[lisapencil]

Hi my name is Lisa, I am new to forum and having reading BBC wildlife magazine for a year now. I have a passion for wildlife fuelled from a childhood spent in the countryside, watching the watervoles play in a local stream. I currently doing a pet portrait and wildlife art diploma and hope to be a wildlife artist some day. My main interest is birds of prey.

[Hawk_Eye]

Welcome Lisa. Good to have new people on here. Hopefully you won't be put off by the quietness of the forum. It can be quite lively on here as there are plenty of like-minded people who all have a passion for widlife.
Have you ever been to the falconry centre at Appuldurcombe on the Isle of Wight or the Hawk Conservancy Trust at Andover, Hampshire? Both fantastic bird of prey centres with great displays.

[lisapencil]

Thanks for the welcome Hawk-eye. No I haven't been to the places you recommend but luckily where I live there are two bird of prey centres within 10 miles of each other and equal distance from home. I was very lucky recently in that my husband and family members paid for me to have a 1/2 day falconry course at one the centres for my birthday. What a great day that was.

[Hawk_Eye]

Those days always look good. Did you have a variety of subjects to photograph?

[lisapencil]

Unfortunately we didn't take the camera with us, but there was quite a variety of birds at the centre. We flew a harris hawk, a grey eagle and a red tail hawk. They also have many owls, golden eagles, white tailed eagles, Indian vultures, cara-caras and a batleur eagle (hope I've spelt that right). Of course it is also better to see these magnificent birds in the wild and we shall soon be going up to the Highlands in Scotland where we have spotted golden eagles and last year a white tailed eagle in very close proximity as she flew low over the car from a nearby loch.

[cabbage]

Welcome lisapencil! Always good to have new people on the forum

[barbarachannon]

Welcome Lisa!