Gosh what a gap Sedge has left! It was the hardest thing to drop him off, hand over all his stuff (there was a lot of it - towels, coats, food, bowls, wheels and so on!) and then drive away. It seems very quiet here without him and I can actually get to the phone in the shop again. However I have heard how he is doing, and he is very happy and being spoilt I would guess! He was on the sofa with Amanda (his new best friend) Fly the sheep dog and a cat (amazing). He has two new jersey's to keep him warm and some leg warmers, some toys and has already had a game with Fly. So I guess I need not worry (but probably will for a bit) And now Shasta is not well, not sure what it is yet, but I have already spoken to the vet and we are working on it.

 

The flying demonstration at the Essex Dog Day went really well, it is a lovely show, really nice people, a great arena and the perfect tree just outside of it for Bay Middleton to fly in and out of. All the birds were faultless, it was still and warm, so they all managed much better than last weekend where it was very windy on the top of the Cotswolds. Hare did some lovely flying, and Karis pulled off one of his stunning stoops even though he is moulting like mad.

 

Today sadly, as it is a Bank Holiday and the last one of the year for us as we are not open over Christmas (thank goodness) it is a little bleak, very damp, and although the mizzley rain has gone, it bodes badly for later in the day. I hope it all dries up so that next weekend is good, that will suffice I think.

 

Thanks as ever to Linda for the lovely photos

My merlin has been flying well as have the three young first clutch lanners, Mark and I are training the two in the second clutch. We have two Sakers coming next week as well, it is hard to find pure ones these days. My new Hare replacement (so he can have a summer off for a really good moult) is a young male Grey Buzzard Eagle, the brother to the female I took up for Charlie on Thursday, he is lovely although very vocal, however I think that will ease as he gets going. The baby Brahminy Kite now called Zephyr, is flying free and will be lovely in the future and the last of the Yellow Billed Kite babies is out and will start training very soon.

 

The two baby snowy owls that we are keeping are doing well, Mark is training the female and I have to get sorted to do the male. Now Sedge is gone and I am up to scratch with most of my paperwork, I hope to get going, until of course I have to go to India and Nepal September 15th, sometimes it seems very endless!

 

Other than that, we are hoping that the Falconry Weekend is its usual big success, we have some lovely people flying birds as well as the teams here and Holly has a great idea for next year! The workshop is getting close to being done so we can take down the old one, I am seriously looking forward to going through everything in there and having a big sort out. The tiles for the Incubation Facility are here and will be down by the end of the week, so we move on slowly as ever.

 

Most importantly I hope that the charitable status will be fixed by the end of October, and that will hopefully make a difference to us here, fingers crossed. And soon Autumn will be here - my favourite time of the year.