Friday, 23 January 2015
As we are now charitable, apparently I decided at close to the last minute that we need to be better organised to be able to get Gift Aid. If we can encourage our visitors to pay a fraction more to come in and to sign up for Gift Aid it has a significant benefit to the Centre - 28p in every pound, which is a lot of funds over time. So............. it is very difficult to encourage people to spend more if they are talking to you through a window. I can remember the time when if you went to the Bank, or the Post Office you could talk to a person without the barrier of a glass window. That barrier makes it much more difficult to be personal with anyone coming through the 'gate'. So at about the last minute - and its all the fault of one of my trustees who (as yet not knowing that if I think an idea is good I implement it straight away!) said why don't we change the entrance now...... we have!! With a huge amount of work from all the staff we have removed the ramp, changed the shop and entrance around completely - is it finished - nope!! Will it be by February 1st, probably not, but it will be close. The counter has moved and bloody hell it was heavy, the window is going and a new door is going to be ordered on Monday. The paint job starts tomorrow!! And that would be me I suspect, however I am sure the other staff will help me finish it off - a bride of wine will help!
At the same time, I was not happy with what we called the stock room and Holly had an idea about the desks, so a ton of work has happened there in the last three days as well, to be finished off by Holly and Robin on Monday; bearing in mind we have not yet finished the incubation facility, and we are also trying to get ready for opening. But!!!! as the Centre is so much more organised by the great staff and fantastic volunteers, and the birds in the aviaries looking wonderful and also clean, there is not the major rush we used to have to get ready.
I have to say if you don't notice some pretty big changes around the place, I will be surprised. With leyandii gone (I am pleased to announce that Jimmi put his camera trap by their, now moved, nest box and the Little Owls are already in there and happy), the hedge along our road is being laid and already looks great, and makes the field look much more open; the flying field archway pruned and the path for us to walk reinstated, the shop and stock room reorganised and the incubation facility finished, or it will be soon, we have done a lot!! And managed to have Christmas and New Year as well!!
Birds are doing well, we have some stunning flying birds for the team this year and we are excited by a number of them. The two Owl Evenings that we run in February are nearly booked up, February 14th is full and there are a few places on the 13th which is great. We have eggs in the new incubation room already, and expect chicks by early February, Holly is already going up to the incubation room late at night so we are looking for a nice coffee machine for her in case she has to wait for eggs to hatch. The snowdrops are coming out - actually I still have roses blooming, which is ridiculous, although we did have a very heavy frost this morning so they may have given up. It still has a winter feel, but you know spring is round the corner, and very welcome it will be.
We are going to be doing a PhD study with a student from Swansea on how rain affects birds flying, and I am delighted because you can guarantee that if we want to fly birds in the rain - we will have a drought - perfect!!!
Monday, 19 January 2015
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| Benbecula is out and getting ready for flying |
I feel very guilty that I have not written on the weblog as
much as I should have done in the last year or so and particularly recently
over the Christmas period. In fact one of our members phoned me up to see if I
was OK! What incredibly nice members we do have. I am fine, I really am, in
fact I gather after my recent MOT that my blood pressure is low and so is my cholesterol,
which is amazing considering my diet!!! It has been a manic couple of years. We
have done a ton of stuff, and so much is
looking great now. But by the end of the day where I used to spend time on the
computer and indeed still do, I don’t seem to be able to get round to doing the
things I would like to do such as the Weblog.
Over the Christmas period, which was Christmas Eve until
January 5th this year, I get to look after the Centre, which I did
as usual this year and realised, as I fed the birds daily and tried to keep
everything neat and tidy, just how wonderful a team of staff – and volunteers I
have here. The place was spotless, the birds looked well and there was not an
area of the Centre that I was not able to be proud of, and that is a pretty
cool thing to be able to say. Each year things just get better and more
organised and easier for us to care for the birds and the visitors. Once everyone
returned Mike got all the trees down by the Condor aviary, which has made a
huge difference to the light coming to the aviaries and as the days get longer
they will get more sunlight to bask in. Everyone else got on with the job of
getting ready for opening on February 1st.
Right now, apart from finishing off the new incubation
facility, which is going to be wonderful and you will all see so much more, and
dealing with the usual enormous number of emails, we have been working on what
has been needed to go Charitable. We are now a charity and I have to admit to
having a number of sleepless nights. The charities commission wanted the
Trustees to be able to state that there was no conflict of interests and that I
would not benefit from the charity being in existence. All of which I
understand and is very laudable, but there is a part of me that feels like
saying to the Charities Commission – for Christ’s Sake!!! - I have not benefitted from the Centre, I have always put back every penny and more, and
taken risks to keep it all going, I am not going to suddenly start to take, and
nor would I ask the Trustees to even consider it.
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| Before felling - two had been done by this time |
It’s a scary thing to do – as my solicitor said (come to
think of it, she has not answered my last email so she could just be washing
her hands of me, thinking I am nuts to do this) it’s a leap of faith – and it
is. The place will no longer be mine to do with as I see fit. I will have a
wage and looking at it long term, I have no pensions either. Who thinks of pensions
when you are younger, or need to spend the funds on something for the birds, I
did not. So now apart from a wage, which I hope I will be able to earn for a
long time to come, I am reliant on £64 a week from the government, which I have
to say does not go far!
Those are the sort of things that are likely to keep you
awake at night. Luckily I am the sort of person who will grab my book and read
through the small darkest hours so I don’t think about it. Plus I have the
philosophy that – it will be fine, it will all work out. And I think it will!!!
The important thing is that now the Centre has a long term and I hope an as
assured future as possible because it is not reliant on the continuing
existence of just one person. That was too high a risk to take when I look back
at all the tremendous work that so many people have given over the years for us
to still be here nearly 48 years on.
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| All gone! |
It is cold, actually it is pretty cold! But then of course
it is the winter. The weather has been beautiful, clear and frosty and sunny
most of the day – and cold! The birds are flying well, those we have started,
more will be got going again ready for February. The two Owl Evenings are
booking up, in fact the Saturday is full and there are still places on the Friday.
The Griffon Vultures egg will be removed soon as will the Grey Buzzard Eagles.
We did have an interesting time a couple of Sunday’s ago. Katie (volunteer) was
taking a wheel barrow to the compost heap and she came on the radio and told
Pippa and I that there was a tiny owl on the wall. I was not far away and she
was right, one of the Ferruginous Pygmy Owls was sitting on the wall. So we
snuck round and tried to net her, however she then flew up into the Oak tree,
way out of reach. I phoned Sally to see if David had a long fishing rod, Mark
came over and then I remembered Adam’s idea about water. So we got all the
hoses and put them together, and Mark went up a step ladder and he slowly
brought the spray (which was just about reaching!) over the owl and got it wet.
It did not appreciate the rain and tried to fly, but as we had hoped, it could
only fly down!! Five minutes and two bites in my thumb later it was back in my hand
and then in a warm hospital box for the night. The hose did not get put away
until the following day!
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