Birds of Prey - 14 January 2003

This is a set of 10 x 1st class stamps, 5 showing the Barn Owl (Tyto alba) and 5 the Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) featuring 'sequence-photographs' by Stephen Dalton, the well-known wildlife photographer.

The Barn Owl is one of the more easily identified birds, often appearing as a hostly spectre at night, caught in the card headlights as it swoops across a country road. But barn owls are by no means nocturnal and are often seen at dawn or dusk, quartering a rough grazing meadow in search of small mammals, or perched on a post or even a hedge.

The Kestrel is the UK's most widespread bird of prey, and is easily recognisable as it hovers in open country or over one of the many 'natural' reserves alongside Britain's busy motorways. Although they often hover at some height from the ground they can also be seen perched on telegraph poles or even the tops of bushes no more than 3 metres from the ground, and it is not unknown for a kestrel to be 'flushed' from the ground by a passing pedestrian or cyclist.

The images are from Royal Mail's Stamp Preview, Postmark Bulletin, and Philatelic Bulletin, and are Copyright 2002/2003 by Royal Mail.

Technical details: The stamps are printed in se-tenant blocks of 10 in sheets of 60. They are printed in 4-colour gravure by Walsall Security Print, perf 14½. The publicity images have normal perforation, ie without eliptical security perforations, as with the Coastlines stamps last year, and some other stamps.

Norvic Exclusive First Day Covers We are pleased to announce the start of a new series of FDCs exclusive to Norvic Philatelics, produced in a strictly limited edition.
	For these stamps we have commissioned three different covers. Note - all bird postmarks for this issue were applied with silver ink so as to show up better against the black background of the owl stamps. Cover #1 shows, at right, a Barn Owl and, at left, a Kestrel. These covers have all 10 stamps and postmark W8288. Cover #2 shows an alert female Kestrel. This has the strip of Kestrel stamps with kestrel postmark E8321. Cover #3 has an excellent study of a Barn Owl against a dark sky. This has the strip of Barn Owl stamps with a Barn Owl postmark E 8322. Prices: Cover #1 (10 stamps) - £8.95 Cover #2 or #3 - £6.95 Mint set - £4.25

Special Postamrks available on the Day of Issue .

Ref FD301 Official Philatelic Bureau FDI postmark	Ref FD302 Official Hawkshead FDI postmark	Ref M8274 Birds of Prey, Birmingham	Ref M8275 The Barn Owl Centre, Brockworth, Gloucester	Ref E8276 Eagle Heights, Eynesford, Dartford, Kent
Ref E8277 Birds of Prey, *Sandy, Bedfordshire	Ref L8280 Eagle Street, London WC1	Ref E8285 Barn Owl, Owlswick, Princes Risborough	Ref E8286 Kestrel, Wing, Leighton Buzzard	Ref W8288 Barn Owl Close, Torquay
Ref L8292 Bird in Bush Road, London SE15	Ref L8295 Hawk & Owl Trust, London NW1	Ref L8296 The Kestrel & Falcon, King's Cross, London Public House/Inn & mainline railway station	Ref M8303 The Barn Owl, Northampton Public House/Inn	Ref M8304 Newent, Gloucestershire**
Ref S8315 Bangor, County Down, N. Ireland	Ref S8316 Carradale, Kintyre, Argyll, Scotland	Ref S8317 Edinburgh, Scotland	Ref M8305 Oakham, Leicestershire Oakham is in the County of Rutland which is separate from Leicestershire	Ref M8302 Hoot Farm Animal Kingdom, Telford, Shropshire
Ref E8320 Many Hoots Owl Centre, Studdal, Dover	Ref E8321 Thetford, Norfolk	Ref E8322 Sandy, Bedfordshire*	Ref E8323 Andover, Hampshire	Ref E8324 Ringwood, Hampshire
	<<<< Ref L8272 Birds around the world, Papagallos Restaurant, Hampshire Close, London N18		<<<< Ref N8312 Ravenglass, Cumbria #

* Sandy is the Headquarters of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
**Newent is the location of the National Birds of Prey Centre
# The World Owl Trust is at Muncaster Castle, Hawkshead, near Ravenglass