I'm not a lover of zoos. There is something about animals and birds in captivity that upsets me. When I was a small child the family would go and stay with my Uncle Eric in Clophill in Bedfordshire. He would take us to Whipsnade Zoo. I don't recall any animal enclosures at all but I do recall the Wallabies. They ran wild in the huge park in what was, I suppose, the predecessor of the modern Safari Parks in this country. Today, however, CJ and I went to the Welsh Mountain Zoo, a small private zoo, in Colwyn Bay, Wales.
For me the highlight was the Harris's Hawk being 'shown off' to the assembled adults and children visiting.
Wow what a beauty, you caught the eyes perfectly.
ReplyDeleteImpressive "bird portaits"...! But I have to say, I never understood the British traditions of hunting, including hawk hunting.
ReplyDeleteThanks Adrian.
ReplyDeleteMonica are you telling me that you don't hunt in your country? Don't misunderstand, I find hunting for its own sake abhorrent, but given the French obsession with shooting anything that moves, the Spanish practice of blasting tiny birds out of the sky and the German pre-occupation with wild boar (which are just the ones I actually know about) I'm surprised.
Wowee! They look so much like our amazing falcon, that I had the pleasure, nay, honour of holding last March...
ReplyDeleteA coincidence, as I was just using the pic of me today, in a submission for funding...
It would be worth the trip just to see that guy! And I daresay a bit easier to get a photo of than sitting on a dusty back road.
ReplyDeleteSorry GB, I was not making myself clear. What flashed through my mind was primarily the traditional fox hunting (which I've read about and seen in countless British books and films), i.e. with hounds followed by people on horseback. But I think that kind of hunt has actually been banned in Britain now hasn't it?
ReplyDeleteWe don't have that in our Swedish tradition, and falconry/hawking is also forbidden here (just checked that fact in Wikipedia).
Of course there are other kinds of hunting. I'm not familiar with details but I know it's surrounded by quite a lot of regulations. It's limited to certain times of the year and you need the right certificates and licenses and weapons etc. The "big" hunt (most commonly known and talked of) is the elk hunt which is limited to a certain period in the autumn. Hunters have to sign up for it, each team can only shoot a certain number of animals, and fees have to be paid.