Thursday, 29 March 2012
Spot the eagle - we were all exhausted yesterday! On Sunday we decided that it was time for the new White-tailed Sea-eagle to fly free, well we were wrong, she flew free beautifully, she is buoyant, strong and wonderful to watch, but going in the wrong direction!! So off went a team of people and followed her until dark, she was not interested in coming down for food. She spent the night in Newent woods, high in a tree, Monday, the weather being wonderful she had a pleasant day moving gently around the area, with John and various others trundling along behind tracking her with the telemetry (thank God for telemetry and Marshall’s), this time she spent the night in a tree with a rookery – not sure how pleased the rooks were, but it was on land with people we knew and they were lovely about it. Her flying was improving, although she was chased a great deal by crows and buzzards, at one point I was in the Landrover, telling a friend that we had an eagle missing and were out tracking it, and he looked up from his car and said – you mean that one!!! As she gracefully flew over our heads! Tuesday dawned crisp and clear, the weather has been just the most wonderful March weather I can remember, so off went the team, John and Simon started out, Ben and Natasha joined in when Simon came back. John came back for a break at about lunch time and Adam went out after lunch. Then we all decided enough was enough and we would all go out after work and get her somehow and we did – at midnight! We marked her down in a tree, put various people with powerful torches in various fields (thank you farmers for being so nice about it and not chasing us off the land!) and once it was dark we went up to see what her position was in the tree – a very difficult one, so we flushed her, well off she went flying high!! Over about three fields and into another tree, although how she found them in the dark I have no idea, we flushed her again and off we all went (I was the back runner I have to say) she moved and this time was on the ground but moved when we caught up, several flushes, crossing the main road, diving through thickets, woods, ditches, fences (I may be slower than all the rest of this youthful bunch, but I am best at finding the best place to cross even in the dark!). Found her again in a very high tree, Adam climbed up and managed to flush her, by this time she did not want to go, which was good news. Off again, Simon nearly got her on the ground once but missed and off she went into her final tree. She was not going to flush this time!! So Holly and I had run back and got Adam’s ropes from his car and brought the vehicles closer, and up Adam went, he roped himself in and using Mark’s Grandfather’s fishing rod, with Mark’s patented hook and creance, Adam managed to hook her jess and pull her off the branch, but she slipped and then managed to climb onto the branch he was on!! He said it was a bit daunting to have her climb up almost next to him. Rod was abandoned (although Adam had to climb up again to rescue it!) and he grabbed hold of her, and the rest of the team – there were eight in all, watched and wished for camera’s as Adam was lowered down the tree on his rope with eagle in hand!! We all finally got home, had tea toast beer and wine, Holly, John and Ben stayed the night and all happily went to bed, as did I. The eagle was weighed, fed, and put to bed as well. She was pleased to be home we reckon!The delicious weather still holds which is great and just such a pleasure to work in, getting a sun tan in March is good for the soul! I have to admit to being concerned and very pissed off about the tanker driver’s strike. I was told they get £45k!! That is three times what some of my staff get and they all turned out all evening until after midnight having worked the day as well, to get the eagle. These bloody people have no idea what real work is about and they are putting the whole tourist industry at risk because we all rely on a decent Easter to pay the bills. I personally would like to feed the Union people who are instigating this to my vultures, it would do the whole country a favour!! Bloody unions!!!
My Puppies have decided that bringing things into my office, which is also my sitting room is the thing to do. So yesterday it was the loo brush, the holder for the loo brush and the loo cleaner as well!! This morning Shasta came trotting in with the bread knife.
Have a look at this, it is very special..............
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2 comments:
Has it escaped again? Or have you lost another similar eagle with a white head? I saw one today about 4.15pm at strawberry hill.
I visited on Sunday, and loved the displays. I'm glad you got the Sea Eagle back, as I've been wondering all week how long it would take.
How often do you have birds wander off and do this sort of thing on their initial free flights? It must be nerve racking, even with the telemetry to keep track of it. Have you ever lost a bird and failed to retrieve it?
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