I had a bit of a scare the other day;  my long-eared owl Spook decided all of a sudden to become dead.

I have kept and flown many species of raptors over the years and I have to admit that my least favourite was always the owls. They just never done it for me, give me a stooping falcon or a soaring Harris-hawk any day. more…

Hi Folks,

To anyone interested,

Woodlands Falconry and Bird of Prey Centre will be featured on the RTE One Nationwide programme on Monday the 11th of January.

Cheers Tom

The Bird of Prey Centre is closed only on Christmas Day, St. Stephen’s Day and New Years Day.

We are open as usual all other days from 11am until dark.

In January it’s back to normal;    open Wednesday to Sunday

I would like to thank everyone that attended the official opening of Woodlands Falconry and Bird of Prey Centre on the 15th of November.

And to all those that couldn’t make it, but sent their best wishes.

The whole day had a fantastic atmosphere about it and somehow or other the sun managed to shine all day. (I had prayed to every god I know; from Gneisha to Thor, with a special “please” to the Aztec Sun God)

A big thanks too to the speakers; Siobhan from Wicklow Leader who helped me so much. And Terry Flanagan from “Mooney Show” fame who was so good to change his plans to be there.

And a huge thank you to Saoirse Ronan who said a few words and cut the ribbon for us, and to herself and her parents who gave some super prizes for the raffle.

Anyway, it couldn’t have went better and I just wanted to thank everyone for putting in so much work.

Cheers,

Tommy

“Woodlands Falconry and Bird of Prey Centre” will give the general public a chance to experience beautiful Birds of Prey at close quarters. The recently re-introduced Golden Eagle and Red Kite will be on view, as well as a selection of falcons, hawks and owls from around the world.
We will be offering you the chance to see these fantastic birds perform in the air in our flying displays. Also, you can get up close and handle these majestic birds as well as having the rare opportunity to take a pleasant walk through the quiet woodland accompanied by your very own hawk.

We are situated in Rathwood Home and Garden, just five minutes from Tullow County Carlow.

Contact us:
059-9156878 Wednesday to Sunday 10.30 ‘til 5

Woodlands Falconry and Bird of Prey Centre will be opening on Friday 23rd October 2009. In Rathwood Home and Garden Centre

It is on the border of Wicklow/Carlow.

Just take the Shillelagh road out of  Tullow and just after you enter Co Wicklow, Rathwood is on your right, you really can’t miss it!

This is something that I have been working on for the past year or so and all the hard work is finally coming together!

Come and spend some time and meet all the birds;

eagle, owls, falcons and hawks.

Hope to see you all there,

Wish me luck, thanks

Tom

I got myself a new bird today. It’s only a baby and probably one of the ugliest birds I have ever seen.

There are two types of bird babies in the world, precocial; the pretty, cute, fluffy, endearing ones, and altricial; the helpless, ugly, more…

I hate rain. My birds hate rain, my kids hate rain and even my dogs hate rain. If there is a God wouldn’t you think he would have thought of a nicer way to water the Earth, or maybe Ireland is just the wrong place for me to live and practice falconry. more…

I made an awful bad mistake the other day. I put the birds out on the lawn to weather, this means to get them out of their night quarters, let them get some sun, fresh air, and to take a bath or a drink if they need it. It was a beautiful sunny day and on days like that I like to get them out early so they have all day to enjoy the weather, while obviously making sure they don’t overheat. But this is Ireland and they spend far too many days indoors waiting for the rain to stop. more…

My old Brittany died yesterday. He was over thirteen years old and had gone totally blind and deaf. Now he is gone to the great hunting ground in the sky to hunt all the rabbits and pheasants he wants – which doesn’t really make sense, because more…