Game and Country Fair

Today I went to the East Anglian Game and Country Fair. There were a few shows on, I particularly liked the owls and the birds of pray demonstrations. I don't know very much about birds but the owners were very passionate about the subjects so I decided to look up at the differences between the types of bird.

It seems that owls are also classified as birds of pray but NOCTURNAL (hunt at night), while birds like falcons are diurnal (hunt during the day). That is why their eyes are so different. The eyes of an owl are incredibly large, it's one of the traits that makes them so interesting. I am a marine scientist so I cannot help comparing their physiological characteristics to the ones of fish living in the deep twilight zone of the ocean. Some of those fish have evolved very large eyes which, I believe, is an evolutionary trait to help taking in more light. I suppose the basic principle being that, if you increase the surface area of the eye, that increases the light intake and ultimately improving vision in darker environments. 

http://afishblog.com/?p=10

Usually a very good trick in nature, to maximize surface-area, is to shape things spherically or round-like, e.g cells or eggs! This is to help exposure to whatever they need/want to be exposed to (in poor words). In the case of eyes I think it would be evolutionary dangerous to have them completely spherical and bulging out too much because they are delicate and it would be difficult to keep them protected. Making them bigger often works better. 

If you want to know more about owl's eyes:
http://www.owlpages.com/articles.php?section=Owl+Physiology&title=Vision

Anyway, the fair was full of yummy food. I don't eat red meat but the others enjoyed great hog roasts. I also took advantage of the situation and enjoyed the first Pimms of the season. 

The best thing about the whole fair was the dancing sheep show! For days I kept telling everyone I really wanted to see it.

Richard Savory owns the show, he is from New Zeland but has moved here many moons ago, bringing his sheep farming skills to Norfolk. I suppose I can call his show a sort of "sheep-outreach" programme. The whole performance is very informative, we were introduced to all sorts of different breeds and Richard explained what the main characteristics are and their differences in terms of looks, wool and meat. He then went on sheering one and then the dancing started. Not all of them were up for it but a few attempted a few steps.