Birds of Prey School Visits

Children learn all about owls during school sessions

Marsh and Micklefield Big Local were pleased to be able to fund visits to our local schools from Feathers and Fur Falconry Centre and the first of these took place on Tuesday 14th October at Ash Hill School, with visits to Beechview and Marsh Infants to follow later in October.

We are very excited to share some photographs of the event at Ash Hill and let you know how the visit went.

There were three sessions altogether, Reception, Years 1, 2 and 3, followed by Years 4, 5, and 6.

The groups were all delighted to see that Sadie from Feathers and Fur had brought along her companions, Bailey the Barn Owl, Ash the Tawny Owl, Charlie the Long-Eared Owl and Gimli the Snowy Owl.

The children were all exceptionally well behaved, and our photographer was particularly touched by how the Reception class gave him a cheery wave as they walked in.

Sadie showed the children the eggs of various birds and also a photo of a young Bailey who seemed to resemble a dinosaur and not a fluffy white bundle as shown on The Owl Babies book.

Fun owl facts

Full of information and stories about the birds, Sadie told the audience that although the Snowy Owl, Hedweg in Harry Potter books was a girl, but the owl used in the films was a male like Gimli as female owls are heavier than males and would be too heavy for young actors to use on set.

The visit really went done well with one parent Sarah telling us:

“My son (who’s in reception) was so excited to tell me all the owls who visited school, he told me how big they were, how much they eat and used his arms to show me how wide their wings are! Thank you for funding such a special experience for the children, I’m sure it will be something they always remember.”

We would like to thank Sadie from Feathers and Fur Falconry Centre for such a great day for Ash Hill School and we look forward to seeing her at Marsh Infants and Beechview.

If you would like to know more about the Feathers and Fur Falconry Centre you can take a look at their website.