Thank you all, I´m glad you like the photos. Orihuela is a lovely old place with some very beautiful buildings. However I would never drive in Orihuela, what a nightmare ! Fortunately there is a bridge over the railway line so I can park near the bridge and we then just walk over into the town itself. It´s a lovely place to wander around, I particularly like to walk along the river paths, I even walked all the way up the mountain to the monastery once, I won´t do that again in a hurry I can tell you!

the first photo , the the birds and the chains then further along the donkey in the center looks so sick...both of these make me very sad..

Other than that very interesting and great photos

is that near Alicante Clumsy?

I'll have a seafood paella and a listen to the musicians please

around 50/60 km inland from Alicante Goldielocks.

The birds of prey are mostly rescued birds Cass. Each one has a board beside it with the bird´s history. The eagle, and the others, have soft leather bands round their legs with thin chain attached to the bands, the chains are just clipped together with those press clip things. From what I have seen here and in England it´s standard practice with display birds of prey. I suppose they can´t just be left loose.

The donkeys were just hot and tired from travelling I think, they were certainly not sick. At the side of the donkeys is a large building. The door had been taken off the building so that the donkeys could go inside out of the sun, they seemed to prefer standing together in the sun. They were not tied up and were quite free to wander around the area they were in.

hi...i know about jesses they are normal in falconry i just dont like the chain bit ..birds can get a toe caught in the links and its very stressful for such birds to be out on public display like that.

As for the donkeys again it was just the one in the middle who looked a bit sick and thin..

I cant help it Its always the animals that catch my eye at such events