The Owl Experience - Your Photos

email your photo's to bob@owlexperience.co.uk

TALON SHOW: Hundreds of pupils were treated to a demonstration about owls and their habitats.

Young people at Chesterton Community Sports College and its surrounding primary schools were visited by owl conservationist Bob Morley, who is from Derbyshire.

They enjoyed a demonstration of various owls in flight, as well as a talk on facts about the birds.

Headteacher Lynn Jackson said: "It was a fabulous experience to see these beautiful creatures up close, and everyone had a lovely time."

It's a real hoot at Seaton House

A touch of Hogwarts swooped down to Seaton House this week in the form of Owls. Bob Morley from The Owl Experience in Derbyshire brought into school a variety of birds of prey to educate and entertain the children. The girls were allowed to handle the birds at the same time learning valuable and interesting facts about their training and care.

The girls were given the opportunity to see these magnificent and unusual birds in action, seeing their movements whilst flying as near as possible to how they would in the wild. Learning about their countries of origin, their habitats and how changes in the environment and human intervention affect their survival. Mr Morley explained about their various characteristics, the importance of diet and exercise, reproduction and life cycle.
Headmistress, Mrs Virginia Rickus commented “This beautiful display of falconry completely enthralled the girls and Mr. Morley’s simple, clear and informative explanations gave them a real insight into the lives of these magnificent birds. Altogether an unforgettable experience.”

Evening Bob,

Just a quick thank you for such a great fun packed and educational experience today!

Pupils here really enjoyed the experience and your friendly and expert presentation to them. I'm sure our Primary partner schools would echo these sentiments! We all loved the seeing owls, especially the smallest one!

Be in touch with any images / letters of thanks etc. as and when they arrive!

Thanks again and hopefully look forward to a repeat visit next year.

Good luck with your new sanctuary.

Regards

Peter Young

Primary Transition

Chesterton Community Sports College

ST5 7LP

Bob

Thank you - and your birds - so much for an excellent occasion on Saturday last. We thoroughly enjoyed our session and, particularly when we went on the Hawk Walk, felt very privileged to be joining Kev on his training flight; there's something very special about being in such close proximity to a wild creature.

We learned a tremendous amount in a highly interesting fashion, and couldn't believe that we had been out for three hours!! Thank you for being such a good teacher.

We thought that you would like to see some of the photos from the day.

Thanks again

Best wishes

Anne and Paul Burton

Bob

Just wanted to send you a quick note to say thank you very much for the Owl Experience day that we attended on Saturday 26th July 2008. I brought this experience as a birthday present for my mum as she has always been fascinated by owls. We all had the most amazing day and really enjoyed learning all about these fantastic birds. We all also enjoyed the hawk walk at the end of the experience and I'm sure that we will be booking onto one of your future hawk walks. I've attached a few photos from the day - I hope you like them.

Looking forward to meeting you again in the future.

Kind regards

Natalie Harlow

Hi Bob,

Thank you for such a great day out on Saturday. Rob really enjoyed it and the birds were lovely.

Please find attached some photos of the day if you want to use them for your website.

Dear Bob

Thank you again for a marvellous experience meeting and handling your beautiful owls - and Reggie too, who was a real bonus! It was a really magical few hours.

Hi Bob,

Just wanted to thank you for a very enjoyable and informative day.

Anne Hunt

Hi Bob

Just wanted to thank you for the wonderful day out we had on Sunday flying the Owls. It was amazing and we were all interested to learn more about the birds and the nest boxes. You made the session very informative and good fun. We would hope that sometime in the future we can visit again to have another brilliant experience, or possibly one of the Hawk Walks. I have put your website on our NHS Pulse internal web pages, and hope that you may receive some enquiries. People in this building have already asked us !!!

Thanking you kindly

Best Wishes

Sue, Emily, Dita & Gladwin x

Hi Bob

We thought you would like a few photos of digger & friends we took at Centre Parks on one of your experiences!

We love the one of Digger!

John & I were on our honeymoon and we attended the sunday morning Falconry Experience.

It was excellent, thankyou.

Regards

Adele & John Teasdale

Thankyou Bob for the wonderful afternoon we spent with you. My grandaughter really enjoyed her birthday treat. In fact we all did. Being up close to such wonderful birds was an experience never to be forgotten. Would love to come again some day

Barbara Taylor

Hi Bob

Many thanks for making a wonderful day at Stathern. The children and staff all thoroughly enjoyed seeing the owls and they produced some lovely writing and drawings.

I'll recommend you to the other schools in the area.

Many thanks once again.

Best wishes

Angela Wright

Hello Bob
Thanks for an excellent day on Saturday. I enjoyed it very much &
learned a lot about the birds. Please pass on my thanks to Martin too.
cheers
David

Hi Bob,

Just wanted to thank you very much for the owl experience, myself and my mum had a great time. I thought you and the owls did a great job especially with the weather being cold and windy! We both agreed our favourite was mini me!

Just to let you know, after our discussion on the day, I listened to the owl calls on your web site and I can confirm the owl I regularly hear in the woods at the back of my house in Sheffield is definately a tawny owl!

