Pupils completing a BTEC Level 2 Animal Care course at Park High School, Colne, Lancashire have been learning about raptors with Falconry for Schools.
Our north of England instructor Sandra Johnson and her team have run a course of four mornings with the youngsters – teaching them about the history of falconry, its uses today and about where and how our British birds live. Their final session will be on 7 November.
Sandra brought a number of her birds into the school – including peregrine falcon Geoff, Dustry the African spotted eagle owl, her kestrel Pippin and tropical screech owl Bubbles. In the final session she hopes to fly the birds for the pupils – weather permitting.
Teacher Sara Cartmel said the pupils had thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and it had fitted well into their course, which involves learning how to assess the health of different animals, handle and restraint techniques and studying animal behaviour and how to recognise atypical behaviour in different species.