The wonder of flight

I watched as he bobbed his head up and down and side to side to focus his gaze. I heard a whistle and held my breath as he stretched out his wings to reveal a beautiful white and grey plummage.

In the bitter cold, crisp morning air the wind felt still and the pressure heavy as an overcast day had blotted out any hope of seeing the eclipse.

As I saw Dougal the Snowy Owl gracefully launch off his perch and swoop down to the ground, flying just a few inches off the grass in my direction, all thoughts about clear skies, sunshine and eclipse left my mind as every thought was on this beautiful creature flying toward me.

In a moment he reached out his claws and landed on the glove on my left hand, immediately searching for his edible reward.

My heart seemed to skip a beat as the beautiful owl sat on my glove and looked at me then the falconer asking for his food. He looks remarkably like Hedwig the Harry Potter owl and 'other-worldly' magical is the word I'd use to describe how he made me feel.

Dougal weighs around the equivalent of just two bags of sugar and his feathers are as soft as velvet. He screeched for his food, after all he is only nine months old, and he playfully nipped Mark the falconer as his greediness overcame his manners. My dad captured this cheeky moment on my camera and it really captured the fun of the day.

Yes, you guessed it...I spent the morning with the falconry team at Leeds Castle who I become so familiar with while PRIng the Castle over the year's maternity cover contract finishing in February.

It was such a surreal but special experience to fly the beautiful Snowy Owl, a swift, intelligent Harris Hawk, a cute Burrowing Owl, a squabbling barn owl brother and sister pair and a cheeky Vulture. It felt strange to be handling the birds instead of minding a film crew or art directing a photographer.

As many of you know I love to fly. Usually it's in a fixed wing aircraft with a single engine propeller but today I flew birds with feathers and it was a day I will never forget. I feel so privileged to have been able to work with such a talented and professional falconry team and to experience flying the birds as a customer was such an honour today.

I absolutely love the owls and on my wish list is holding (my favourite bird) Mozart, the European Eagle Owl. I might just have to book an experience for a warmer, sunny day soon.