Zoo Trip #63: Hawk Conservancy (Sat 24 June 2017)

Only a week after my last visit to the Hawk Conservancy Trust I went back for a special evening of Chris Packham's Top Birds. I hadn't known quite what to expect and was pleasantly surprised to find it involved far more flying displays than I'd imagined, with a number of guest falconers and birds from all over the place. The image I shall carry with me is of a marabou stork with a huge wingspan soaring just over the audience's heads, but there was also a trained raven called Scooby, a recreation of a scene from Kes and a saker falcon hunting a drone in the form of a stone curlew. Chris himself was offered as a willing sacrifice to be scavenged by some hooded vultures, having been first shot dead by his partner Charlotte. During the interval he kindly wrote a dedication to me in a signed copy of his book, Fingers In The Sparkle Jar, and I took a wander through Reg's Meadow and photographed some of the wildflowers at their peak (in album below).

L.
29.6.2017 (0944 hr)

Blip #2146 (#2396 including 250 archived blips)
Consecutive Blip #030
Blips/Extras In 2017 #204
Day #2648 (517 gaps from 26 March 2010)
LOTD #1381 (#1507 including 126 on archived blips)

Taken with Pentax K-50 (Red) and Pentax HD P-DA 55-300mm F4-5.8 ED WR lens

Hawk Conservancy Trust series
Hampshire series
Zoo Trip series
Outdoor Places I Have Sat In series (in the rain!)

Hawk Conservancy Trust, 24 June 2017 (Flickr album of 27 images)

Lozarhythm Of The Day:
The Damned - New Rose (1976)
Chris Packham provided the music before the start of the event and during the interval on a mix tape. Unsurprisingly it comprised many familiar singles from the late seventies and early eighties, all punk or indie pop, including many favourites of mine, one of these being this debut single by the Damned, arguably the first UK punk single, with its nod to the Shangri-Las at the start.

One year ago:
The Old Forge