Once again, spring has finally arrived after the long winter and the dark nights, and fortunately this year, we also left behind the grey clouds and the rain and enjoyed blue skies and sunshine on both days!

The summery weather certainly brought the crowds, and no sooner had the gates opened than the fair was swamped with people!

There was no shortage of visitors to the NRC stand, which was well manned on both days, with a good selection of birds on display.

The Sunday saw eleven club members manning the stand...an excellent turn out, with some standing out fron with a bird to field questions from visitors, and others inside the club marquee to talk about the club, and to some potential members who may join us in the future.

John Elliott was on hand with his owl pellet dissection stall, and this was made use of by Terry Large during his falconry classes for children..as his stand was directly opposite, he led several children into the NRC marquee, where John had his stall, and they were shown pellets and their contents so as to understand how birds of prey digest food and regurgitate pellets. The kids enjoyed it, and it's a great way to educate them about the wildlife around them.

Several Species of bird were on display, and for the first time, the club had not one, but two barn owls in the raptor team this year!

There were three Harris Hawks, a Peregrine falcon, a Saker Falcon, a Pere Saker hybrid, two white faced scops owls and a white faced scops chick..then there was  the magnificent european eagle owl!!

All the birds behaved impeccably, and almost all took a turn at being handled buy a club member at the fence, so people could get up close to them.

All in all, a really good weekend from all points of view..Lots of people, lots of sunshine, and lots of interest in the club!!

NRC looks forward to this event each year, whatever the weather, and we've seen some here, including snow three years ago!!

But it signals the coming spring and summer, and you always feel that the long dark nights are gone, at least for a few months!

Looking forward to next year already!!

Enjoy the reat of the pics!!

John Tyas

April 2011