One of the great things about working at the Garden Shows is the birds of prey.

( There are lots of things actually: enticing ways to spend your wages on everything from bulbs to handmade jewellery, clothes, sausages made by ex-offenders and I recommend the fennel ones. The great group of crew and organisers, the many nice stallholders and the generally appreciative visitors in their hundreds and on a good day, thousands.)

But it is a special delight to watch these amazing birds in action.

So, they are housed for the day in mesh tents and you can go and learn about them from their trainers/keepers.

Then they fly.

Once, just once as it happens, we had a stallholder who had a wedding business bringing a flock of doves to fly around your ceremony. When he mentioned that he let them out so potential customers could see them in action, I had  to make sure he knew when it would be a very, very bad time to do that.

And once one of the birds of prey went awol and her tracker ran out of battery. She was only located in a nearby village when someone posted on Mumsnet, ‘does anyone know what this really big bird on my bird feeder is?’

Mostly though they are very well behaved, not worried by an audience – indeed quite pleased to show off it seems.

Luke who owns the centre where they live, and flies them, is knowledgeable, assured, gives a really interesting running commentary on what they are doing, how they fly and their habits.

He is a man who knows what he is doing.

This year he brought a sea eagle along.

‘She is new to all this,’ he said, ‘And at the moment not at all sure she wants to be involved.’

‘She’ll fly to the gauntlet but if she’s not amused a cross bird of that size, flying at speed, onto your arm makes her point.’

Over the three days of the show, he let her out first on a leash and just let her survey the crowd.

On the second day, he let her fly on a long leash – though he did have to ask the parents of a small child running across the grass to ‘remove temptation.’

And on the last day, he let her fly free though I have to say it was a rather sulky flight and she spent a bit of  time ostentatiously sitting in a tree looking anywhere but at either Luke or the rest of us.

On the Saturday, Luke said to me he needed to get away promptly as he had to go to a hen party.

‘Wow,’ I said, ‘ birds of prey at a hen party – that’s novel.’

Luke said, ‘ Oh you don’t know do you? My other life is as a drag queen.’

Well you could have knocked me down with a falcon’s feather.