Tuesday 16 February 2016
Half term and good weather so we have been very busy for the last three days, I think the weather is supposed to be turning tomorrow, which is a shame but may mean that I don't have to be doing to washing up in the cafe over lunch time!

The new fence is done and dusted, it looks pretty damn good, and will look even better when we have managed to either seed or turf the grass. Then it will look amazing, and with a few nice shrubs in the right place, it is going to work a treat and with luck will last out my lifetime!

Karis is back on duty as is Windward, my Merlin, who is flying like a demon, and Hare is back as well. We had the most glorious day today, sunny, a little wind but cold. Mathon the young African Fish Eagle was amazing, you could see him getting the idea about using lift, I think he is going to be excellent. Both Holly and I had huge grins after he had flown.

The Griffon Vultures are in disgrace, they have managed to break not only the first egg (they only lay one in a clutch) but the second one as well. We are praying that they will go a third time and if they do, either we are going to remove the egg immediately, or take out the male until we have allowed the egg some natural incubation and swapped it for a wooden one - in which case they can play football with it.

The Brahminy Kites have laid, and this time she is happy with the nest so the eggs are beautifully place in a lovely nest. The Palm nut Vultures which are not really vultures, are looking very loving at the moment as well, so fingers crossed for them.

The wild daffodils are coming up, although the snap of cold has slowed things down for the time being, however Rob did manage to get much of the grass mown in the last week. It was SO long because of the mild wet winter.

We have our event for the Little Owl nest box scheme this Thursday. We are working on putting up Little Owl nest boxes in apple orchards in Herefordshire and a little of Gloucestershire - closest to the border with Herefordshire. It is of course a good Cider producing area and so there are lots of both old and new orchards and these can lend themselves to being good habitat for Little Owls. We have some Very cool and well designed nest boxes made by Helen McSweeney and some good volunteers. They are very roomy. I have a problem with nest boxes being badly designed and too small. So we are confident that we have the design right. Adam and Helen are also working on camera's to go in them, so it will be an exciting project.

The house roof is nearly finished, just one tiny bit to go and then we are putting up some man made House Martin nests to encourage them back in the spring.

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.

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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