.

&...my brother lives in Sarf London where there are good numbers of wild parakeets which it is very odd to look up & see, but apparently they have now attracted peregrine falcons. ( in the same area, after dark it is just as common to see foxes as it is to see cats or dogs, though it's no mystery why they're there with all the dropped food from the takeaways )

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On 31/07/2019 at 02:27, jayjayoghani said:

They're reintroducing golden eagles to Scotland though. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-45248409

Youri, I think the Haast Eagle died out as their primary food source, the Moa bird were hunted to extinction by Maori. I saw a reconstructed Moa in a museum and they're feckin massive so Haast eagles must have been huge 

And then they have the temerity to complain when the so-called 'white man' turns up and gives them a few trifling problems like syphillis...

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On 31/07/2019 at 22:14, bolton va va said:

Don't know if it's still there but there was a barn owl often seen in day time off Belmont Road over the fields between Belmont & Egerton.

&...my brother lives in Sarf London where there are good numbers of wild parakeets which it is very odd to look up & see, but apparently they have now attracted peregrine falcons. ( in the same area, after dark it is just as common to see foxes as it is to see cats or dogs, though it's no mystery why they're there with all the dropped food from the takeaways )

Yeah - we love our ‘keets! I’ve just moved to a townhouse and the second level of the garden is level with the house roof so basically in the tree tops and we get an evening flyby from them.

we also have hundreds of foxes - not great on bin day as you can’t leave anything out for collection and one ripped our cats leg off! They have no shame or fear, often see them just dotting around during the day.

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This is a fantastic place that’s fairly local

https://www.gauntlet.info/

Went a while ago and I’m going to sponsor a bird soon now that the grandson is interested 

When I lived in Smithills I used to walk the dog on Moss Bank Park about 6am every day. A massive white owl used to sit on a fence post and stare at us. Scary as fuck. Looked the size of my labrador 

My mum has a sparrow hawk regularly taking birds out of her garden. Took a squirrel a couple of weeks ago off the top of her greenhouse right in front of her 

 

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4 hours ago, MickyD said:

This is a mate's business. Education about birds of prey is a real passion of his.

http://www.horusbirdsofprey.co.uk/

Don’t know if it’s cos I’m using my phone but I can’t see where they are other than just Leyland. Google maps just shows a house as their address (guess they’ve registered the business at their home address?)

Interested in having a wander up there to have a look

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I'll have a chat to see if he does open days or private viewings.

 

He replied - Hi Mick I will be at a venue near Ormskirk called Farmer Ted's Family Attraction i am there till beginning of September every day if this helps after then it's individual days for clients on a private basis. Cheers

Edited by MickyD
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17 hours ago, MickyD said:

I'll have a chat to see if he does open days or private viewings.

 

He replied - Hi Mick I will be at a venue near Ormskirk called Farmer Ted's Family Attraction i am there till beginning of September every day if this helps after then it's individual days for clients on a private basis. Cheers

Thanks Micky. Sounds perfect to take the grandson for a day out

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