Set within the walls of our glorious Cowdenbeath Castle, our Hawk Trust is an award-winning visitor attraction which is open every day and offers the chance for you and your loved ones to get up close and personal with some predators of the skies.
Our falconry displays are famous throughout Scotland and a great day out for all ages. You can read more about our resident birds below.
Arrive early to tour our vast aviaries and be sure to see our world-class flying displays on Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays (display lasts 1 hour).
Meet our birds
Archie
Archie is our 20 year-old Bald Eagle. He is a regal bird with an insatiable appetite for chicks. Archie has a strange hatred for bagpipes and will attack anyone playing the instrument. Unfortunately, we were unaware of this when the castle hosted the 2018 Highland Under 12’s Bagpipe Competition.
Barnaby
Barnaby the Barn Owl has been with us at Cowdenbeath for years. He is a fussy bird and absolutely hates the rain, refusing to fly in it. During one particularly rainy display, Barnaby didn’t return to his handler but instead sheltered under the umbrella of a very surprised visitor.
Periperi
Periperi the Peregrine Falcon came to us all the way from Portugal after she was involved in a horrible accident with a fishing boat. Like many Peregrines, she can reach speeds of 320km/h when diving. Get her near a fishing boat, however, and she breaks the sound barrier.
Ozzie
Ozzie the Osprey is a very popular bird, well known for his signature move of stealing sandwiches out of visitors’ hands. Unfortunately, in 2018 we had to issue a castle-wide sandwich ban, after a visitor dropped their sandwich onto their wife and Ozzie flew away with her.
Germintrude
Germintrude is a beautiful Goshawk. The Goshawk is the only species we have at Cowdenbeath which is considered to be a ‘true hawk’. This is why Germintrude is so haughty and condescending to all the other hawks at Cowdenbeath.
Icarus
