Well we got some rain, and it was definitely heavy stuff, I am sure the trees appreciate it, however my pond is still very low and I dare not replace the fish that died over the cold winter until it is up again or the Herons will get the lot. Sidewinder has managed to injure one wing, he has soft tissue damage and was feeling very sorry for himself, we have no idea how he did it, however he is much more cheerful now. All we have to do is work out a way to hold his right wing up for a few days as it is dropped and he is not being helpful about it as he manages to remove any bandages in about 7 minutes flat, the little devil!

A really nice girl came to see and ride Henry last week, and he is going on a trial next week, I hope she likes him as I can’t do him justice and need something a little more in keeping with my age and lack of time!

Linda took a Wild About Photo day yesterday, I hope they got the picture I would have wanted, in fact, I might even take the kestrel up onto May Hill and get the shot I want. Why Not I ask myself, indeed I answer! She (Linda that is) is very good with the photographers and very patient as it takes some time and effort to get a good shot.

We appear to be bee free for this week anyway, although we did find a large wasp’s nest in Common’s compartment, which had to be dealt with. The two baby Lanners are doing well as is my Barbary. The three baby Merlins are growing nicely as is the baby Aplomado, so all bodes well for next year’s breeding season. Baby Great Grey is still with us and slowly improving, we are crossing everything that she makes it through. Pyrites is nearly there in his retraining and Adam and I worked him yesterday, I think he is going to be Very good which is nice, and the first baby Yellow-billed Kite is close to being grown up now so will be in serious training very soon, that one is for me!

Next Saturday is our first summer Barbeque, we have a good number of people coming and they are going to see all the new birds in training of various degrees, all we need is good weather please. We have extended the roof a little on the Pavilion so that people can shelter if it rains during the demonstration, which proved very useful yesterday as it had its first serious usage. Oh and I won money on the huge Euro Lottery!! £2.80p!! A little more would have been useful, but you can’t complain.

I have been interested in all the newspaper scandal, and if you believe that it was just the one newspaper then you are nuts. Now I have relations and good friends in the newspaper reporting business so I apologise to them if I upset them, but I have to say that I was not in the slightest bit surprised at the disgraceful behaviour of British newspapers. Having been at the end of a smear campaign personally, I have no illusions about their morals, I am not convinced that the majority of people in the media actually has any, I think the drive to sell papers, or TV programmes is so great, that morals and accuracy long since went out of the window.

I also can’t see the reasoning that ‘the public has a right to know’ – why!! Apart from the fact that why anyone has any interest in the lives of grossly overpaid, incredibly badly behaved and apparently not particularly good footballers, completely defeats me, why should people have a right to know about the intimate lives, mistakes, and behaviours of others. Where did that come from – oh, could it be the media!! Unless it impinges on the GP’s safety, security, or their lives, then surely it is nothing to do with us. This insatiable, grasping and mindlessly destructive greed for gossip is a purely human trait and one that is sadly a very unpleasant one, and does not need to be fed by the media in the way that it has evolved and indeed in the way that the media has trained its public to expect.

Opppppppppppps its coffee time! And I am needed on the half experience day as well.