Our trip to the Dingle Peninsula, and Dromoland Castle, Ireland
April 20-30, 2015
Drive to Dromoland Castle, Hawk Walk, Cocktails, Dinner
Dromoland Castle
Wednesday, April 29
I got up at 8:30 and finished my entry in the cottage guestbook while KC caught up on sleep. We finished packing, tidied up the cottage, and got on the road at 11:00am, much later than we had hoped, so there was no time to stop in Dingle and get KC's hat, or say goodbye to Micheal.
We had arranged for a Hawk Walk at the castle for 2:00pm and the drive can take 2.5 hours, so we were going to be cutting it close! Fortunately, it was a nice day and we were there at 1:40 with plenty of time to check in before meeting our guide, Sara, in the lobby.
The entrance to Dromoland Castle is clearly marked:
The drive in is much shorter than Ashford or Waterford and the castle comes into view quickly:
We pulled around to the main entrance and parked the car in the loading zone at the base of the stairs:
Check-in was quick and easy (they upgraded us to a king!), the porter valeted our car and helped us carry our bags to our room (in the section across courtyard), and then we walked back to the lobby to meet Sara, our guide. Our bird was tethered to a post in the center of the courtyard. We retrieved him and set off into the woods. The weather was overcast, and we did get rained on briefly, but it cleared up and was dry the rest of the afternoon.
We started our walk with Bruce, a 10-year-old male, and finished it with ???, a 9 month old female. Sara had done her thesis on hawk's eyesight and had just been accepted into a master's program. She knew so much about these birds it was fascinating to hear her descriptions of what they're capable of.
For instance, they're able to see ultraviolet light and use it to track mice. Mice don't have a bladder and excrete urine as they move around. Hawks can see this trail. They're also able to see/sense their prey's heart and veins, beneath the fur, which helps them locate and dispatch prey efficiently. Hawks are related to dinosaurs, and are perfectly constructed. The hole in their beaks allows air to cross ventilate, enabling them to breathe while diving without inhaling or slowing down. Modern jets are designed the same way.
Hawks are the only raptors which hunt in packs. They will stand on each other's shoulders to create a better vantage point. The top hawk will locate the prey while the lower members look for predators. When the top bird flushes out the prey, the others encircle it and coordinate their attack, each one going for a different organ. Their talons can puncture a lung or liver, and their beaks pierce a jugular. A team of hawks can take down a fox!
Our hawk walk at Dromoland School of Flaconry :
Bruce
The young female:
You can tell she's young by the white feathers on her chest. She will lose these as she gets older and will turn all brown, like Bruce. When hawks moult, they loose one feather at a time, because it takes energy to grow new feathers and they need that energy to hunt. In the wild, it can take a year to complete the process. Falconers speed the moult by keeping the birds warm and "feeding them up". In this condition, when they are safe and full, they refuse to fly or hunt and will moult in 3 months. This is the origin of the term, "fed up".
In the picture below, she is standing on one foot.
When a bird is really comfortable, it will raise one foot to conserve heat. I was amazed she felt comfortable on my fist.
We flew her a few times, then went back to the mews, where we met Dave, the director.
We met both owls; Pickles, the barn owl, and Alan the Bengal eagle owl,.
Pickles was really friendly and didn't mind petting, even on her head. She was amazingly soft. The ‘dish' arrangement of the feathers around her eyes acts like a receiving station, concentrating sound waves for her sensitive hearing. Owl's eyesight is not good - they hunt with their ears, and can hear a mouse's heartbeat!
Alan was not friendly and would peck your hand if you tried to stroke his chest. He was adorable,though, like all eagle owls.
Next, we met their falcons. Falcons are divers, and can't land on a fist like hawks can. Hawks, which have longer tail feathers, use their tail to break their speed, and can hunt on the ground. Falcons hunt in the air and use their prey to break their speed before landing on the ground. That's why the falconry schools offer hawk walks and not falcon walks. Notice the short tail feathers on the bird below.
Dave offered to fly a falcon for us! He took her off her perch and hoodwinked her (yes, the origin of that term, too) before walking her over to the driving green behind the castle. Dave removed the hood and she soared above the castle before returning to look for her meal. Dave was swinging the ‘bait' around to draw the bird back, and prevented her from catching it to give her more exercise. After the third or fourth pass, he let her have it and waited patiently while she ate it up. He then hoodwinked her again and took her back to the mews. Fascinating. (It was very hard to get pictures of this!)
