Lured In

Like lightening he came catapulting over the meadow from a distance as soon as the lure was thrown up. With incredible speed and agility, winging in onto his prey you couldn't not be impressed when the talons snatched the bait out of the air!

Standing in the blistering heat this afternoon while non-camera people were in the cool of a large tree I was having a ball. I love raptors and got some good practise in as the Falconry Centre did a flying demo.

The Lanner falcon was being flown to the lure and this shows the moment of final capture with his right talon! Got to say I was struggling a tad with the exceptionally bright light which cast heavy shadows and was bouncing off everything especially white birds.

The cutest things today were the little burrowing owls family but in order to get the pics I had to lie full length on the dirt floor and ram my lens against the wire - much to the astonishment I have to say of a few people. A camera guy just laughed - as you do - as it had to be done!

More from today My next choice for a blip was this kite catching neatly in his mouth a piece of meat thrown up for him.