Sunday dawned bright and breezy, no sign of the black rain clouds that have dominated Irish skies of late.  One of my daughters had made it to the Leinster final in cross-country running. Personally I have no interest in organized sport, but seeing as how it involved her galloping around the woods and getting completely covered in muck I said we would make the most of the weather and we loaded up. Her race was over early and as I am not a fan of these events we scarpered as soon as we could and took the longer and more scenic route back through the Wicklow hills.

Being flesh-eaters, my kids have an interest in all things raptor-like and more…

It is days like today that makes living in Ireland tolerable. After the rain last night, today dawned a beautiful crisp clear morning and a more perfect day for flying falcons would not be possible. There was a good stiff breeze blowing as I gave my Saker falcon his daily exercise; stooping him at the lure to tire him out and build up some muscle. I gave him about five or six minutes of that and he was panting hard as I let him catch the lure.

My Lanner falcon then had her turn on the wing, more…