I shall be in touch again when the weather is (hopefully) warmer to do another hawk walk, I really enjoyed the one on the owl experience day, and the rest of the family are keen to do one too!

Anyway,

Thanks again,

Rebecca Stuchbury.

I attended an owl session booked for a niece's birthday last week and I wanted to say a huge 'thank you' for a fascinating session. As well as keeping 20-odd six olds mesmerised for over an hour, we adults were fascinated too! Thank you very much for an intriguing and extremely worthwhile event; Nick

Thanks for the quick response. Thanks for giving us a great experience. Many thanks hope to see you soon if not at school at Centre Parcs!!

Little Scholars Nursery

Hi there Bob

As promised here is a selection of photos from your visit to Kirkby Nursery Centre.

Regards

Sam Crowder

Thank you for a fabulous day. The children have enjoyed every minute and learned so much more than we could have given them. Your day has fitted in so well with our whole school theme of light and dark. The Owls were gorgeous and so well behaved.

We look forward to inviting you back and would heartily recommend you to anyone who cares to contact us,

Janet Davis

Headteacher Oatlands Primary School. Harrogate, North Yorkshire

Dear Bob,

Thank you so much for a brilliant session of Falconry at Centre Parcs in Nottingham. I had great fun and the birds were beautiful. I've attached a few photos from the morning.

Best wishes,

Lindsey

Taken from the Derbyshire Times October 2007

Dear Bob

It was a really good day on Friday, thanks.

I have enclosed a few photo's, you can see some of our children working with Sally Newham from www.pinkfruitbatarts.co.uk

Our website address is www.highfieldhall.derbyshire.sch.uk , if you go on and look at noticeboard - special days, you will see more pix.

Regards

Gary @ Highfield Hall

Hi Bob thanks for your interesting talks on birds of pray we all found it very interesting
hope to send you photo of our owl but till then here's one of yours!
regards Justin Sarah and Ruby

Bob,

My family & I came for the 'experience' in mid June. I promised to send some
pics so here they are.

Nick

Bob,

We have just returned from Center Parcs, Sherwood Forest , and wish to thank you for your falconry demonstration. It was very informative and interesting and being able to get ‘up close and personal’ with the birds was fantastic. I have attached a few photographs I took during your talk which I hope you can use.

Thanks again. Best regards,

Mark Divine.

Hi Bob,

Just wanted to thank you again for your excellent presentation on these marvelous creatures. We have been to Centre Parcs many times and indeed went to see a great display of hawks, buzzards and owls previously but wasn’t as good as your very informative talk, not to mention humorous.

We spoke briefly at the end of talk and took a photo of your Ed and our little boy also called Ed (Edward) and said I would mail it on to you, see attached.

I have also had a look at your website and printed off a copy of the Barn Owl nest box plans, so will be having a go at that soon. I will send you a few photos when the job is done.

O, there was one question I meant to ask and never got round to it. Are you really 41?

Only kidding Bob, again many thanks, we all found it very enjoyable.

Regards

Juls

Hi Bob,

Really enjoyed your show. Your love and understanding of the birds made it a fascinating insight into the natural world.

Being 'fed-up' will never be the same again, fourteen vertabrae in an owls neck - wow, and the hunting techniques of birds, some solo and some in well ordered teams. (Is the the Kara-Kara?)

And the fact that the feathers on owls are not waterproof so getting wet can be fatal, but then I saw a news item last week where Frog mouth Owls have bred for this first time because, said the news, the heavy rain reminded them of the monsoon season.

You can be sure there will be another nest box for owls going up in Sussex.

Two photo's attached.

Thanks again,

Tony and Jenny

Hi Bob. Our holiday ended this morning and we left Sherwood Forest and my daughter Blaise has never stopped talking Owls on our journey home - it was only 24 hours ago when we were at your Nature Centre to Encounter with Owls.

My wife and I are profoudly deaf but your speech has made very clearly and very understandly for us to read your lip when you talked about your owls - thank you your superb job.

I have enclosed fours pictures of your owls.

Thanks for a wonderful evening.

Best wishes,

Robbie & Mel & Blaise Hanlon

Hi Bob, Thanks for the great Hawk Walk on sunday last 01/07/2007. My
kids Claire and Daniel did enjoy the walk even though Claire looks a
bit tired in the photo . As a wedding photographer I found Prince moved
a lot faster, therefore harder to focus on, than the birds I normally
photograph !!! Thanks again.. Tom , Claire and Daniel Newman, Schull,
Co. Cork.

