Monday, 25 March 2013
I am so fed up
and pissed off I probably should not write this now. Late last year an email
came through about a local grant. Now I have never applied for a grant before
and I suspect I never will again!! The people organising it came out and were
great and advised us on what to do, and to be fair they have been wonderful all
the way through. With help from David and Sally we did the application and got
Robin to do the bits that I knew would make me throw the paperwork in the fire.
We then applied
for planning permission to replace our very old 8 foot wide by 18 foot long
shed, that we have used for decades as a hospital room. It is a horrid room, it
used to house a huge generator when we moved here. The place is very
dilapidated and will eventually fall down and be a health hazard to the staff
probably, the tiles on the side are falling off now, it is far too small and
not suitable any long for taking the injured wild birds that we take in (free
gratis and for nothing with a substantial cost to us).
So it was with
enormous joy that we heard that if we could get everything going and finish the
building by June, we had a high chance of getting a £20K grant, that was a huge
lift to all the staff here, particularly after such a shitty year that we had
just finished. We were all very excited about it.
But things were
not going to be that easy, oh no. Now bear in mind that I am a conservationist
but a realistic one, keep that in mind! We have planted a wood, which will
probably all die in the next ten years because of Ash dieback. We have built a
large pond, we manage the 12 acres for wildlife as well as being a public
facility. We have more small birds living here than any of the surrounding
land, but unfortunately and I never thought I would say that, but I do mean it
now, we have bats as well. I had intended to help them and put up bat boxes
around the place, however that is not going to happen now, not a chance in
hell. I can see why Charlie feels the same. We had both thought about putting
bat boxes on the barns for them, here and in Yorkshire but if we did and then
we needed to do something to the barn we would not be allowed to, so no bat
boxes for us I am afraid. This sort of legislation is completely
counterproductive to conserving and helping bats, in fact I would say it does
the opposite.
After we had
applied for the planning permission, we were hit with the fact that we had to
have a bat survey - £480.00. The chap was very nice, very efficient, but sadly
found about 10 bat droppings in three places. Well now the shit as it were has
hit the fan. I have to have more surveys – see the price going up!!! I may have
to have DNA done on the bat droppings (£125.00). If they are Pipistrelle bats,
which the expert considers they are, there are 2 million of them in the UK, it is found in Europe, South Africa and South
West Asia and its conservation status is least concern, which means there is
not a problem with the damn thing!
This roof, which
we are not permanently removing, but just taking down and replacing had no
winter bats, so it is most likely a summer roost. The building that we will put
up will have a larger roof, it is attached and yes I do mean attached to
another identical roof, so if by chance we upset a bat, it can move 8 feet to
another part of the damn roof. I am very happy to put up whatever bat
mitigation is required, special tiles etc. etc. If we had done the building in
April it would have been finished before the bloody things wanted to roost
anyway. We may lose the grant, we have had to pull the planning application so
when it goes in again it will be another six weeks, after the next survey which
has to be done in May. The effect on the bats would have been negligible in
April, however I doubt we will start, if we even get the grant and are able to,
before July. We have had three buzzards, two sparrowhawks, one barn owl, one
goshawk and a Kestrel in during the last two weeks and we are absolutely
stretched with them all, so I have to say that there goes any affection I might
have had for bats, or any assistance I might have given them in the future.
And want to know
the best bit, technically you are not allowed to apply for a bat license to
disturb the little dears until you have planning permission to do whatever it
is you want to do, but you won’t get planning permission without the licence.
What fucking moron worked that one out!!!!!
Then Charlie’s
bank in Yorkshire has told Charlie that my credit rating is not good because
when I moved my bank account over to Lloyds, (where we have paid in our funds
since 1967) I did not give them identification to prove I am whom I say I am!!!
I have only known some of the people down there for over 4 decades!!! However I
am obviously a dangerous risk to the world and am trying to launder money.
Believe me if I had any it would not be going into the bank!!!! So I had to
take my driving licence and a utilities bill down, but I took one that was too
old – it has to be in the last three months. So as you can see, life has been
frustrating.
However Carl
Jones’s has a pair of condors and they have laid, last year they broke their
egg, so this year, he decided not to risk the first egg and brought it here. It
is huge!! We are incubating it and hoping that all will go well and it will
hatch. That will be great stuff and good experience for Holly. The Stellers
managed to hatch one chick by themselves, sadly they lost the other egg, but
they are rearing their own baby plus a Bald Eagle for a friend. The Palmnut
vultures have laid an egg, so fingers crossed for that one.
Just to put the
cap on things the weather is bitterly cold and we have snow on the ground and
it does not look like it is going to change for Easter which is particularly
scary financially I have to say. I did win £5.10 on the lottery last week, but
that is not going to help a great deal.
Sunday, 10 March 2013
There are people in life who are doer’s and
people in life who talk about it. I am without doubt a doer, I get things done,
I don’t wait around for others to do it, because I don’t have the time or the
patience. I would rather get going when whatever needs doing and get it started,
and then see what happens, than wait around for someone else to get going!!! I
am also a finisher, I am better at the final touches of whatever the task,
usually in finishing, a physical one, I see things that others don’t see.
So it pisses me off sometimes when people
don’t see what we are about.
Consequently I just want to give you an idea of what
we cope with in a day…………………….. after feeding the dogs and taking them round
the field, always my first job of the day, feeding the horse was a part of that
until he went to his new home. I start on emails, bloody hundreds of the
damn things, well OK probably not hundreds, but certainly over 50 per day, many
of which are crap (do I really want Viagra – no, nor do I want anything to do
with a man who wants the stuff – they need to learn that hours of what they
consider to be fun, is way over the top for any sensible female, who is only
thinking to themselves, for God’s sake get on with it!) but I don’t have a spam
filter because otherwise on occasion I lose stuff that is important.
Today, just around 9.00am Holly comes up to
the window during her feed round, because as usual I have forgotten to put my
radio on, and asks me to come out as we have a problem with a Ural Owl, so
after looking at the owl and giving it some treatment, I decide that he
probably needs to see Neil Forbes (oh great – a Sunday, so the cost will not be
insignificant!), but you can’t count the cost, it is a bird whose life is
reliant on you. So I phone him, explain the details and thank goodness he is
working on a Sunday, and so John bless him, grabs a box, I start the van, and
off he goes to Swindon which on a good day is an hour’s drive, with the now
fitting owl.
This means that we are down to two staff
only, with thank goodness a great volunteer in the form of Katy, but that is it!! Its bitterly
cold and I do mean bitterly, and we have three people on a half day experience,
plus we are open and it’s a Sunday. So, things are a little tight. The emails
will have to wait, the five year plan for the vulture breeding Centre in Nepal
will have to wait, as will the book, the five year plan for ICBP and a few
other things pending as well.
Katy finishes off the jobs John was doing
with baths. Holly finishes feeding round, I get the food ready for the birds on
an experience day. I am friendly and polite to the people on the day. In the
meantime Sally who has put in a lot of effort in the new photography competition
emails me to say that people are complaining that they have to pay £5.00 to
enter for three photos– although if they win they could get an exclusive day here one on one
with birds and my staff – not an insignificant prize I think to myself. Plus it
takes our time and effort to look at the photos and judge the competition – are
we supposed to do it for free!! No, and any funds we get go towards the work
we do, surely visitors who are regulars know that! Luckily Holly answered the
Facebook stuff as I suspect I might not have been so tactful!
I then go up to the shop to bring the
people down for the experience half day, plus their partners and as there are
only three of them and it is seriously cold in the flying field with a freezing
north easterly wind racing up the field, I am kind and let the three partners
come into the weighing room as I kit the experience day people with gloves and
instruction.
Holly gets the first bird ready, we do the
initial flying in the field, and then end up with Lunar in the indoor Hawk Walk
before going down to coffee, which by this time is very welcome, we warm up,
and we then have 15 minutes to sort out the flying demonstration, Holly gets
the people sorted out with a couple of birds inside while I get food ready for
four birds on the demo. We run the demo, Katy looks after the people on the
experience day. All goes well, in fact with this wind the birds are first class
although the customers are frozen!!!
Holly and Katy finish off the experience
morning, I manage to do a little to the five year Nepal plan, John phones to
say he is on his way back leaving the owl at Neil’s, but it is still with us
and OK at this point. I then go down to the café and help with the washing up
before having a bit of lunch, and finish just in time for the next
demonstration! It’s still freezing, perhaps more so now, but we have intrepid
customers and the people on the half day have stayed to watch the flying. It’s
still a bitter wind, but the birds are brilliant, the wind is perfect for most
of them although there are a few rather untidy landings.
After the demo, one of our wonderful life
members has again sponsored Pinotage, so John takes him and the vulture into
the weighing room for a photo, I fly the peregrine off demo. After than John
and Holly get various birds flown, I do a little more in the office to the five
year plan, then I fly Kalyke who is one of the six flyers going up to Yorkshire
on Tuesday morning, and blow me it’s time for the last demo!! And guess what it
is still freezing – and trying to snow. We finish the demo, and close up the
doors of the birds in the Hawk Walk so they can benefit from the heaters. The PA
is turned off, the loos are closed as the last customer has headed for home.
The babies food and Eve the sick eagle’s food is prepared, the workshop locked.
Holly finishes feeding the owls, John moves the injured wild goshawk into a new
clean box and in the freezing cold cleans the dirty box. Katy tidies the
weighing room, and then John and Holly switch the Ural Owl eggs for dummies in
case she deserts them with her husband not there. Oh and in the meantime they
bravely check the Steller’s who has one chick and two more eggs!! And nearly
broke the special camara!
Then the phone rings and there is an
injured wild bird of prey in Newent, so while Holly treats the last bird on the
list of birds that need treatment, there is always one in a collection like
this, John and I drive down betting it is a female sparrowhawk – wrong it is a
beautiful adult male, and when we get home and check it over it has a badly
broken wing – right by the joint, so its chances are very slim. But we will
take it to Neil when we collect the Ural Owl tomorrow, who hopefully is on the mend. In the meantime, Holly
and John check eggs and feed the baby owl that is three days old and by this
time, it’s about time to finish!!! Except that I have emails to do, John and
Katy have to drive home and Holly has to finish the paperwork for the birds
going up to Duncombe on Tuesday.
We all between us, Jan included, finish a
bottle of wine, I go in and light the fire, the wind howls through the house, the dogs
are now settled. I will tackle the five year plan again and we look forward to
another day!!!
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
Good God, no
wonder I get nothing done these days, I am sending about 35 emails per day,
sometimes I really hate email, there is no way I ever had to write 35 letters
every day! It’s ridiculous!! I have been trying to get onto a website to look
at vans they have for sale. Manheim have auctions near Gloucester every week,
however their website is dreadful and to get onto the site and see the vehicles
is apparently impossible, I have tried about four times and have now given up.
For God’s sake you idiots if you want to sell cars let people onto your site –
how stupid can you get!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And that should
not happen on your birthday either!!!!
We had the most
glorious day yesterday, sunny, warm, just perfect, today is a little bit of a letdown,
but at least it did not rain worth talking about. As long as it stays dry I am
going to be happy. We all just need dry weather for the ground to recover.
We, well
actually I, have been building nests, I have to say they are rather good. I
have been worried about using Leylandii for some time, its horrid stuff, and we
had some problems with a chick earlier on, which I am glad to say is fine now.
So I decided that we would go back to building nests for all the birds that
need them. We put one in with Athena and she laid in it two days later!!! With
a nest you know the egg is safe and can’t roll around and so the risk of them
breaking is less. I have two big ones and three smaller ones to do, its amazing
how many twigs it takes to make them. You also really realise just how amazing
birds are, I have two hands, sticks brought to me by the staff, and two pairs
of cutters, they have a beak!!!
I had a lovely
birthday breakfast, bagels and cream cheese and smoked salmon at coffee time –
far better than a cake!! I did give myself a break from the nest building and I
am not exactly sure what I achieved today, but I am sure I managed something!!
I rarely do nothing.
My sister Anna
gave me some more, plants tokens so with those and the Christmas ones I am
going to go on a shopping frenzy!!! For plants soon, I love buying plants, it’s
so much fun, although planting them is fractionally less fun! But the end
results are great. I had planned to go today, but failed dismally.
I can nearly run
again, well trot slowly might be a better description and not for long, but I
will get there, not planning a marathon, but running is something I like to do
if I can. If only I could get my socks on more easily life would be less of a
stretch!!
The daffs are on
their way up again, and I expect to see a yellow head or two soon, which will
be so nice, I am fed up with cold now, I want to have spring!!
Have just been
out to supper, I drove my little van, but I have to say that having looked on
ebay, I really really want to get an old morris shooting brake!!! There is one
at a reasonably price and I am sooooooooooo tempted !!! They are just such
simple cars, and with so little to go wrong. The trouble with new cars is that
they are so complicated that they cost a fortune to fix. The old ones are
really cool, and there is no tax either!!! Oh well, I guess I had better be
circumspect – damn it!!
Hemp now has three eggs and we have the only Savigny's egg hatching as I write, that will be very good as my best owl was a Savigny's called Papyrus, who was wonderful. I hope this is a male!!
Monday, 25 February 2013
I finally gave
up this week and turned on an extra radiator. Normally I only heat the kitchen
for me and the dogs and my office/library, but it has been SO cold that moving
from one room to the other just got unbearable! As I had the all clear to
remove the back brace I think I am a little more susceptible to the cold than
usual.
We have just
finished the two weeks of half term and I have to say that although it has been
bitterly cold and sitting in the flying field with an easterly wind driving up
from the pond has been a heroic effort by the visitors, we have still had
them!! Of course I really think they are nuts, I would have sat by the fire
with a book and a cuppa given the chance!! However it has been lovely to be
busy again and although the second week has been very cold and grey it has been
DRY!!! In fact my field is finally drying out and for the first time in
probably 10 months the pond is not overflowing.
The daffodils
have stopped dead, they obviously have said to themselves that they blew it,
they have been the same height for a week and my poor crocuses and not happy
either. The gardens look a little bare I have to say, but my staff gave me some
garden vouchers for Christmas, which of course I have not been able to spend,
but now I am mobile (ish) again, I can go out and have fun with them.
My hospital
appointment went fine, the fracture is healed and I was told that some people
wait a couple of weeks to take off the brace and others take it off as soon as
they get home, I carried mine out of the hospital! I did offer it back to them,
but the surgeon looked a little affronted and said would I wear a secondhand
brace – absolutely I would especially when I was waiting for the damn thing to
arrive for several days! Although I have to admit mine is held together with a
bit of wire where a screw came out. It is residing in the butler’s pantry until
I can think of something to do with it!
We have two
horses in the field for a month – and no I am not riding again, I don’t think I
could get on a horse right now if I tried, and anyway although they say my back
is mended, it does not exactly feel like it, it’s pretty sore still. These
horses are in foal mares that belong to two good friends of mine and they are
here so she can sort out her field and buildings ready for foals! It’s good to
see a horse in the field again, although I think Nathan is less pleased. He
started to mow again – hooray, it always looks so nice when things are mown. My
front lawn I am told looks like Basra, with landmines from the dogs and mole
hills, I am about to wage war on the moles as they are causing a lot of damage
all over. It’s a shame you can’t train burrowing owls to get moles, I could
earn a fortune!
The birds are
laying furiously, Hemp has an egg (not that is will be fertile, but she is a
great sitter). The Griffon Vultures have hatched their baby all by themselves.
The two Grey Buzzard Eagle babies are doing well now. Some of the owls have
eggs and the Hooded Vultures have laid too, we are hoping they will hatch as we
want to keep them and fly them. I will not be sorry when the weather warms up,
although I would be happy if it would warm up to a drought please, its always a
worry with eggs and really cold weather. Here is hoping it will change soon.Monday, 18 February 2013
Life is hectic! It’s
been glorious weather for the last week, we have seen the sun for days at a
time, which is nothing short of a miracle!! My absolute favourite winter
weather. Cold clear nights, cold frosty mornings, warm (well OK not that warm,
but warm enough not to wrap up) days, with sunshine. The birds, wild LBJ kind
are singing spring songs, the daffodils are showing a tiny bit of colour and
supposedly it is all going to go to pot later on in the week, but we have
enjoyed it for now. It has also been perfect for the school half term. We
appear to have two weeks of half term, Gloucestershire was last week and
Herefordshire and Worcestershire this week, so that is good for us and we have
been busy.
I have to admit
that I was extremely worried last week, the bank balance was looking worse that
I thought it should, but thank God and David Morton, although it probably
should be the other way round, we discovered that some miserable lazy thieving bastard
has stolen my debit card details and since Dec 27th been helping
himself to just over £10,000. So no wonder we looked a bit thin on the ground.
I even sold my car and put the funds in the business. I hope they catch whoever
it is, I have offered if they do, to remove the perpetrator's testicles whilst they are
still awake and feed them to the Condor, but I suspect they will not tell me
who it is – shame really, because I bet the penalty is not as great as it
should be. Anyway the bank is putting the funds back today, so I am hoping to
get some sleep tonight, which I have not done for the last two.
The birds have
been flying brilliantly, my eagle is really coming on now, the new Red-tailed Buzzard
is jumping to the fist, John will have to find a name for him soon. Generally
all the birds are doing really well and I think they too are enjoying the
weather. We did our last two Owl Evenings for this part of the year, they start
again next November. The Friday we had 50 people and the Sat we were full at
61, which was great and because the evening weather was good, they all went
away happy. The mulled wine on the Saturday was probably one of my best!
I gave a lecture
on the Vulture Crisis at Swansea University last week, Linda kindly drove me
over there as I can’t manage a long drive yet. Sometimes you know when you have
given a good lecture and I was pleased that I felt that it was a very good one.
It was lovely to speak to a large audience who wanted to have the knowledge and
the lecture theatre was great.
I have a
hospital appointment tomorrow and might get rid of my brace. I broke it last
week, but Tom put it back together with some wire! I wonder if they will want
it back, I am sure they will, but it will have to be refurbished anyway I
guess.
Richard is coming
soon to do the lights in the flats and then Holly and Jimmi will not have to
shower by candle light. We still await the new front door for the flats though,
I think they are growing the timber for it! I have to say though Swinton Car
Insurance have a star from me. I found out I was paying them £8.45 per month
for Car Rescue, but I had not asked for it. So when I pointed it out they
immediately stopped it and are refunding the money. Financially I am better off
already!
Other than that
there is not much news, the breeding season carry’s on, the lawns need mowing.
I thin Art is doing well, there are the signs of leaves on some of the shrubs,
we have lambs next door, and spring is not far away.
Thursday, 7 February 2013
Shanny died
today, a sad day for us. She was 17 years old, Mark brought her in the night
before this because she was looking a little down. Her weight was OK, she was
not thin, but it was a very cold night last night so we were happy to have her
inside. This morning we gave her some skinned food with antibiotics, which she
took readily and looked very cheerful and an hour later she had died. Seventeen
is a good age, and she went with her
normal grace. She taught many people both staff and experience days, she came
to the US with me and back again, she was of our old breeding line, a real lady
with charming personality and manners. We all went down to the field just
before dark and buried her and toasted her with some wine.
Holly got back
today, she must be very tired as she went straight into work, but it was lovely
to see her. She has learnt a great deal and is very excited about the coming
breeding season. We candled some of the eggs this evening and she has a fertile
African Fish Eagle egg to manage and a fertile Tawny Eagle as well – so a good
start to the season.
We have a zoo
inspection tomorrow, which should go OK, the place is looking fine considering
how short staffed we have been in the last six weeks. Everyone has worked
really hard and we have achieved a great deal particularly while struggling
with winter weather as well.
The flying team
are going well, Pleiades flew particularly well today – much better than the
other day when she ended up in the wood! The owls are doing well and are ready
for our last two early year Owl Evenings. The Saturday is nearly full and the
Friday looking pretty busy as well. They have booked up well in the last couple
of weeks.
The flats are
done all but a new front door which we are waiting for, and a light and
extractor fan in the bathroom. They do look nice and are very snug and warm as
well, I am pleased we took the time and effort to get them back to being nice
again. Jimmi said the new shower is great even if they have to shower by candle
light, but it is very pleasant!
My trip to
Edinburgh went well, it was lovely to see Anna and David for a couple of days
and they looked after me very well. I was taken to a concert and the cinema,
neither of which I have done for a long time. The lecture went well and it was
nice to go to the Veterinary College and see where it was situated. I was a
little concerned as there are 74 steps up to their very beautiful flat and I
did not know how I would manage them, but surprisingly I managed fine and did
not die of lack of breath at the top either!
It is good to be
open again and see old friends visiting.
Monday, 28 January 2013
I think I may
have over done it a little today, I am very tired, which is ridiculous as I
have not done THAT much. However the flat that we are working on is looking
super now. I still have some painting to do and we have to do the bloody
kitchen completely, but we are getting there. It is annoying to have to do all
this only three years after we already did it. Woe betide anyone who spoils
them now!!
The snow has
gone, and it went really quickly. I think that there is nowhere so green as the
UK and you notice it most either when it has been covered in snow and then is
vivid green again, or when you have been abroad and are flying home in the daylight
and you look down and see all that glorious green.
It has been a
vile day, windy and then rain – lots of it, I am so tired of rain, I hope to
God the bloody gulf stream moves and we get a drought for months!!!
Art has gone to
his new home and is doing very well, they are keeping in contact and he is
obviously being looked after well and he has company, which is making him very
happy. I miss him, but I could not manage him at the moment anyway.
Holly is fine in
the US, we have not heard much, but she made it to Houston and will now be in
California, in lovely weather, hopefully learning about hatching and rearing.
Not that I am concerned about rearing as I have lost count of the number of
chicks I have reared over the years. Our new incubator should arrive soon as
well. So there is plenty to do on the horizon.
I decanted my
damson gin and plum gin over the weekend it is rather delicious I have to say
although the plum gin in not clear which is disappointing.
The bathroom has
ground to a halt as we are missing some bits that should have arrived today and
did not, so I am pissed off about that. Athena has two eggs now, which we are
delighted about and all the birds are sitting well, which is very good news.
The weather although wet has warmed up considerably which removes some
concerns.
We are getting
birds flying again, regardless of the weather as we open to the public on
Friday. I sadly will not be here as I have to go to Edinburgh to give a
lecture, I am back on the following day in the afternoon. Which reminds me I
need to find someone to give me a lift home!!
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