This morning we went to Aldworth, which is the next village over from ours, as they held a Birds of Prey demonstration morning to raise money for their new village hall. I thought the boys would be interested, and as Adam is working all weekend, thought it would be an easy couple of hours for the boys to enjoy. Noah is obviously now getting to that age where everything is boring, and spent the whole time complaining he was bored and he wanted to go home! Lovely!! I'm not sure how much he was actually bored though, as when they started doing the demonstrations, I caught him secretly watching in awe and he kept putting his hand up to volunteer.
The owner of the birds did a question and answer session before the demonstration, and it was interesting to learn about the birds. He once had a bird who lived until he was 52 years old! The hawks and kestrels only live to about 5-6 years in the wild, but in captivity, they live anywhere up to 15-20 years, sometimes more. The birds don't fly very high and can go up to 5 miles away from their home before they get disoriented and struggle to return.
The boys seeked out every dog they could find to pet, and thought the lady who interviewed the owner live on BBC Radio 2 was a bit bonkers (to be fair, she was!). The barn owl was the boys favourite of all the birds and I liked the Chilean Hawk.
I enjoyed the morning anyway, and it was fun to watch the demonstrations of the birds. Lockie was more preoccupied to look for sticks for our wood burner and managed to find quite a few. Seth was more interested in the toddlers park next to the village hall. So it was a fun morning for me trying to enjoy the display and trying to get the boys to focus! Ha ha. That's kids for you!
This afternoon we went to my bosses house and we went to see their lambs which they have, all 11 of them. They were so cute, and finally, the boys were happy! Noah was the bravest of them all, and was happily trying to stroke the lambs, who didn't know what had hit them with my three noisy boys in their pen. Seth and Lockie were much more wary, although Lockie relaxed more quickly than Seth. Lockie helped Tim carry a new bale of hay in to the pen, and then the boys helped break up the old bale to make their bed a bit more padded.
Locks got to sit on Tims' tractor which he absolutely loved, and then they got to feed the horses some carrots. The boys also got to walk Willow on her lead whilst we were in the field, so all in all, they were extremely happy campers, especially when they got chocolate brownies when we got back to the house. Thank you Kate and co :)
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| The owner being interviewed live on BBC Radio 2 |
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| This barn owl was the boys favourite |
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| Mr Sulky pants in the back |
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| They seek out every dog they can find! |
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| Mr Grumpy spent an hour like this |
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| Noah decided to wreck the grass and make a smiley face, the little so and so. I made him fix it before we left. |
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| Lockie and his sticks |
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| One of the hawks soaring |
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| Demonstrating how the bird brings his wings in to fly through small gaps |
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| Lockie was not sure! |
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| Helping carry the bale |
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| Noah laying down - he really got in to it |
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| With Willow |
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| Helping break up the bale |
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| Lockie loved the tractor |
