Monday, 27 May 2013
Apologies I know
I have not kept up with things, there just seems to be so many things to get
done, and emails take up an unacceptable amount of time as well.
The second day
of the British Falconry and Raptor Fair went well apart from the Last Bird!!!
Typical, Fortina was upset by something, and did a disappearing act, however
thanks to Marshall telemetry and the Kay’s who helped enormously, Mark Kay is
first class with telemetry and also very encouraging, I am going to ask him to
come and do some teaching here in the winter - we found her about two hours
later and she came straight in which was nice.
It’s been up and
down weather, some good days and some miserable, but it has been cold as well.
The early bank holiday weather was wonderful, but then it slowly got chillier
and chillier, still, the trees are now nearly all out, its that glorious vivid
but soft green of new leaves that is such a joy in the spring. The weather
forecast for the second Bank Holiday was OK except for the Monday, however as
usual they were wrong, and as I sit in my office this evening it is still dry.
It has been however, extremely windy, It was so windy on Saturday that we were
unable to fly after the first demonstration, just too potentially dangerous for
the birds out there.
The breeding is
going OK, we have lost a couple of merlin eggs and sadly the Turkey Vulture
eggs were clear, but it was a first time for our male, so were the Great Grey
Owls, not sure what their excuse is. So as with many breeding seasons, on those
species we wait another year. Our saddest loss was our young Tawny Eagle who
was doing so well with the Steppes, but suddenly got ill and failed to make it
despite a rush to the vets.
The three baby
kites are very well, as are the Long-eared Owls, we await the second clutch of
Kites, and then the first of American Kestrels and Snowy Owls and the second of
merlin's, and I think that will be about it!
I am keeping my
fingers crossed for a captive bred Hobby this year too, that will be wonderful
to train and fly. There is a remote chance of two baby Secretary Birds if we
can raise the funds, that would be just the best. All the baby Lanners are back
with various parents, the young Steller’s is about fledging and the baby Bald
Eagle is doing well with the Verreaux’s.
Earlier this
year we tried a Groupon promotion – never never again. Some of the people who
came were very nice, some were just dreadful, one expected a free guide book as
well! One woman tried to get her son in as a child although he was 17, when
told that 16 is the cut off point, she said – but he is still my child!!! One
wonders if when he is 47 and still ‘her
child’ she will want to get him in cheaply. The café benefitted, but otherwise
we did not – it will be interesting to see if any come back, I have my doubts I
have to say. And what most people don’t understand is that Groupon not only
take over half the money, but if you don’t use the coupon – they take the lot
and we get nothing!!! As I said never again, and I can’t recommend it.
But what has
made me most angry is Natural England granting in secret licenses to kill
buzzards to a pheasant shoot and a chicken farm. Only because the RSPB did a
freedom of information act query, did we all find out about it. And someone in
Natural England needs to learn to do some maths.
There are
approximately 35 million pheasants released in the UK, the Game Conservancy
advises between 700 to 1000 pheasants should be released per hectare, a little
over crowded you might say, and an invitation to predators.
'They're quite a primitive bird,' concedes Rufus Sage
from the Game Conservancy Trust. He estimates that only 40 per cent of
estate-bred pheasants are shot, but that 90 per cent of them are unlikely to
live longer than a year. Road kill accounts for millions. At this time of year,
the lanes near our house in Herefordshire resemble pheasant apocalypse, their
glittering corpses littering the roadside in a terrible statement of wasted
lives. (will they be applying for licenses to kill drivers next!!!)
In 1900, the average bag of pheasants was approximately 25 per 100 hectares, rising to almost 150
per 100 hectares in the 1980s. As a direct result of increases in
rearing, nowadays nearly four-fifths of shoot providers rely on released
pheasants, with an estimated 35 million pheasants released each year.
The total pheasant bag stands at around 15 million birds. That is less than
half the birds put out!!!
B A S C found that, on average, 1-2% of pheasant poults released were taken
by all birds of prey, Knott said, adding that a third of all pheasants are
killed on the roads.
1.5 % of 35
million is 525000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If 10% of the
buzzards took pheasants, which I suspect is way higher than really do, that
would be approximately 10,000 buzzards if they took a pheasant a day for the
approximately 120 days that the birds are vulnerable (and I have extrapolated
up here every time) that is 120000 pheasants killed and eaten - not only would
the buzzards be the size of a condor if they ate that much!!!! But that leaves
a discrepancy of 405000 birds!!!!
Sparrow hawks are
being blamed, a male sparrow hawk weighs 171 grams, a female up to 350 grams,
adult male pheasants weigh 1600 to 1800grams, females
900 grams to 1100 grams. A male
Sparrow hawk could not kill even a young pheasant, a female can kill up to 1.5%
of their own body weight, but rarely kill things that large.
The only other species of bird of prey that can kill
pheasants are Goshawks. The RSPB put them at 410 pairs, actually I suspect that
is a very low estimate, so let’s put them at 1000 birds in the UK, many living
where there are no shoots, we have a ton of them round here in the Forest of
Dean. So let’s give 400 the chance to kill a pheasant every other day each year
– 72000
That still leaves 333000 pheasants unaccounted for if
raptors are killing 1.5% of the 35000000 birds released, that is bloody
ridiculous!! Natural England need to get a calculator and stop listening to
shooters.
Of course if cars are killing 11666666.6667 how sad is that, and what
a shame that buzzards are being killed because of shooting. I have good
shooting friends, but this sort of thing does not reflect well on that group in
society.