Hello Bob

You asked me to post you a note reference an encounter with a barn owl late one night whilst travelling through ~Avebury, an ancient village in the countryside in Wilts.
I was returning home to Devizes from Swindon late one night and had to travel through AVebury, a dark and moonlit night but cold as i recall, a typical crisp winters night. I'd had the stereo on as you do when travelling alone, and for some reason for the first time ever, i locked my doors. I'd had to slow down due to the winding road and for those who don't know ~Avebury it is as old as Stonehenge and is said to show the way to Stonehenge from Wales where the stone is alleged to have come from. It has two stone circles and is so much more interesting....anyway i digress, you kind of get the picture, dark, ancient countryside, crisp winter night etc.. then suddenly out of the dark sky this huge white ghost of a bird appeared. It seemed like the whole thing was going to crash through my windscreen, i swear i even saw it's black huge eyes. I let go of the wheel to protect my face and the road went off to the right, the car went straight on, so i mounted the verge and ended up in the ditch, tail end up! That was it, i never saw the bird again, a barn owl. But i learnt alot about human nature that night, so many cars passed me and i could'nt move, my neck was injured. My headlights were still on, but no one got out to help me,and one hour later a police car passed, and got me to hospital. I never travel through Avebury alone at night now, and yes it was a full moon.....

Gaye Timbrell

Rebel the Barn Owl at Center Parcs, Nottingham

Hi Bob

I attended your talk on Falconry on Sunday (24 June 2007) lunch with Romeo and then later attended the talk on owls with my girlfriend, well I thought I would just drop you a couple of my photos (haven’t had chance to look at the girlfriends camera yet) and to let you know I have downloaded your plans for the owl box.

I will send you a picture of the owl box once complete but first I need to get rid of the squirrels

Hope the birds are doing well and again thank you for such an interesting talk, I am now thinking seriously about taking up falconry.

Kind regards

Paul

Robbie the Redtail, Lisa with Rocky the Barn Owl and Andrew with Rebel the Barn Owl

Hi Bob

Thanks for a great time with the owl experience and the falconry. I've just finished treatment for cancer and i was on a short respite holiday with my husband Andrew. We really enjoyed ourselves and we agree, you should be paid more!! hahaha!!! Thanks again for a great day.

Lisa Askew

Me and Noodles the European Eagle Owl and Terminator the Little Owl

Dear Bob,
I came to one of your demonstrations in April so its been a while
but I still had your card in my wallet so thought I would sent you
some photos. Thank you for the demonstration, especially meeting
Terminator.

Best Wishes

Matt Frost

Hi Bob. We really enjoyed the Encounter with Owls at Center Parcs (Thurs 7th June 2007). You do an excellent job and I'm sure not only the children but the adults as well, found it totally enjoyable. I was very impressed with the whole thing and your owls are adorable. Here are some of our photos which you might like to post on your website.

Best regards,

Viv Rivett

Prince the Harris Hawk in action

Hi Bob,

We came along on your Hawk Walk at Center Parcs last Thursday (24 May
2007). It was a good outing and I've attached a few photo's we took.
It's the second time we've done the Hawk Walk" and it wont be the last,
it's a firm favourite each time we visit Center Parcs. We've followed
your suggestion that and recommend they pay you more, but I've a funny
feeling we don't have a lot of influence ........... I'm afraid. ;-)

Thanks for an enjoyable afternoon.

Best Regards

David Annakin (and the gang)

Noodles, Figit and Terminator at Center Parcs, Nottingham

Hi Bob,

Was at one of your Owl experiences at Center Parcs and got these photo's, was great to meet and greet the owls. The Noodles photo is a bit large, but then so is Noodles!

Regards,

The Suddaby Family

Prince the Harris Hawk during the Hawk Walk at Center Parcs. Photo's sent in by Luke Dobson

Hi Bob

I have two nice photos from the hawk walk on Sunday, I thought you might
like to take a look!

I thought the walk was excellent, it was so interesting to see the hawk
fly in in the open air. You must have the greatest job in the world!
Next time we are at center parcs we will certainly being coming to see
the birds again and I will continue my ambitious hopes to get a photo of
the bird in the air that is neither blurred nor from a hundred metres away!

Cheers,
Luke

Me and Prince the Harris Hawk during the Hawk Walk at Center Parcs. Photo's sent in by Michael McDyer

Dear Bob

Thank you for taking me and my dad on the Hawk Walk with Prince. I really enjoyed it and hope you like the photos I have sent.

Thank you

Michael McDyer

Rebel, the Barn Owl showing off at Center Parcs. Photo sent in by Karen Coombes

Dear Bob

My daughter Sarah and I had a wonderful time meeting you and your owls at Centreparcs last week- we have now acquired numerous cuddly owls!

Regards

The Coombes family

Rebel, the Barn Owl, Lian with Rebel and Noodles the European Eagle Owl with me at Center Parcs taken by John Gunn

Dear Bob,

Just to say again how much my grandson & I enjoyed your talk at Center Parcs on Thursday 12th April. I said I would send some photos & will attach 2 to this message and 2 to a following message as the file size is a bit large. I really like the one of Lian - if you do want to use it the caption would be Lian Somers at Centre Parcs.

Best wishes,

John

Ed the Great Horned Owl and Noodles the European Eagle Owl at Center Parcs, taken by the Lawton Family

Dear Bob

Thank you for showing us your birds yesterday at the Falcon Experience
at Center Parcs, please find attached some of our favourite photos.

thanks
the Lawton family

Terminator the Little Owl, taken by Adrian Storm at Center Parcs, Nottingham.

Bob,

The experience was great and I took a few photos, two of the terminator photos looked quite good so I thought you may want a copy.

Regards

Adrian Storm