Alex Playing With The Birds

Ever since watching the gritty northern film Kes starring the wonderful Brian Glover both Alex and I have had a keen interest in raptors.

If you haven’t seen the film it’s about a young lad growing up in Barnsley in a troubled family who would now be classed as deprived, who’s one escape is caring for kestrel he found.  His exploration in to falconry reveals that despite not being academic of sporty he does have a talent for working with his bird Kes.

It’s a very moving film and although showing it’s age now has some priceless vignettes especially with Brian Glover as the physical education teacher.  If you haven’t seen the film you should be able to find it in your local DVD store in the bargain bin and it would certainly be one worth retrieving.

So when Alex’s birthday came up earlier in the year I decided it would be a good idea to look in to giving him a falconry day and that’s exactly what I did.

And today many months down the line we visited the falconry centre and had the most wonderful time with some really gorgeous birds.  We both came away wanting to have our own birds.  My favourite was the Lanner Falcon, it has beautifully marked feathers and bright yellow legs as you can see from the image I took above.

If I had the money falconry would certainly be at the top of my list as a hobby although I’m not sure what my cat would make of it. LOL