CLA Game Fair

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Went for a family run today (well, the kids biked) along the canal. Had to stop for every interesting tidbit! Then on to the CLA Game Fair. This is a fair that is held somewhere different in the UK each year so we were very lucky to find it was being held just down the road from where we are staying! There were many interesting areas to take in (over many acres of property). We commented that both of our parents would have loved this fair, especially the dog parts! There was every variety of hunting/retrieving/terrier dog there. They put on shows and demos of their skills! Really neat. The birds of prey were also pretty amazing and very up close! There was also clay shooting, target shooting and other types of shooting as well as a large area for the sport of fishing. We covered a lot of ground and were all exhausted by the end of the day. Tonight will just be relaxing and of course a trip into the village to the park. The kids just came in excited to report a bounty of 6 eggs! Breakfast - check!

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Photos

Love 40
Russell killed Nigel at tennis in the backyard.

Belvoir Castle
We're staying 1.25 miles from this beauty. The CLA Games were held here this weekend.

Lunch Visitor
As I unwrapped my sandwich at lunch this Harris' Hawk landed right in front of me!

Bald but not American
There were many birds of prey doing hunting demos. THey work together with ferrets to suss out and then kill rabbits.

Mountain Boarding
These guys were doing flips 20-25 feet over a truck.

Mountain Boarding Stunts
These are giant sakteboards with 4 big wheels. Dangerous. For three pounds you could send your kids down the ramp. We saw one 10 year old almost rip her ankle off.

The Hunt
This pack of dogs has hunted together for many generations over a hundred years.

Comments

[Elke]

Harris Hawk
OMG! Don looked for birds of prey for our entire trip - I think we only saw 1 heron. He would have been stunned to have a hawk land right in front of him. Well done!

[NigelR]

Birds of prey
Elke, you wouldn't have believed it! We were just chowing down on some sandwiches and I swear, the hawk landed inches from our faces. Then the handler fed him a chunk of raw meat (although I swore the hawk was eying my peanut butter sandwich...which I would protect with my life) and he sat there on the fence eating it right in front of us! There were many varieties of eagles, owls, hawks, etc. It was amazing!