Wednesday 21 April 2010


It’s been a lovely week weather wise, bright clear clean crisp mornings, with sunshine and everything growing like mad, the trees are looking green, at least some of them. It has also been cold! Frosts in the morning still and a cool wind blowing up the field, so layers of clothing are still in force. My American guests are charming and a pleasure to have here, plus they did not complain when one of the puppies stole their shoes and ate one of them on their first evening. A great welcome – oh how nice to see you and by the way the dogs have eaten one of your shoes!! Sometimes I do wonder about my dogs, and it is not as if I have not explained in great detail about not chewing things, ah well, maybe the penny will drop eventually. Although I have to say that Acer is very good, a bad chewer, but at least feels guilty about it, Sorrel is about the most Amoral dog I have had, perfectly glorious, but not a conscience in sight!

The birds are coping, we did put a number of them in this evening as the frost forecast is heavier for tonight. The eagles are flying well, the Bald Eagle was excellent today, she has, having dropped back in her training, jumped forward again. But last flight today she flew to my fist from about 15 feet away, and she looks bloody enormous as she comes in, with me quietly praying that it is my fist she intends to land on! The Turkey Vultures are charming and I mean charming. We just let them out and if we are lucky we get a good first flight and then they just wander around and say hello to people, and do not a lot. Although even they do better than Azor – hooray, I remembered his name, Adam’s Steppe Eagle. We have been letting him fly down from the weighing room and then I go down and collect him, take him back up, release him again, and then repeat the process, I am definitely doing more work than he is at this point. So today, we finished off the day, got a couple of bottles of wine out and all of us, course included sat on the benches and I released the Eagle from the top, he flew down and we just sat and waited to see if he would fly of his own accord. Half an hour later he was sitting on the middle perch, one foot up having done bugger all!! So we need to think again.

Woodland Venture is still at the Vets, we are hoping that he will be OK, but it is touch and go for him. The Brahminy Kite who was not well is improving which is good. The Symonds Yat Peregrine is tethered out and looking well, we need Neil to check her eye again before she goes up to Charlie to be trained and released if all is well. I think she will do OK. Otherwise all are flying well and generally behaving and we have a pretty good demonstration team. Oh and we put Milan, the Black Kite in with Theft and Deception the Yellow-billed Kites and he is doing very well, so three flying together, which is great, and the Red Kite Salamanca is flying free aswell, its all happening here!

My nice Landrover turned back into my van again, and the Range Rover is still sick, I have put it on a SORN, so no tax, I should have done it months ago and had I known how easy it was I would have done so. I am thinking of putting two life sized cardboard cut outs of a Landrover 90 on the outside of my van so I can pretend I have a decent car again!

The weighing room is coming on, it is going to be wonderful. Richard is doing the electrics, and Mike is doing the rest, with help from our brilliant team of volunteers, and my brilliant team of staff. I think we should have a celebration party when it is done!


0 comments:

Hello

I have to say that keeping a weblog can at times become compulsive and at other times a chore. Sometimes I am berrated for not keeping it up and sometimes I get wonderful comments from people who follow the news of the Centre.

It is fun to share the daily goings on here, some good and some bad, some funny and some sad, but all a part of our daily lives.
And as I said before its a pretty cool to be here and it is a great place to visit, you should try coming and watching the birds and meeting the staff and of course the dogs.

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An interesting video on Lead

An interesting video on Lead

I find it staggering that people who want to hunt don't see the value in changing their ammunition from lead to a safer product. We have stopped using lead in petrol, in paint, in our water pipes, but they still want to use lead - ah well, apparently eating it not only kills birds but leads to reduced intelligence in humans......................

NO ONE is asking you to stop legal and genuine hunting, they are just asking you to change your ammunition!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHZGQ8i8AwI

HC

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