Day 147 A Wise old Owl

Well I didn't really get to wear the sunglasses, but we did manage to get out and about for a bit. So we made the most of our National Trust membership and headed off to Cherryburn in the Tyne Valley.

Cherryburn is the birthplace of Thomas Bewick who was a famous Wood Engraver and ornithologist. The latter of which was the reason for our visit today as they had some feathered visitors.

For those that know me reasonably well, I love birds of prey, but am quite in awe of them. I've had the opportunity to handle them on quite a few occasions but always passed up the opportunity, pretty much because the whole power to weight ratio thing kind of freaks me out.

That said I wasn't going to let this 'fear' stop my daughter from getting the chance to handle such wonderful creatures.

At first she wasn't sure, but then she stated she would like to hold the Barn Owl, but there was a queue for that so instead she chose Rambo, a European Eagle Owl, the biggest and baddest (not really apparently he is the friendliest of the bunch) bird on show! Rambo quickly became her favourite and we now have a little girl who wants a bird of prey handling party for her birthday!

Erin got to handle all of the birds on show including 2 Harris Hawks, but she always wanted to go back and handle Rambo again.

So thats been our Bank Holiday Monday, I'm off out to enjoy a meal with the lovely people from work, hope you've all had a decent bank holiday too.

Paul