I keep wanted to be able to write and tell everyone that the house is sold and my worries are over. But it is still not sold. I am confident that it will but the various problems I have had with the buyer would not be believed if I told you. Plus if I think about it all my blood pressure goes through the roof, which is not good for me.
Guess who! |
Things are moving slowly with the house I am buying. I did a pre planning application which I am delighted to say had a good result. So we should be fine on building the very smart breeding barn for Hen Harriers. I am excited about that and now just need to find someone to come and work with me for the next ten years to breed and release Hen Harriers in Southern England.
Today six of the nine birds still left for that are going to the vulture conservation centre in Wales run by Holly and Adam are going. So more empty aviaries, but we are taking some of the mesh so that I at least save that cost on the six new aviaries I have to build to house the remaining birds (not Hen Harriers). The amount of food I have to get out each day will decrease again! That will upset the dogs as they like to help with feeding round and having titbits.
I still have one Lanner to find a home for, otherwise all the birds are in their new homes. I have a list of where they all are and if anyone wants to go and see them, drop me an email. They are spread about across the country!
Arthur's Seat |
I drove up to Edinburgh via Yorkshire the week before last. I dropped off the last brood of Hen Harriers, to the release aviary on a grey and chilly moor, and then drove on up the A1 to Edinburgh - what a vile road. I am not doing that again. The M6 route is far easier. I went up because one sister lives in Edinburgh and my other sister was over from New York and my brother over from New
Zealand. It was the first time in 20 years that we were all in the same place - amazing. We did some lovely walks and went up Arthur's Seat although not to the top as there were too many people up there for me. We did however hear some young Peregrines on the cliff face.
My brother and I drove back on that dangerously hot day. We left at 5.30 to miss the worst of the heat and did manage fine. Although getting out of the car into over like heat was a shock to the system.
Did I paddle in the Sea - of course! |
So I am still here, bird numbers are down, and IF IF IF things go according to plan, I will start to move from here in September. But believe me when I say I am not holding my breath.
the bulk of your career/passion that you have work in all your life, having to give away 99 percent of the birds you have loved all your life, seeing all the staff leave, selling this property which has been a nightmare, but it nearly d and finding and buying a new house has been a little more stressful than anticipated. - Amazing really!! I had a haemorrhagic bleed in my brain on June 3rd. Having fed and walked the dogs, done the bird, rode my bike to the livery yard, rode a friend's horse and rode my bike home, I sat down to watch the Church Service at St Paul’s Cathedral for the Queens jubilee and my sight went peculiar. When I tried to read, I could make no sense of the words. So, phoned 999 and an ambulance came. They said I should go to hospital which I did and finally at about 12.00 midnight was admitted to hospital after blood tests and a CT scan.
After a total of two session in Hospital I am trying to keep calm and quiet - that is bloody impossible! Our volunteers, some of the staff and my neighbours have been amazing, they have taken me places as I am not allowed to drive at the moment, they have chopped up and skinned food for the birds and fed them, done the baths and aviaries and even taken the dogs for a walk as well as helping with the mowing of which there is a fair bit to do!
As well as helping with all the baby Hen Harriers that we are managing for Brood Management this year So, there we are a very valid excuse I would say.
So where are we in finishing off.
Still trying to finish the sale of this place, which is taking tar longer than it should have done, but it nearly there now. I have found a new place very close by but am not shouting about it until it is a done deal.
We have nine vultures (three Cape vultures, two African White Backs, One Condor – Real – and one Egyptian Vultures – Cara) Holly’s two Verreaux’s Eagles and two Harris Hawks, Domino and Tork still to go to Wales when there are aviaries for them. The two young condors and Keats the White Tailed Sea Eagle are
over there already with Adam. Holly has been over with her parents in a very large very yellow van full of stuff, two falcons - Kuli and Marvel, and Flax. The falcons are staying over there.
So 13 birds to go for Wales The six I am keeping, Hare (Indian Tawny Eagle) Hemp (Eurasian Eagle Owl) Coll (Savigny’s Eagle Owl) Corsair (Lugger) Windward (Merlin) and Pinotage (elderly Egyptian Vulture). Will all stay here until the buying of the new house is done and aviaries built for them which will hopefully be able to happen in August. There are two kites and one African Fish Eagle still to be collected That just leaves two male Lanners to find a home for now, one is a great flyer and one is for breeding.
We are hearing great things about all the birds that have gone, particularly those who were demonstration birds here before they left us.
However the dogs hate it as there is no one here to mug for sandwiches or get stroked by, so a lot of the time they have to put up with just me. We are now in the waiting stage of this house sale being finalised and all the stuff that needs to happen when buying a new one. Once that is done I guess we will be running around trying to finish up an clear every thing to leave it as tidy as possible before actually moving.
The baby Great Greys in their new home |
All the staff bar Holly and Adam have now left and are all in their new jobs, Holly and Adam are planning on leaving at the end of this month. Almost all the birds have gone to their excellent new homes, we only have Peebles who is waiting for her new aviary to be completed, Rhyme Intrinsica who goes this evening, the King Vulture who is going to Cotswold Wildlife Park and will be very happy as she is missing visitors here, and a pair of lanners who will going a bit later.
Hard Tackle posing in his new home |
Adam is furiously rushing to Wales on a daily basis and is trying to finish off the aviaries so they can move all their birds and stuff. I believe that Holly is going through her clothes today!! That will be a mammoth task!
