it’s September again already and the Bird of Prey Centre is back to normal opening hours;

Wednesday to Sunday            11am until 5pm.

Running a small bird of prey centre certainly has its ups and downs but recently it has all been down. I could only open to the public for three or four days in December due to all the snow and freezing conditions. Days with absolutely no money coming in were spent shovelling snow and boiling what water I could get my hands on in an effort to thaw out water pipes so I could get things washed and cleaned. Even just getting to see my birds became an ordeal as it took two full kettles of boiling water to unfreeze the well oiled padlocks.

With daylight being so short and driving conditions so treacherous, it was a full day’s work to get here, put birds out for an hour while I cleaned their night quarters, fed them all with enough time so that the food would make it to their stomachs before it froze in their crops, which could be a potential lethal scenario. Then it was time for them to go back in for the night, which was another ordeal as dealing with frozen leashes and tying a one-handed falconers knot with frozen fingers is not as easy task.

But this morning was different. Today the thaw is on, no more biting freezing conditions, I can feel my fingers again and am so relieved my toes hadn’t turned black and fallen off!. The place is flooded from the outside tap being left on as turning it off was not an option yesterday, but at least the snow is nearly all gone and I can put my birds out onto the once again green lawn to weather. I carried buckets of fresh water to fill their baths and the falcons jumped straight in like happy penguins, glad to be able to wash once again.

The aviaries were not cleaned out over the past week as the snow was so deep, but this morning I got in with shovel and rake and went through each one, took away any waste material and refilled the baths before opening to the public.

I was in a good frame of mind as I filled the plastic bag with wet bird droppings and dirty gravel. As I came to the last aviary which houses the two eagle owls the male greeted me as usual. We call him “The Professor” and a milder mannered owl would be hard to meet. But the female is a demon, an ill-mannered hissing and clacking ball of fury, with about as much charm as a Komodo dragon with tooth-ache. Husbands and boyfriends that visit the centre love her as they can say things like “typical female” out loud and get away with it.

She is settled enough with me, but today as things have been so quiet around the centre she decided to take insult from my intrusion into her aviary and flew around like some demented Banshee. She then jumped from the nest-ledge to the front wire and landed on the ground. I ignored her and continued to do the cleaning as she launched her massive frame into the air again. With me bent over and her being so big she jumped up to me and used the back of my head as a launch pad, pushing herself into the air with those large talons of hers; talons large, powerful and sharp enough to puncture the heart and squeeze the life from an eight-pound hare!

As the plan was to open today, I had made an effort to look presentable and had worn my new lambs-wool jumper, a present from my girlfriend to keep me warm over the Christmas.

As the blood streaked down the back of my head and clotted in my new lovely lamb’s wool, I decided to make a quick exit from the aviary. I grabbed the black plastic sack, slung it over my shoulder like Santa Claus would have done and retired quickly to the outside.

But as fate would have it, on exiting the aviary, the plastic caught on the wire of the door and decided to rip slightly, allowing dirty gravel, wet messy bird-crap and the most foulest of the messiest messy stuff to pour down my new lambs wool jumper, slide disgustingly down my jeans and slither across my boots to leave a slimy heap upon the gravel that any self-respecting dung beetle would turn his nose up at.

So with my blood clotting properties knitting away nicely with my short but otherwise manageable hairstyle, and clothing soaked in gooey stuff that would put any bacteria off regenerating, I opened the door to the public and wondered to myself………………… is it all really worth it!

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