Elite Falconry

We would like introduce you to the newest member of our flying team. Meet Ember, our 10 week old Red Kite. Ember is going to be a new challenge for us, as we have always imprinted (hand reared ) our Kites in the past. This one is the first naturally parent reared one we have trained.

Stay tuned for updates on Embers progress!

River smashed her first demonstration of the Moy Highland Fieldsports Fair this morning, mounting to 800 feet before stooping into the arena like a trooper! And- she had her camera on! Watch this space for the film! ❤️ 🥰 🦅

When you breed birds of prey, you are always a little on edge about whether they are going to come out in good shape. If you have poor aviary design or size, inadequate perching or perch surfaces, or even feed an inadequate diet, the bird can come out with the tips of feathers broken or frayed, damaged feet or wounded carpal joints, fret marks or hunger traces (basically the same thing). We know this - we have brought birds into the collection that show some or all of the above.
When one comes out like this, absolutely pristine from head to tail tip, and from wing tip to wing tip, and from the tip of the beak to the end of talons, it does make you breathe easy knowing that’s an aviary well built and designed for the species.
This young white tail sea eagle is now being quarantined before moving in to it’s new permanent home - which we’ll keep you up to date on when it happens (if you’re in Scotland, you’ll be able to visit).

When flying our birds, we always try to encourage them and reward them specifically for showing natural behaviour, just like their wild counterparts. This makes sure that they have the most enriched life possible whilst they give us the pleasure of keeping them in captivity, and allows us to show our guests and clients the most realistic view into the lives of raptors.

This principle becomes more real with eagles, than with any other species when you truly give them the opportunity to fly as wild.

With River, our home bred 3 year old White Tailed Sea Eagle, we have pushed the boat out more than ever before. Having put in a tremendous amount of groundwork with her during her first 6 months, the bond and trust between eagle and falconer is taken to another level.

River routinely flies all over Scotland at various 5 star venues, and continues to blow us away with her skills and abilities in finding and taking best advantage of the conditions to gain height and show natural behaviour.

At today’s venue, she again showed her expertise. The conditions appeared to be marginal. On the surface we were expecting her to rise to a few hundred feet, stretching her wings, and showing our guests a taste of the potential with this species.

River however had other ideas of how today was going to go. Around 3 miles away from the castle, there is a hill named Mullwarcher. The west wind happened to be blowing just into the ridge. Below you can see Rivers GPS record, showing how she left Roxanne’s glove, cruised down wind, clearly having decided exactly where she planned to go. She bee lined straight for Mullwarchers ridge, and took the orographic elevator to 1850 feet, before coming overhead and stooping into our guests in the castle grounds for a lovely big trout tail.

River continues to surprise us every day with her joy and abilities in the air, her growing expertise with finding and using lift, and her reliability to come back to Roxanne wherever she is, no matter how long she goes out of sight to do her job and find her altitude.

She really is a perfect example of showing us that “you get out what you put in”, demonstrating the true potential of trained birds of prey.

❤️ 🦅 🏰 ⛰️ ☀️ 🐟 ❤️

Delighted that Falconry will be coming with their beautiful birds of prey again this year to the on the 15th Aug 2026 at Thrumster Mains

Marra & Drogon have again given us the gift of two wonderful babies this year. Both are female, and have recently fledged their nest. They are now 13 weeks old.
Following the huge success and versatility of our first born White Tail River in 2023, We have made a big decision that one of these babies will be staying with us and our team!

So we take this opportunity to introduce you to Beithir. She will be coming out of her aviary to start her adventures at 9 months old in January. Watch this space for updates on her development. ❤️ 🦅 🥰 💕

Another great capture of Spock the Long Eared Owl enjoying the wind today on his experience day. ❤️ 🦉 💕 🥰

Out on a birds of prey experience with a video upgrade today, River was escorted around the skies by a pair of Ospreys. The onboard camera has gathered some absolutely phenomenal footage, and here is a quick still shot lifted from the video.