It is like a ghost ship here now, and by next month will just be me, the seven birds I am keeping and the dogs. A very odd feeling that will be after 55 years of the Centre being open.
I will be going up to the North of England to collect the young Hen Harriers who are going to be brood managed this year, and then up again once they are grown enough to go into the release aviary, so I will not be bored. I just have to hope that my elderly Range Rover survives another trip or two. I did think about geting a new (er) car, but think I will wait until I have moved or killed this one which will be sad as I love it.
Young Hen Harrierrs being reared for Brood Management |
Adam got me to go into a Land Rover dealers the other day. New cars smell horrid. But although I hate to admit it I did like the new Land Rover however they are way out of my price range and anyway there is an 18 month waiting list!!! I forget which car it was but one of them lowered which would be good for the dogs, but it will all have to wait for a lottery win I suspect!! Ever onwards and upwards.....
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 |
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! |
In the meantime, spring is here, the daffs are nearly over and the bluebells are coming out in the woods.
Its cold today, after the glorious weather of the last few days, its a bit on the grey and chilly side today. I had planned to mow and do some spraying, but its not that welcoming outside. Yesterday Adam and I took down all the signs in the carpark, so the hanging sign with our logo, that is safely put away and will come with me, the others all went in for recycling. The carpark looks very odd without them, but perhaps it will encourage those who come to visit that the only notice left is the one that says Closed Permanently and yes it does mean it.
Just over 30 birds have gone so far, with a good number going in the next three weeks. All that have left are settling and we have had photos from some of the people who have had them which is really nice. Viruses have been causing us a few problems though!! Either people who were due to come can caught covid and so could not come. Or they have ended up in a surveillance zone for Avian Influenza, all of which slows down the process of rehoming. It is hard to see the birds go but it will be better for those going to public facilities to have visitors seeing them again, and those going to private people are generally those who did not like the public anyway.
Stratosphere who will go to Helmsley this coming week |
The dogs are of course missing visitors, or perhaps I should be more honest as I think really they are missing the scrouging of food!
Another member of bird staff has a new job and the last two are going for interviews in the next couple of weeks. April approaches quickly with Easter very late this year, we are still going to have our traditional easter egg race in the field though.
Adam is over in Wales a lot of the time building wonderful temporary aviaries for the vultures who are going over. He hopes to get that all finished by the end of May. Holly has been going over to help with a couple of the eggs that the vultures have laid.
Eager and mate went today to a great home in Norfolk |
Indian Chestnut, not so beautiful now |
There is still some clearing up of tree damage since the last storm, we lost a huge branch off a sycamore tree and that hit my Indian Horse Chestnut, but we have had to wait until the ground is dry enough to take a trailer down and do the clear up.
I had thought that perhaps when I move and have a bit more time and privacy that I would grow my own vegetables, but last year Anna gave me some tomato plants, which grew really well, but only have 5 tomatos and they never went red, so I got fed up with them!
So we move on with the next chapter, and we are all on board with what we are doing, the plan is a good one. Actually looking at the horrific price of fuel right now I doubt we would have had many people be able to afford to come, so we have by sheer chance timed it right for ICBP
Not successful tomato plants - never again!! |
How Things Are Going At ICBP
For those of you who have contacted us to see how the future is looking for ICBP, many thanks it is lovely to know that you care.
The process of closing the Centre is done,we finished all the owl evenings, and completed a further month of experience days. The rest we had to cancel and refund the finances because if we had run all of them we would have still be doing them in October and we could not afford to do that. Don't forget though, this is not the end of ICBP, but just a different chapter in its long life!
All the birds are well, the Avian Influenza zone was lifted last week and so we have been able to start moving birds. The first 14 went on Tuesday to a good friend of ours who has had birds from us before, it was hard to see them go, but better that they get settled quickly. Two more went today, and there are another nine going over the next two days. We have made sure that all are going to places where their housing is as good as here or better. We plan to have all of those who are not staying with me or going with Holly moved and settled by the end of May at the latest.
One of our bird staff is sorted out job wise and leaving in the third week of April, the other three have all gone for interviews and will hear soon. So it is good to know that they will find new jobs fairly easily. Holly and Adam are staying until we have moved all bar the birds I am taking, then they will move with all the vultures that are going with them, plus a few other birds Holly is taking. That will be a move and a half.
Exactly which of the birds goes with me is a moveable feast as I will
take those that we can’t rehome, either because I don’t want them to go or
because they are too old or cantankerous to find the right homes. But it will
be 8 – 10 birds I think.
The property has been sold subject to exchange of contracts. But in case you are wondering, not as a bird of prey centre. I have done that before and am not doing it again. The buyer has been kind enough to give me time to finish everything here and find a new property to go to. If they love this house and land as much as I do that will be great.
Where am I and the charity going? That is a question that people ask me and the answer is at the moment I do not know. Until the contracts are exchanged for this property there is no point in getting excited about a new place. I am looking, and there are a few properties out there, but not many at the moment. I am told that more will come onto the market once the spring is here. I am looking in several areas and hope to find somewhere as quickly as possible. Once I do I will let everyone know what area I and the charity will be moving to.
So that is about it for now. We move on waiting for various things to happen and in the meantime, care for the birds, tidy up everywhere as we go along and get rid of things that we no longer need. We are not bored that is for sure.
Hello
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.
Slide Show
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