Vultures in Delhi in 1992

Off to India and Nepal on Monday, it is a gruelling trip, six flights, one train trip, one 6 hour road trip, three vulture centres and heaven knows how many vultures to catch up and process for health checks, checking on identification marks, and obtaining DNA for sexing, plus various meetings as well. However it needs to be done. I am going with Nic Masters the chief vet at ZSL who is fun to travel with and we will be seeing Chris Bowden in Nepal. But I miss 12 days of the autumn here!! And to cap it all I have a horrid cold to go with!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sedge is well and very happy, here is what Gill wrote about him this week:

 

So I don't have to worry about him which is wonderful, and it is even more wonderful that he is happy and so are his new owners. So now Briza is causing problem!! She keeps getting out and taking the puppies with her, she is now in jail until we get the fence sorted out.

 

We are topping the Leylandii behind the small falcon block which is where she is now escaping and once that is done then the fence can be redone as well. My very nice neighbourly farmer has offered to clear up the tops with a machine and dispose of them for us, which will save us a ton of work and we are very grateful. I have been meaning to do it for ages but it was a daunting task. We will then put up nest boxes in the remains, which will be over 12 feet high and should still give homes to various birds.

 

Oh and some of my customers have seen two Kingfishers on the pond, which is exciting, I have not seen them but then whenever I go down there the dogs come, so that probably frightens them away. And we have a wild Barn Owl who keeps coming round and chatting up our trained ones, I suspect it is a female as she seems to like the two males, she also sits on Holly's window! Nice to see. So that means we have Little Owls, Tawny Owls and a Barn Owl around us in the wild, as well as the Goshawks, Buzzards, Kestrels, Peregrines, Hobby's and the occasional Red Kite which we have seen twice this week.

 

The bats are now roosting in the new garage, which is nice, it must be much drier than my cellar. They look like little plums hanging there and they are right up in the apex so well away from anything, I was hoping that the Swallows would go in there too, perhaps next year. They are all getting ready to leave soon and will probably be gone by the time I get back from Nepal.

 

Zephyr is the newest species for us to breed, he is a (very noisy!) and wonderful Brahminy Kite and is starting to fly really well, you should come and see him before the end of the year!