Falcons

As part of the activities at the castle, you can get to know and "hunt" with falcons. It was an amazing experience! James and I took turns with the glove, and with the falcon landing on us while the other minded Eamonn, who really didn't need much minding because he calmly slept through the whole thing. Our falcon was a lot of fun, he had a fair bit of cheekiness to him which kept things interesting. The fella who takes care of them was great to us, really gave us a lot of opportunity to send the bird off and have him fly back. And he was generous with the chicken feet which "Burren" our falcon REALLY liked. Every time he got one he lifted his wings up and hunched over it like he was protecting it from us potentially stealing it. It's called mantling, and it's where the name for the fireplace mantles come from. The expression "fed up" also comes from falconry. Anyway, here's a few pics of our time with the feathered beauty...



Thanks to our intrepid guide I also got some really cool video... posted up on youtube at: