As we are now charitable, apparently I decided at close to the last minute that we need to be better organised to be able to get Gift Aid. If we can encourage our visitors to pay a fraction more to come in and to sign up for Gift Aid it has a significant benefit to the Centre - 28p in every pound, which is a lot of funds over time. So............. it is very difficult to encourage people to spend more if they are talking to you through a window. I can remember the time when if you went to the Bank, or the Post Office you could talk to a person without the barrier of a glass window. That barrier makes it much more difficult to be personal with anyone coming through the 'gate'. So at about the last minute - and its all the fault of one of my trustees who (as yet not knowing that if I think an idea is good I implement it straight away!) said why don't we change the entrance now...... we have!! With a huge amount of work from all the staff we have removed the ramp, changed the shop and entrance around completely - is it finished - nope!! Will it be by February 1st, probably not, but it will be close. The counter has moved and bloody hell it was heavy, the window is going and a new door is going to be ordered on Monday. The paint job starts tomorrow!! And that would be me I suspect, however I am sure the other staff will help me finish it off - a bride of wine will help!

 

At the same time, I was not happy with what we called the stock room and Holly had an idea about the desks, so a ton of work has happened there in the last three days as well, to be finished off by Holly and Robin on Monday; bearing in mind we have not yet finished the incubation facility, and we are also trying to get ready for opening. But!!!! as the Centre is so much more organised by the great staff and fantastic volunteers,  and the birds in the aviaries looking wonderful and also clean, there is not the major rush we used to have to get ready.

 

I have to say if you don't notice some pretty big changes around the place, I will be surprised. With leyandii gone (I am pleased to announce that Jimmi put his camera trap by their, now moved, nest box and the Little Owls are already in there and happy), the hedge along our road is being laid and already looks great, and makes the field look much more open; the flying field archway pruned and the path for us to walk reinstated, the shop and stock room reorganised and the incubation facility finished, or it will be soon, we have done a lot!! And managed to have Christmas and New Year as well!!

 

Birds are doing well, we have some stunning flying birds for the team this year and we are excited by a number of them. The two Owl Evenings that we run in February are nearly booked up, February 14th is full and there are a few places on the 13th which is great. We have eggs in the new incubation room already, and expect chicks by early February, Holly is already going up to the incubation room late at night so we are looking for a nice coffee machine for her in case she has to wait for eggs to hatch. The snowdrops are coming out - actually I still have roses blooming, which is ridiculous, although we did have a very heavy frost this morning so they may have given up. It still has a winter feel, but you know spring is round the corner, and very welcome it will be.

 

We are going to be doing a PhD study with a student from Swansea on how rain affects birds flying, and I am delighted because you can guarantee that if we want to fly birds in the rain - we will have a drought - perfect!!!

Benbecula is out and getting ready for flying

Before felling - two had been done by this time

All gone!

Its time for a bit of a rant. I enjoy watching Saturday Kitchen during the two months that we are closed, I am usually doing other stuff in the house, but I do like it, I really like that James chap, he seems good fun, very honest and a good chef. I like him and Raymond Blanc and Nigel Slater, they are all great to watch and I would love to try their food. However I was really annoyed by a film they showed last Saturday with a cook called Rick Stein, the guy is an idiot. Firstly he commented how he loved that every inch of viable land is cultivated for food. He does not seem to understand that to do that over 90 per cent of the natural rain forests have been destroyed in that area, not only causing the extinction or near extinction of some amazing species, but taking down trees is a really bad thing to do for the planet, and these are, unless humans stop breeding the way the do now,  irreplaceable. They also give us oxygen and I don't know about you, but I really like having oxygen.

 

Then he showed a wild civet cat in a tiny cage and gaily told us that it is being fed on nothing but coffee beans, indeed he fed it with some (I would love to see him survive on nothing but coffee beans for a month, let alone all its captive life), the beans go through the animals body and the resulting coffee is supposed to be very special. He then tried some on his staff in his restaurant somewhere in Devon to see if they could tell the difference between normal coffee and beans that have been eaten and crapped out by a civet cat. Not only were only just over half his staff able to correctly identify the right coffee but none of them said that it was stunningly better than any other coffee. Just imagine how many civet cats are kept in an appalling way to produce this ridiculous variation of a coffee that is not even identifiable by a bunch of people who supposedly are experts in terms of taste. The guy as I said, is an idiot and very short sighted, and I will not be going to his restaurant.

 

At the same time I would like to congratulate Chris Packham for his letter to Ant and Dec (whoever they are) about I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of here. I have to say that I have not watched it, I find most reality television a cheap and nasty way to supposedly entertain the public and I abhor it. But the stuff they do on that particular programme is obscene and cruel and completely unnecessary. The use of insects and reptiles, fish and amphibians to amuse the public is reminiscent of the old Roman Games where animals killed one another or humans for the entertainment of other humans. The Japanese do the same sort of programme and all it does is as Chris says, vilify the animals which they do not deserve and teach people to have a complete lack of respect for life other than their own. Its not acceptable and shows a huge lack of intelligence both from those who are involved in making those sort of programmes and I am afraid those who encourage it by watching them.

 

While I am mentioning television just how many times has Back to the Future been shown on TV, it must be even more times than the Harry Potter films. Good Lord there must be more films to show us!

 

It was pretty cold last night and this morning the weather forecasters were bemoaning the fact that it

was cold - its winter for heaven's sake, its supposed to be cold and actually we have only had about four frosts here this winter, and only one last winter. Its good for the country, kills off insects and breaks up the soil. We like it here in the winter - its proper and in its place and time.

 

The birds are well, the daffodils are showing a inch of leaves as are the snowdrop, although the frosts may slow them up. New Year approaches!

 

 

 

 

Christmas day and Boxing day done and dusted. I went carol singing with the villagers last week, at least it was much more fun than last year when we had gales and torrential rain, I was soaked before we even started. This year we did well and many of the people we sang to had a glass of something for us, which was greatly appreciated. Did a reading at the carol service as well and even got to play the Inn Keeper in the kids nativity play. I think that is a first for me!

 

I went to Edinburgh for a few days earlier this month to see my sister Anna, we went to hear the Kings College Cambridge Choir, which was lovely, although we both agreed that carols lose something when not sung in a church. But I have wanted to hear them for ever, so it was great to get the chance. A good friend picked me up from Birmingham airport and we drove to get a Christmas tree - it was huge!!! I ended up cutting about 15 inches off the bottom so it would stop falling over, but it looks super now!

 

Agapanthus had an operation on his right leg to help with his lameness, the vet cut through one of the two bones (radius and ulna) to slow down the growth, it seems to be working although I felt awful putting him through it, especially as he has to have the other leg done, and be neutered at the same time. But if it means he can run around properly without pain it will be worth it. Heaven knows what it will cost, and I doubt the insurance will cover all. Still cheaper than children!! And quieter too! However having to be in most of the time he is getting stir crazy and is chewing any and everything he can find, it is amazing how high he can find things with a broken leg!!

 

Birds are all well, we flew everyone up to just before Christmas and now they are having a short break until all the staff are back which is January 5th next year! I look after everything now until they are all back, its nice to have them to look after for a while, although the golf cart got a bit temperamental yesterday and I was not looking forward to pushing a barrow again, luckily it had recovered this morning. The Griffon Vultures have an egg, so do the Spectacled Owls, which was more of a surprise, a couple of other owls also have eggs.

 

The new incubator room is about ready and just needs Holly to come back to put everything exactly where she wants it. The office bit will be done soon after the 5th and the brooder room will follow. The part of the roof that is over the kitchen is done and I hope to do one more part before running out of funds. It will take a while to do the whole thing, but well worth it. The smaller tiles look so much better than the horrid concrete ones we had.

 

We were actually mowing in December its been so mild, just an amazing autumn and first part of the winter temperature wise. It started to get cold towards Christmas and there was a frost on Christmas morning as I fed round. However the forecast snow for us did not materialise, we just had cold rain. This was probably a good thing as I had to take Agapanthus to Ledbury to have his stitches out this morning.

 

I had my usual Christmas Eve drinks party for locals who kindly allow us to wander over their land when we have a missing bird. It went well, the mulled wine was excellent, so good I had to top it up twice. Most of the food went and almost all the smoked salmon! Luckily I was invited to Christmas lunch by a good friend which was lovely.

 

I am looking forward to 2015, it is going to be a good one. We will be a charity, which should make a difference to us. Our new hospital is working out really well and we are getting far more of the injured wild birds back to the wild. All in all we are hoping for a great year.

 

 

Bloody hell, a month has gone by, I don't know where the time goes, so what has happened. Well if I start from today and go backwards it might work. We spent the last two days looking for Updraft, Holly's male Saker. He buggered off on Monday and we found him fairly easily in the middle of Newent Woods almost at the top of May Hill, he came down pretty well and he was still popular. So having lost a little weight overnight she flew him again yesterday and damn me he did the same thing again! This time we were out in the van from 2.00pm until well after dark. We chased him to Huntley, Kites Nest Woods (very apt!) Highnam, Tibberton, back to Huntley, back to Tibberton and then finally Newent woods again!! But this time on the lower side. By dark having been joined by the rest of the team we were walking through a very muddy wood, I lost my welly and was at one point laughing my head of on my hands and knees with one very soggy sock and my boot about four feet away, and it was not easy to get it out either. We pinned him down to an area where we hoped he was in a tree but it was very dark by this time and very thick woods. So we left him and hoped for the best. Holly and I were back before day light and finally found him on the ground in the middle of the woods, so not only was he very lucky not to have been eaten by a fox, but it explained why the signal was so difficult to follow. He is back and will go back on a training line tomorrow and is rather less popular although he and Holly have now made a record!

The trip to Bangladesh was interesting, the SAVE meeting went very well, it was extremely well organised, the people were wonderful. However - yet another hotel with no alcohol!! We did go on an intrepid trip through Dhaka and found a much posher hotel that did have a bar, but that was the only evening!! Dhaka is a nightmare, the traffic has to be seen to be believed. We then at the end of the meeting went on a six hour trip to a Tea Garden and then in the morning to see birds in a wood (LBJ's) and then to a wetlands where we did see Palaces Fish Eagle (in the distance) and some lovely Brahminy Kites. OK we saw various ducks and more LBJs as well, but I am not a serious bird watcher unless it has a hooked beak and is not a speck in the distance!!

I stopped off in India on the way back and we went to Pinjore and the following day found a potential release site for the birds for the first release and then had a meeting with the people from four States to see if we could work on it being a Vulture Safe Zone in time. Chris and I took the train back to Delhi and an Auto - one of those three wheeler things - a first for me! back to a hotel and I flew out the next morning. I did manage to lose my small camera and I can't find my phone anywhere although I know I had it on the train home to Gloucester.

The birds were all well on my return, all flying well, my Merlin Windward is a dream, one of the best merlin's we have had. Scarba my Lugger Falcon after a shaky start is flying well too. Mark is training a lovely adult African Hawk Eagle for demonstration that has been loaned to us. She won't lay eggs and refuses to hunt, which is perfect for us for demonstrations.

Can you believe it, its December 3rd and we have been mowing the lawns!!!! Its the first time they have been dry enough to get a lawn mower on them, and the grass has not stopped growing.

We saw Sedge on Sunday, he is doing really well and is obviously very loved, he of course went completely banana's and even Mike could hear him from up on the roof!! The roofing is going well, the bees caused a problem but we think that is sorted out now and the dry weather is holding which is wonderful for us.

We are closed now and getting stuff done which is always nice, although I was not pleased to have to tidy up the new workshop this morning!! Agapanthus ate the phone and the answerphone while I was away, but hopefully that is sorted out now, I will be pleased when he stops chewing, but he is having front leg problems and so has to be shut in a lot and that does not help. The big chair in the kitchen is in for repairs again as well!

We have a staff meeting tonight and then its time to get my Christmas Cards sorted out!

Apart from Wednesday, and possibly today, its been a glorious school half term and we have been really busy, which has been lovely to see. With sun, and people and autumn colours, it has been a good week, although pretty short staffed a lot of the time. Roll on being able to afford a couple more bird staff.

The dogs have been frightening me to death eating Yew berries, the tree in the drive is laden and as fast as we rake them up, more come down, I will be glad when they are done. So far there has not been a problem but they are very toxic, and I know they are going through them because their droppings are very festive!

We start Owl Evenings next Saturday, its amazing how quickly they come around. I am hoping that the two young Snowy Owls will be able to get into the swing of things and start to be as good as Cool Ground was. The bookings are going well and most of the November dates are full with December slowly filling up, I am always surprised that November is more popular than December as it seems to be such a Christmassy thing to do!

The speakers in the field are now back up and both running properly, we were down to one which was not good, but yesterday the weather was so amazing I tackled the digging in of the new cable with Adam and we started at 9.00am, and by 1.30 with half an hour for coffee and a break during the flying demonstration, we had the cable inside a pipe, the 50 metre trench dug, the cable in, the speakers both working and the soil and turf back in place before 1.30, not bad going for about three hours work. Patrick one of our volunteers came and helped after the first demonstration, and Holly tested the sound system with a poem on the Jabberwok!

