• Who?
  • Why?
  • Scratchings 1
  • Scratchings 2
  • Scratchings 3
  • Scratchings 4
  • More scratchings …
  • The ’70s
    • The 70s – Hair, Fashion and Metric
    • The 70s – Work and Life
    • The 70s – The Queen’s Silver Jubilee 1977
    • The 70s – Concorde
    • The 70s – Isle of Wight Festival 1970
    • The 70s – Grunwick Dispute
    • The 70s – The Strange case of Alice Cooper
    • The 70s – A Box of Chocolates in a Bag
    • The 70s – Goblins in the Bedroom
    • The 70s – Bex-Bissell Carpet Shampooer
    • The 70s – Tony Hart and Vision On
    • The 70s – Vauxhall Viva
    • The 70s – Niki Lauda the real F1 hero
    • The 70s – Tyrell P34 F1 Racing Car
    • The 70s – Hillman Husky
  • NaNoWriMo

Scratchypen's Blog

~ The moving finger writes …

Scratchypen's Blog

Monthly Archives: April 2017

Getting the bird

29 Saturday Apr 2017

Posted by KP in K Patrick Moody, Kim P Moody, writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

bald eagle, endangered, hawk, Hawk Conservancy Trust, K Patrick Moody, Kim P Moody, non-fiction, owl, poachers, vulture, writer, writing

There’s nothing like a nice day out with the family. Round up the kids – and their kids – bundle them all in to the car and head off to the countryside for a picnic. So we did.

But that’s only half the story. We spent the day at the Hawk Conservancy Trust, near Andover, UK. It’s a great place to visit, there is a full day’s entertainment and it’s all for a good cause.

Did you know that for every elephant or rhino that is killed for its tusks or horn, up to 50 vultures, or more, can die at the same site? Because the circling vultures give away the location of the carnage to the rangers, the poachers spread poison over the carcase to kill the vultures. This, together with those killed by the poisons in the preventative medication given to roaming cattle, has reduced them to a critically endangered species.

Not only are there vultures at the Trust, but hawks, owls, and many other birds all presented in different flying displays throughout the day. In each arena birds are flown and swoop low – head height – into the audience. You duck or wear a bird shaped bruise.

That was the American bald eagle …

Of course, my favourite is being buzzed by the massed vulture display – oh, and watching the American bald eagle fly in from a village on the far side of the valley, but the most impressive is the fish eagle.

The fish eagle glides down from the beech trees and plucks a ‘fish’ from the tiny pool just a few feet from where we are sat. I waited, camera poised, focussed on the pool … click!

Got ‘im this time – sorry about the quality. Don’t blame the camera.

Luckily, for us less-than-professional photographers, he does a second run. I hope you like my action shots – I did get the bird – just!

Advertisements

Share this:

  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 408 other followers

Blogroll

  • A journey of a thousand miles …
  • Be Kind Rewrite
  • Kim's splash!
  • KP Moody
  • Liz Young
  • My Life in Pictures
  • One Word Anthology

Pages

  • More scratchings …
  • NaNoWriMo
  • Scratchings 1
  • Scratchings 2
  • Scratchings 3
  • Scratchings 4
  • The ’70s
    • The 70s – A Box of Chocolates in a Bag
    • The 70s – Bex-Bissell Carpet Shampooer
    • The 70s – Concorde
    • The 70s – Goblins in the Bedroom
    • The 70s – Grunwick Dispute
    • The 70s – Hair, Fashion and Metric
    • The 70s – Hillman Husky
    • The 70s – Isle of Wight Festival 1970
    • The 70s – Niki Lauda the real F1 hero
    • The 70s – The Queen’s Silver Jubilee 1977
    • The 70s – The Strange case of Alice Cooper
    • The 70s – Tony Hart and Vision On
    • The 70s – Tyrell P34 F1 Racing Car
    • The 70s – Vauxhall Viva
    • The 70s – Work and Life
  • Who?
  • Why?

Archives

  • October 2018 (1)
  • August 2018 (1)
  • May 2018 (1)
  • January 2018 (2)
  • November 2017 (2)
  • August 2017 (1)
  • May 2017 (1)
  • April 2017 (1)
  • December 2016 (1)
  • August 2016 (3)
  • July 2016 (1)
  • May 2016 (2)
  • April 2016 (1)
  • February 2016 (1)
  • December 2015 (2)
  • November 2015 (2)
  • October 2015 (1)
  • September 2015 (1)
  • August 2015 (1)
  • July 2015 (2)
  • June 2015 (2)
  • April 2015 (1)
  • February 2015 (3)
  • January 2015 (1)
  • December 2014 (2)
  • November 2014 (1)
  • October 2014 (2)
  • September 2014 (5)
  • August 2014 (1)
  • July 2014 (1)
  • June 2014 (3)
  • April 2014 (1)
  • March 2014 (1)
  • January 2014 (1)
  • December 2013 (3)
  • October 2013 (1)
  • September 2013 (3)
  • August 2013 (2)
  • June 2013 (1)
  • May 2013 (3)
  • March 2013 (2)
  • December 2012 (2)
  • November 2012 (3)
  • October 2012 (7)
  • September 2012 (3)
  • August 2012 (3)
  • July 2012 (5)
  • June 2012 (4)
  • May 2012 (5)
  • April 2012 (4)
  • March 2012 (2)
  • February 2012 (6)
  • January 2012 (5)
  • December 2011 (3)
  • November 2011 (4)
  • October 2011 (1)
  • September 2011 (3)
  • August 2011 (2)
  • July 2011 (5)
  • June 2011 (1)
  • May 2011 (1)
  • April 2011 (3)
  • March 2011 (5)
  • February 2011 (3)
  • January 2011 (4)
  • December 2010 (4)
  • October 2010 (1)
  • September 2010 (1)
  • August 2010 (3)
  • July 2010 (2)
  • June 2010 (2)
  • May 2010 (2)
  • April 2010 (4)
  • March 2010 (2)
  • February 2010 (3)
  • January 2010 (1)
  • December 2009 (1)
Advertisements

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
%d bloggers like this: