When we moved to England for a 6 month stay, I was looking forward to some holiday and relief from the duties back home, as we are keeping horses, cats, rabbits, show chickens and peafowls. I couldn't be more wrong.

James gives Linda a lesson on how to hold a Bald Eagle

My first close encounter with birds of prey was during a visit to a Falconry centre not far from Leamington. From the first moment of the first display, I was amazed by these birds and knew that training and flying these raptors must be the ultimate experience. Through my entire life, I've been very enthusiastic about training dogs and breeding all kinds of birds. The birds of prey handling seemed to me like the best of two worlds - an awesome combination of dog training and bird breeding!

After the visit, I started to think of a plan how to learn as much as possible during our stay in the UK. As falconry is banned in Sweden, I knew that I needed to gain as much knowledge as possible before we left. To seek advice, I called The British Falconers Club. They recommended me to try my luck as a volunteer at one of the many falconry centres.

Linda with Harris Hawk Morgana and Mike Riley

I started to write in various falconry forums and contacted several bird of prey centres. It was tedious work and my motivation started slowly to drain as the responses varied between a "No thanks" and nothing at all.

After a few months, I received unexpected help from one of Henrik's colleagues. He had been breeding birds of prey for more than 25 years. Unfortunately, they were all moulting at the moment so he didn't need any assistance. Instead, he advised me to contact the Hawk Conservancy Trust which according to him was the best place in England if you wanted get experience with Birds of Prey.

I contacted them by e-mail and got in touch with Andy who arranged an interview. Less that an hour later I was exceedingly happy, I was going to be a volunteer at the centre!

Chestnut the Tawny Owl being used as a 'holding bird'

As we are living in Warwick, I had to drive approximately 2 hrs one way in order to get to clean the aviaries and get my backside bitten by the vultures... Of course, I had the opportunity to do other things as well and I was well aware of that everything is equally important to keep the centre running. One of the most exciting things to do was the vulture feed and the Harris Hawk flying. Other interesting tasks included work in the hospital, holding birds, collecting chickens and much more...

During my last week, I had the opportunity to join the "Owls by Torchlight" activity. Seeing these birds in their true element was an extraordinary experience, especially in contrast to their sleepy appearance during daytime. Therefore, the display made a great impact on me. A big thank you to Mike & James for this experience!

I would like to take the opportunity to pass a big "Thank you!" to all the wonderful people I had the pleasure of working with which is an important part of an unforgettable experience, which also will be the strongest memory from my stay in England.