Heading up the Royal Mile towards the castle, among the Braveheart impersonators and the fully kilted-up pipers, you'll come across an intriguing group offering tourists the chance to learn more about, and take their pictures holding, some spectacular birds of prey.
Helen Chadfield and her team are usually found on the cobbled streets of Castlehill surrounded by circles of delighted tourists, who queue up to have their pictures taken with the incredible birds for a small donation to help with their upkeep.
On the day we visited, they had three birds on show, including Guenivere the female Eurasian Eagle Owl and Lenore the Raven, who fellow guide Frank ensured us is incredibly intelligent – aptly displayed by Frank making her caw on cue, much to the delight of the tourists nearby.
Appearing daily from 11 am until 3 pm – depending on the weather – Helen and the team travel to the city centre from her business, Borders Falconry based near Jedburgh, where she cares for over 30 birds including ravens, owls, falcons, and even a Kookaburra.
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But she is now hoping to find an investor she can partner with to open a more permanent base in the capital, she explained: "We already do flying displays, hawking, educational tours, historic re-enactments and charity work from the Falconry, but I'd love to create the Owl Curiosity Shop here in Edinburgh where people can come visit the owls and birds, but also allow us to help to promote events and charities while providing merchandise and workshops for people.
"It'd be great to help people create keepsakes by teaming up with local craftspeople such as wood turners and blacksmiths from across Scotland."
Helen explained that it would be a place where people could learn all about the birds and help to reconnect people with nature.
She added: "Education is a big thing for us, telling people about how we care for these birds and the animal rescue work we do for rewilding in conjunction with the SSPCA.
"On the street, we already educate people about these wonderful creatures because some people just don't know anything about them.
"For example, most people are surprised to learn how intelligent the ravens are, and people love them. We fly them during Medieval events but as they are unusual to find in Bird of Pry Centres, people want to come and fly them or come and take pics with them."
Helen, who has over 25 years of experience with the birds, says their welfare is key and only takes them to Edinburgh in short four-hour windows, rotating the animals to ensure they are given time to recuperate.
The expert is so passionate about her birds that she didn't think twice about making a lot of sacrifices to save them when she struggled to get funding during Covid.
She added: "We fell through the funding gap, it was awful, I ended up having to sell everything, my landrover, my bike... to help keep the birds."
Though things are much brighter now, she explained that the recent Bird Flu epidemic has meant she has had to put her falconry shows and tours on hold, for the safety of the birds. Something she hopes to sort out once she is given clearer communication from the government.
"Bird Flu is such a big threat," she explained. "So we can't fly them at the moment as we want to keep them safe, and the Government isn't telling us anything about what's happening, so we are trying to stay as safe as we can. Some centres down south have even taken the decision to close."
For now, though, she is happy to continue to educate visitors and residents alike about these wonderful animals and is keen to help out local charities and schools where she can, whilst also enticing them to come out and visit the Falconry itself.
"We aren't that far away and it would be great to get people coming out of the city to go to the Borders, it's a beautiful part of the country."
You can follow and learn more about Borders Falconry on their Facebook.
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