Easter is here and ironically the weather is glorious, so had we been open we would have had good visitor numbers, or perhaps we would not have. The cost of fuel is so high now that I suspect that will affect how people use their cars, so maybe we would not have been busy. Still at least I don't have to worry about the weather, will the cafe cope, will people park sensibly, will the dogs behave with visitors after a long break, but nevertheless it is a very odd feeling to not be open at Easter.

We have just run our Easter Egg race, I hard boil eggs, we paint them and then on Easter Sunday we go down to the field with all staff and the dogs and we roll the eggs on the ground round the posts in the flying ground. Sounds easy, just roll your egg, run after it, roll again until you are round and the fastest wins. However there is a handicap in the form of the labradors, who just love the whole thing and steal the eggs as they are rolled. This year I did enough for us to each have a spare, and still with that I did not get round, Sorrel stole the last egg, and carefully carried it in her mouth - what a good girl.

Cloudburst is going this coming week

We have more birds going next week and at the end of the week after most of the bird staff will be gone. So it will be very quiet. There is row after row of empty aviary which is not fun. 

We had a film crew here yesterday - all day - filming those falcons that we have left that we are flying, and wanting to talk about falconry and the history etc. The only problem with that for me is that I have never been that interested in the history, I have always been more interested in its future. Still they bought us pizza's for lunch.

The endless looking online for the right house continues, estate agents do not put the most important things one needs in a place to find them easily. I need at least ten acres, and as I troll through the details soem don't even put the acreage and others just put - a paddock. There are also rarely plans of the whole land, or enough photos. You would think that with the easy use of the internet they would put up more photos.

Adam is aviary building in Wales today, getting the materials for building anything is not easy at the moment, expensive if you can find what you need and more often not available for weeks. Brexit and Covid have a lot to answer for, that and the awful Mr Putin.

My gardens and the field are looking lovely at the moment, but it is time to mow the lawns again!

 We are coming up to Easter and it looks like the weather will be good, which of course would have been crucial if we were still open to the public, now we are not so it sort of doesn't matter. I used to think how nice it would be to not have to worry about the weather. Now it looks like the weather is having a laugh at us and going to be lovely for all half terms, bank holidays and school holidays!!

Benbecular now gone to Scotland - he'll love it

So how are we doing? We have had many of the birds go off to their new homes, it has been hard to see them go. Many of the people who have had them have sent photos of them safely in their new homes. 

I have to say I have been dissapointed and sort of annoyed at how few of them, who have been given (and I repeat given, not sold) our stunning birds, in excellent condition and all top quality birds, but who have not bothered to properly thank us, or me. Most of these birds belong to me, not the charity and it would have been nice to get some feelings of gratitude from many of those who have had them. I know I would have been incredibly grateful if I had been gifted birds such as these. Oh well, not much I can do about it but I won't forget.

We are down to less than 50 birds here bearing in mind that 26 will be going with Holly and Adam and me, so not many left to leave us, but it still hard to wave them goodbye, some of them have been a part of my life for a very long time.

Each empty aviary gets cleaned and perches removed and we are trying to move all the remaining birds into just four blocks of aviaries to make it easier to care for them.

Scarp still to leave us after Easter

All the staff bar Holly, Adam and I will have left by the end of the first week in May, all going to new jobs, some of which they will see and fly bird that came from here, which will be nice for them. It also means we will know how the birds are doing I hope.

Adam spends his time rushing from here to west Wales to build aviaries for the condors and other birds that are going with them. The aviaries are looking good, but the costs are rocketing and much of the things that he needs are difficult to get hold of. Holly has been over too and hatched two vultures there who are now back with their parents, which bodes well for the future.

I seem to spend my time trolling the internet looking for a new home, it very frustrating and surprisingly tiring. Everytime I think I have found a good one there is a problem, I found a lovely place not too far from here a couple of days ago and was going to see it, and then pulling out on google maps I spotted a large chicken farm literally next door and that is too high a risk from Avian Influenza. Another I had organise to go and see in Derbyshire was again lovely, and guess what - a shooting school next door!! And then there was one today, nice house, enough land and an Airport three fields away!! aaaaaaaagggggggggggggggghhhhhhh!!

Adam and I drove down to Devon a couple of days ago, the house I wanted to look at had sold before we got there, so we looked at two others, both were typical devon houses with very low ceilings, one needed far too much doing to it to be workable at the price they were asking and the land was not level at all, the other was very small and had a pylon in on of the fields, which was a shame and I really felt for the owners in trying to sell it.

And Five of them need even more space!

As I want to take my baby grand piano and some of my furniture and have space for five labradors, that means that the house needs to have reason able sized rooms with ceilings higher than 5 foot 10inches, and it seems that they are difficult to find. Places with enough land are not easy either, 4 or 5 acres are common, but 10 or more are not and if they are the houses are small or pokey. I am sure the right house will come up soon - I hope so anyway!

In the meantime, spring is here, the daffs are nearly over and the bluebells are coming out in the woods.