Eagle Owl at Largs

The Viking festival celebrating the 750th anniversary of the Battle of Largs is well under way, and I took a jaunt into Largs since the Glasgow Herald had suggested that there was going to be a Spitfire fly-past at the opening ceremony. My sources were wrong, but I did encounter this other utterly magnificent flying thoroughbred on the prom. It's a European Eagle Own, being looked after and displayed by a company called Owl Magic. Even although this is an enormous bird, I managed (under the expert guidance of his handler) to get so close that I used a 60mm macro lens on my Nikon D300s.