Tuesday 7 September 2010

LET US PREY

The school holidays are now over and Troy Junior is back at school. This summer seems to have flown by. Well that's my excuse for not having posted anything since 31st July. I'm wondering how many of my "27 Followers" are sticking by me through this thin posting season? If you do call by, please leave a comment, even if it is just "Hello". It would be nice to know you are still there!

At the start of the school holidays (Summer, Christmas and Easter) I produce a grid on A4 paper with the days across the top and the weeks down the side. Into this grid we then fill in trips away, planned days out and other organised events to ensure Troy Junior is adequately entertained through the holiday period. So much so, that he actually then enjoys his "rest days" when we just laze around at home. At the end of this holiday I asked him if was looking forward to going back to school. He responded "Yes". When asked why he explained succinctly "I need an education". There is no arguing with that, is there?

On the last day of the holiday, Troy Junior and I visited the local Owl Sanctuary. In some ways its a bit misnamed as they have many birds of prey and red squirrels, as well as their rescued owls.I guess it has evolved from its original purpose to become more of an attraction. We had a thoroughly enjoyable time there. The highlight is the flying display.

These birds are very photogenic. Here are a few photos I took during the day.

First an owl which had been raised from a young chick at the sanctuary.



Here's an eagle. They are quite magnificent birds.



And a Red Kite in flight.



This bird actually flew straight over my head several times, missing it by what seemed like inches. However I was too busy ducking and so missed getting what could have been a brilliant photo.

It was also interesting to see the red squirrels. For those that don't know, (let's call you "foreign readers"), the small red squirrel was the native British squirrel but when the larger grey squirrel was introduced into the UK it overran the native species who now only have very few colonies left. At the sanctuary, the red squirrels were in a large caged run but fortunately the cage wire doesn't really show on the pictures I took.

Here's a red squirrel enjoying a snack.



Hopefully I'll be back again with another posting much sooner than last time. Stay tuned!