By Andy Spearman
It was a case of birds of a feather sticking together yesterday in Stameen as residents of the estate and others turned out in great numbers to support a very special cause.
Like right-thinking people around the world, they are sickened by the nightly TV news reports of the humanitarian disaster that is unfolding in Ukraine at the behest of the deranged Russian President Putin.
But what can any of us do except raise funds to help the millions of displaced people. But how?
Residents’ association Chair, Guy Lynch told Drogheda Life that they were pondering this very question when he got a call from Brian McCann of Newgrange Falconry.
Brian said he’d love to put on a display of his amazing birds of prey for them, so the committee swung into action to spread the word with fliers through letter boxes.
For four hours on Saturday there was a steady stream of people into the normally quiet residential estate.
Star of the show, by virtue of size alone, was a golden Eagle called Ború being displayed by Brian. Ború is such an awesome bird – even when he was sitting peacefully on Brian’s hand you could sense the power.
He has the cold stare of an accomplished killer though – he’d remind you of Vladimir himself with those eyes piercing into your soul.
And then, when he stretches out his six foot wing span, you know this guy can kill at will. It was chillingly awesome but thank goodness Brian and his wife Barbara had everything under control.
Much more placid were the owls and the smaller birds and there was a constant queue of children to have their photos taken, especially with a particularly beautiful Barn Owl called Tiny who had that knowing look about her.
Unlike the big brash Eagles, Tiny doesn’t have to impress with strength or size, she’s stunningly beautiful and she knows it.
She also knows that, in the long run, the wisdom of owls will beat the aggression of hawks.
On entertainment grounds alone the day was a great success but, judging from the number of brown notes in the collection buckets for the Red Cross, it was financial success also.
If you’d like to donate to the Red Cross appeal for Ukraine you can do so here: https://donate.redcross.ie/
For more information about Newgrange Falconry see: https://newgrangefalconry.com/
