In our 'We Tried That' feature we send our reporter Steph Woolvin to try local sporty, adventurous or unusual experiences that are on our doorstep. This time she went to Ipplepen to get up close and personal with some magnificent birds of prey...
Golden eagles are such strong and determined creatures they can catch a small fox or roe deer, and here I am literally nose to beak with one! Galahad is a huge enigmatic character with a six-foot wingspan, which means he is wider than I am tall! He’s just one of the 42 birds here at The Devon Bird of Prey Centre in Ipplepen.
Many of the birds have been hand-reared by owner and falconer Karen Andriunas who takes them into her home for their first few months. The centre has been on this site for 15 years and has an impressive collection of birds from Harris hawks to snowy owls. Karen says they all have personalities: “There’s Pebbles, a striated caracara who loves to play with mobile phones! He is attracted to them because of the noise and lights. We also have a barn owl called Angel and a tawny owl called Astrix who are totally in love and snuggle up at night. They wouldn’t normally get along in the wild, in fact they would probably fight!”
The centre is open all year round for visitors to come and see the birds but if you want to try something a bit special the team offer hands-on experiences starting at £35. All experiences give visitors an opportunity to glimpse behind the scenes and find out what’s involved in handling, training and flying birds of prey. You can do a full keeper day, which includes general husbandry like weighing and feeding and helping falconers to train and fly the birds. Or, as I am doing today, a one-hour session where you get to meet a selection of birds face to face. On a fine wind-free day you would also get to fly them too, but as the wind speed is over 40mph we decided they were safer down on the ground!
Julie is helping me today; she has been a volunteer with the centre for 15 years. She says we will start small and work our way up. First to make an appearance is a very cute little lady called Cherub, a white faced Scops owl. She waits patiently while I put my glove on; they are all left-handed gloves because historically falconers would go out on their horses, holding the reigns with their right hand and the bird on their left. I offer her my glove and without a moment’s hesitation she lightly hops on, obviously well versed in the routine. Julie puts Cherub’s jesses under my thumb or ‘under the thumb’ which is apparently where the phrase originates from. She has beautiful large eyes but Julie says they come at a cost – an owl’s huge eyes take up two thirds of their skull leaving only a third for a very small brain, so she says it’s a total myth that owls are wise, but they do have natural intelligence.
After a few minutes watching Cherub we move on to a Siberian cross owl called Mozart. He is a lot heavier to say the least, weighing in at four pounds (just a tad heavier than a two pint bottle of milk) and has huge talons. “They are strong enough to catch rabbits and small foxes. In fact if we had the same power in our hands we would be able to crush a brick,” Julie explains. She thinks that being close to the birds helps to re-connect people with nature. “We especially see it in children, many are so used to having phones, tablets or gaming machines in their hands, when they hold these amazing creatures their eyes light up and they have so many questions. It seems that holding an owl (especially a barn owl) is on a lot of peoples’ bucket lists so it’s great to be able to help with that wish!”
This was a great introduction for my final owl - a barn owl called Oracle. I can see why people want to be close to these creatures, their heart-shaped faces are very easy on the eye. Barn owls have decreased in numbers around the UK in recent years and very few people are lucky enough to spot one in the wild. Oracle is stunning with well-kept white feathers, which look very soft and fluffy. “They have soft loose feathers so they can fly silently,” Julie says watching me studying them. “Owls rely on their super hearing to catch their prey so they have to be quiet as they fly. A barn owl can hear the heartbeat of a mouse in a 30-foot square room.”
Hawks and falcons have a completely different hunting technique to the one used by the owl – they catch their prey in daylight and rely on their superb eyesight and fast flying. Julie tells me that if we had the same eyesight as a falcon we could read a newspaper headline a mile away! Mayhem is a three-year-old Mexican Harris hawk which is the most commonly kept bird of prey due to its versatile nature and ability to hunt on all terrain. After five minutes with him a couple more fast-fliers come out, but Julie has definitely left the best until last in terms of gravitas.
The biggest bird of the day is Galahad, the golden eagle, who seems to block out the sun as he comes across the grass, eyes set on my glove. “He is certainly impressive,” Julie says with a smile. “He is definitely in charge and chooses his friends carefully.” Lucky for me Julie is one of them. “You’ll need a bigger glove for this one,” she says. New extra thick glove on, Galahad is placed on my arm weighing-in at nearly seven pounds – it’s like resting a bag of 20 bananas on your arm. He hardly stays still for a second with his head darting about watching everything from the seagulls above us to the volunteers cleaning out enclosures. Julie says these impressive beasts usually hunt alone and rely on surprise to catch their prey, but in countries like Kazakhstan they work together to attack small wolves!
Despite their ferocious feeding habits there’s a definite feeling of calm when one of these birds sits on your hand. Centre-owner Karen says it’s a real privilege to experience a bird settling on the glove as they wouldn’t stay put if they felt in any way uncomfortable or threatened. “It’s this tranquil feeling that we want to promote - it’s like therapy. Actually we are hoping to raise enough money to build a classroom big enough to fly the birds inside. That way more children can come and see us in all weathers. We’d especially like to provide experiences for children with autism, anxiety and learning difficulties. I think an encounter with our birds would really help them.”
If you would like to meet the birds the one-hour session is £35, the keeper for a day is £95. There’s no age limit. Go to www.devonbirdofprey.co.uk
First published in By The Dart magazine May 2019
