Dunrobin Castle

July 06, 2022

Tuesday was a really good day.

Just north of Dornoch is Dunrobin Castle, ancestral home of Earls and Dukes of Sutherland, the area of Scotland we're in right now.

This is one of my best wasn't-meant-to-be-a-postcard shots. I didn't even see the reflection in the pool until later!

During my previous (and only) trip to Scotland, I visited several Scottish castles. They're all beautiful and memorable in their own ways, but Dunrobin is one of the most impressive.

Here's my ride, tearing away for a round of golf at nearby Brora, leaving me to amuse myself at Dunrobin for a good five hours.

My first view of Dunrobin, from the land side. I was impressed.

I had plenty of time to find the loo and a cappucino, before the falconry demonstration was due to start in the gardens.

Then I realized the demo would be way down in the back of the gardens (where you can see a group of people standing around, close to the beach), so I picked up the pace.

This trainer Andy has a deal with the Earl's family: he gets to hunt freely with the birds all over the estate during the winter, the legal hunting season, as long as he does demonstrations in the summertime for all of us tourists. He was a great guy who explained in detail how he works with the birds.

Andy worked first with a female Harris hawk from the western U.S., explaining how this type of hawk works in a team, like wolves do, to hunt prey. This makes them ideal for hunting with humans and dogs.

Then Andy compared hunting with a hawk to hunting with a falcon. This is a peregrine falcon, the fastest bird in the world. It was fascinating to watch this falcon zoom around. He wears a few jingle bells so you can hear him coming. He took a little break in a tree before coming back to zoom after the "prey" Andy was swinging around. Later that afternoon, I heard the bells and saw him sitting on a turret on the castle, just taking another break to show everyone who's the boss.

After the falconry demo, I wandered back to the castle to see the interior. It was interesting to see all the different rooms, views, memorabilia, and family portraits.

This tourist didn't realize that lying down on the divan for a photo was probably not allowed. The guard on the right was not amused, but very polite.

The wildcat is the symbol of house Sutherland.

I especially enjoy portraits of the children, like this one.

It seems the Earls and Dukes did a lot of traveling and bringing home animal trophies. There was a separate museum building full of specimens large and small, local and exotic, that the family had collected, in addition to those displayed throughout the castle. It was like their own natural history museum.