We go down to two demonstrations per day as of Monday which should give us more time to get things done. Charlie does it at Duncombe and my staff wanted to see if it could work for us. So often there is no one there for the last demonstration in the winter, so just doing two should work. They will be at 12.00 noon and 2.30pm, and as we will have a fair number of birds to fly, depending on the weather I suspect they will each last close to an hour anyway.

We have a full line up for the seven day course starting on Monday as well, so Mark will be out of action for a week teaching that, with input from some of the rest of us as well.

The move to the new workshop is working well and so far all the tools are being kept tidy - wonders will never cease. It makes such a difference if you can find things quickly to do jobs. We fixed the roof over the coal and wood shed, it was leaking badly over all the main electrics, which somehow did not seem to be a very good idea. Needless to say the job became more complicated as soon as we started, with some of the wall having to be rebuilt! However it looks very good now and I managed by sheer luck to buy 5 solid (and I mean solid - they weigh a ton) for £30 each, so two will go as doors into the new brooder and incubation rooms and three in the courtyard. We priced hardwood door surrounds and they wanted £160 each!!!! So I am getting Philip to make them for me.

The first internal wall in the new Avian Propagation Unit (that will never last as a name!) is up and only has to be clad, so hopefully we will be racing ahead with all that, as some of the birds are already looking like thinking of nest building, we need to get it done. I think the big trench across my front lawn is going to have to wait until next year.

Holly's new Saker called Updraft is going well - very well, the female called Sandstorm buggered off two weeks ago, Mark and Jimmi tracked her until dark and made sure she was up in a tree and Jimmi and I got there just before first light and finally got her back after a couple of hours chase. We did our good deed for the day and rescued a sheep with its head stuck in a fence, it was not at all grateful.

Sedge is well, Agapanthus ate the TV remote control, and has an annoying habit of picking up the water bowl when it is full, you can imagine the result.

The first young bred in Nepal

I know I know, I have not updated for ages, but things have been busy since I got back from India and Nepal. We survived the trip, it turned out to be eight flights, no train trip - probably a good thing, two five hour drives and one nightmare nine hour one in Nepal. That was not fun, we ended up in a rice paddy field, with no lights on the car, no idea where we were and the possibility of Rhino's about, I was not amused! However we got most things done, and that in not particularly good weather, I think it rained in West Bengal, Assam and Nepal!! Next trip is Bangladesh in November with a possible side trip to India on the way back to assess potential release sites. I have not been to Bangladesh, I hope there are not floods when I am there, I have to say that flying always worries me, and now you wonder if the plane has been somewhere like West Africa recently and if so has it been fumigated!!

 

I came back to the most beautiful end of September, I was a little miffed that I had missed such lovely weather, but it was great to be home and at the start of autumn which I love. It has been extremely wet since, but as I write the sun is out and the colours on the trees are sparkling as is the pond.

 

New tractor shed and Jimmi pretending its all his own work!

We have been very short staffed with various people having holidays so I have been out in the Centre and neglecting my computer, the dreaded emails and this weblog. However the new workshop/tractor shed is done with a little more to do inside and the power to get down to it, but otherwise all the stuff is now safely away. We took down the very dilapidated and ugly old workshop, boy that was a task, but its done and the tree roots are out so we are getting it all looking smart again. While I was away Mike and Rob with a little help cut the leylandii that are behind the small falcon block right back as they had got far to large, it does not look pretty right now, but it will smarten up over the next growing season and we will be able to keep it in check now. The difference in the light levels in those enclosures and in Barn 3 is amazing. Next job is the leylandii's by Real, which need to go and that will give those birds far more light throughout the year.

 

All the new birds are going well, some have left us for new homes and the rest are going to join the official team. The Brahminy Kite Zephyr is now fishing on the pond which is very exciting, a great chance of wonderful photos! The three Lanners that we have kept are all doing well, the two Sakers we bought have been a challenge, they were in my opinion not parent hatched and reared, but hopefully once we have got over their temperament problems they will fly well.

 

Sedge is doing really well in his new home and if you do FaceBook I think you will find he has his own page, I have no idea how to work Facebook and I am not sure I want to learn at this point! The puppies are well, Agapanthus has so far destroyed the kettle and a salt cellar, I have to put everything out of reach at night, which is a challenge as he gets bigger, and bigger he is getting!

 

The charitable status is coming along, it is hard work and my role apparently is going to be to raise money, so look out, I will be on the hunt once we are a charity, I need you to introduce me to lots of rich friends (I don't think I have any!) so that we can make this place sing the way that it should do. I have a ton of ideas, just need the funds to do them all - oh and a very long life!