PUPILS from Clawton Primary School took a walk on the wild side with a visit from ‘Falconry for Schools’.

Sharon Bindon, instructor at Falconry for Schools, brought six of her birds into the classroom for a two-day project, teaching the Year 5 and 6 pupils all about our native raptors and how falconers look after and use these majestic birds.

Sharon runs ‘Ancient Art Falconry’ in North Devon. On the day she brought along her goshawk ‘Spike’, ‘Zeus’ the red kite, ‘Shadow’ the buzzard, barn owl ‘Rocky’, her baby little owl ‘Click’ and ‘Star’ who is an American kestrel into school.

A highlight for the children was barn owl ‘Rocky’, who lived up to her name by dancing along to music by Irish band The Script.

Thirty children across both year groups took part in the project, which included dissecting pellets to see what the birds eat, on June 29 and 30.

Teaching assistant Jacky Barriball said: “The children were captivated by Sharon and her birds and very keen to share what they learned with the rest of the school.

“One Year 5 pupil, Freya, has since told me how she has been spotting several buzzards on the telephone lines when travelling in the car. It’s really fired their imaginations.”