A crowd had gathered around and one woman recommended we read the book, H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald .
PRESS HERE for a great FAQ page on falconry.
Other common terms that originated with falconry:
Under my thumb or around my finger - from holding the jesses while the bird is on your fist
Turn tail - fly away
Rouse - shake ones feathers
Lure - device used to train birds which was associated with a reward
Hawk it up - expelling indigestible parts of a meal
Pounce - springing or pouncing to catch prey
With bated breath - attempting to fly while restrained (to bate) resulting in shortness of breath
End of my tether - attempting to fly while restrained and frustrated by the tether
Gorge - from filling a bird's throat, or gorge, with great amounts of food to be eaten later
Haggard - an older bird, caught at the end of a migration, when it's thin and bedraggled from the long journey
Cadge (a free ride) - being carried on a cadge, or perch
Codger - a retired falconer tasked with carrying the cadge, or perch
Cadger - carrying the cadge was an unpaid job which required begging for tips
Callow - meaning bare or bald, refers to a young (inexperienced) bird
Chaperone - from the French word for hood, chapeau, meaning protector
Boozer - when birds drink, it's called bowsing. I heavy drinker is a boozer
Mantlepiece - originated with "mantling" or protecting their food
We thanked Sarah for a wonderful tour, and went into The Gallery, the hotel bar, for a late lunch.
The side entrance of Dromoland Castle, near the falcon demo:
The Gallery didn't look quite as lush as the promo pictures on their website, but it was clean and comfortable. We snagged the table in front of the fireplace ( moved in the promo pic to expose the fireplace ) and started with two cocktails, an irish coffee for me (which KC drank most of since he hadn't had any caffeine today) and a French 75 for KC. For lunch, KC ordered a burger; I had cocoa and scones. Look at the price of those cocktails...€20 for one drink!
Brunch/Lunch at Dromoland Castle (it didn't look quite like the promo pic below):
In the picture above, there is no cloth on the table. As soon as we ordered food, they brought a cloth and set the table. Very classy!
We went back to our room where KC watched TV while I took pictures, repacked, and changed for dinner.
Our room at Dromoland Castle :
If we had time, it would have been nice to walk around the estate. Perhaps even rent bicycles like we did at Ashford. As it were, I didn't get any pictures of the outside of the castle or the grounds so here are some I found on their website and facebook page:
The part of the castle where our room was:
At 8:30 we went down for dinner. They gave us a table next to the firsplace which enabled me to see the stunning wall "paper" - it looked like carved velvet! The rest of the room was beautiful, too, and the wait-staff was gracious but not stuffy. Most of them were young, but they were competent, conscientious, and enthusiastic. The only thing I didn't like was that the Maitre'd put my napkin on my lap. Why do restaurants do that?!?
I started with a Bellini, KC had Campari and soda. The kitchen sent a shrimp amuse bouch, which KC wouldn't eat, so I had them both. I didn't get a picture of the menu, and I didn't make any notes when we got back to our room, so I'm only guessing at the rest of the meal.
It looks like KC started with a terrine studded with asparagus, and I had something with salmon. For our second course, KC had soup and I had salad. For the entree, KC had chicken breast, and I had white fish (cod?) with tarragon and celeriac puree. They brought our dinners with great fanfare, hiding them under silver domes. For dessert, KC had ice cream/sorbet, and I had some kind of mousse. With our coffee, they sent a selection of small sweets.
Dinner at Earl of Thomond Dromoland Castle :
We went back to the room and I went to bed. KC watched a little TV and then came to bed, too.
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Page 01: Mon - Prep and Travel to Shannon.
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Page 02: Tue - Drive to Dingle, Treehouse Cafe, Murphy's Pub.
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Page 03: Wed - Archaelogy Tour, Eilish @ JohnBenny's.
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Page 04: Thu - Inch Beach, An Canteen.
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Page 05: Fri - Shopping, An Canteen, Pool.
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Page 06: Sat - Dara, Dingle, Global Village, Foxy John's, Small Bridge
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Page 07: Sun - Cruach Mhartain, Louis Mulcahey Cafe.
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Page 08: Mon - Goat St. Cafe, Dunquin Pottery, An Canteen, Music at Courthouse.
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Page 09: Tue - Michelle, Sean's workshop, Goat St. Cafe, Blue Zone, Kennedy's
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Page 10: Wed - Drive to Dromoland, Hawk Walk, Dinner
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Page 11: Thu - Return Home
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Original, all-on-one-page version.
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