Ayla

Today has been my first experience at 'approaching' someone for a photograph. There's a very nice gentlemen along our street who keeps several birds of prey in his back garden. In the winter months, this one can often be seen sitting in his front garden for a few hours every day.

So, armed with camera, and a little bit scared of frightening the bird, I knocked to ask if it was ok to take photos. Her owner was more than happy to let me get reasonably close.
He bred Ayla himself (she's a cross between two other hawks that he owns). She is just over three years old and weighs about 3.5lbs. She gets taken out onto the South Downs for exercise during the hunting season (Oct - Feb), and this morning she caught herself a hare which weighed 8lbs.

Thank you everyone for wishing me better yesterday. I'd like to say I'm fully recovered, but I'm not. Very fuzzy head and a bit of a temperature, but a blast of fresh air has done me the world of good. :-)