Shooting a few pairs is pointless because more
will come in and take their place, are we then to see every pair that comes
into a shoot given a death sentence by Natural England who’s aim is and I quote
‘to create a better natural environment that
covers all of our urban, country and coastal landscapes, along with all of the
animals, plants and other organisms that live with us.’ They are a government body,
which is I think a part of Defra. The next will be Red Kites, Harriers, and
Peregrines, all of whom might just possibly impinge on commercial farming of
pheasants or chicken.
Ironically we
applied for a license to be able to keep for educational purposes and breeding
a pair of injured Peregrines, it was denied, they would rather we killed the
birds.
Oh and by the
way 75 tons of lead is sprayed around our beautiful country – and its toxic!
Sunday, 5 May 2013
Just got back from the British Falconry and
Raptor Fair, I gave two demonstrations and I have to say the nine birds were
faultless, I took and flew Pleiades, She was very good, and behaved just as I
would have hoped. The falcons were all good although some idiot let his bloody
German Pointer run into the ring twice with the first bird, I was not
pleased!!! I suspect he was very embarrassed by the end of my tirade, but he
deserved it the prat. Thank goodness the falcon dealt with it OK. Karis was
superb at the end of the first demonstration, Hare did brilliantly at the
second one and I was particularly pleased with Bay Middleton again because he flew
so well. We did two demonstrations and two coping sessions, and I managed to
buy two shirts and a rather smart waistcoat, I never look as smart as many of
the others doing demonstrations, so I thought I had better do something about.
Although I have to say, I may not look as smart but my birds rarely let me
down.
The Condor has hatched and what a charmer,
Holly and I had to give her a hand because she
had started to be less active, so we popped her out, she was a little
weak for the first few hours but is now racing ahead. The two lanner babies
have gone back with Dawn Run and Hector, and they are doing a splendid job and
two of their eggs are fertile which is great news. We have four baby Tawny
Owls, and the Long-eared Owls have just started to hatch as well. More Lanners
are starting to hatch and we await some of the small falcons starting to lay.
The weather has been great, not always
sunny, but dry and reasonably warm, with a couple of really warm days giving us
amazing flying from some of the falcons. The weeding and planting goes on
apace, well actually it stopped for a couple of days as I have not had time,
but I hope to get back to it soon. If anyone would like to come and help me in
the garden I would be eternally grateful.
On Thursday Holly and Sally and I, plus
Pan, Orion, Coll and Mucklerow went filming at St Mary’s church in Berkley, we
were filming for a new series with David Attenborough. What a charming man and
what a pleasure to work with, it was a privilege to work with him. The birds
were very good, we were a little worried about Pan as he was asked to do stuff
that was tricky before we had expected, but he was good, we then used Orion who
was excellent, giving Pan time to get to the right time in the evening and then
he did some lovely flying in the churchyard. All in all it went very well and I
hope they were pleased, they should have got some good stuff.
I don’t know yet if Sorrel is in pup, there
are not much in the way of signs, so we may have her scanned in a couple of
weeks to see where we are, at least that will clarify the situation and I can
plan ahead, particularly as if she is, they are due on a weekend when I am away
damn it!!
Ah well, off to help with the last baby
feed and then bed, with an early start tomorrow for the second day of the
Falconry Fair, hope it goes well.
Monday, 29 April 2013
Look at this and weep..............................
Look at this and morn...............................
Look at this and feel the shame that we all should feel...........................
Look at this and share, show it to everyone you can think of..........................
Look at this and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT...........................................
http://www.midwayfilm.com
Look at this and morn...............................
Look at this and feel the shame that we all should feel...........................
Look at this and share, show it to everyone you can think of..........................
Look at this and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT...........................................
http://www.midwayfilm.com
Saturday, 27 April 2013
I know I know, it’s a while since I wrote,
but it has been busy and I have had a lot to do!!! Finally that awful bitter
wind has gone. It has done some damage to the plants around the Centre with
wind burn, but amazingly the daffodils have survived it. I think a couple of
shrubs in the field hedge may have to be pruned right back, but they might survive.
We did – just about! We have had a respite for about ten days week now, I have
to say we were very relieved, particularly as I did a demonstration for the
Cotswold Hunt Point to Point and Country Fair and it is high up on the
Cotswolds and if it had been as windy as it has been I think the birds would
have got home before I did. Luckily the weather was great, a little chilly, but
fair and the birds were brilliant. Zaurak (Lanner Falcon) did his first away
demonstration and was faultless, Theft was good, Hare was excellent, as was
Karis and I was particularly pleased with Bay Middleton because he can be
tricky away from home. I also took Pleiades, whom I did not fly, but she
travelled well and came out of the boxes very well. She has not been flying as
well as she was in the cold wind, but we are working on it.
The breeding goes on apace. We now have two
baby lanners, one of the white-faced scops owls went up the Charlie, the other
was not well for a while, but has recovered and is doing much better. The Asian
Brown Wood Owl hatched, although we did lose the second egg. The first Steppe
is out and doing very well, the Savigny’s from the second clutch has gone back
with mum and dad and they are pleased to have it. The baby Bald Eagle is doing
wonderfully well with the Verreaux’s Eagles, the baby Tawny Eagle is back with
the Steppes. We tried him back with the Grey Buzzard Eagles but they would not
take him, they were still in incubation mode, although they are in disgrace
because they broke two of their eggs, which was very disappointing. However the
other pair have now finally laid, it will be interesting to see if they are
fertile.
As I write the second Steppe Eagle is
starting to hatch and so is the Condor, which is very exciting, both Holly and
I will be very relieved when it is out safely.
I went plant shopping and bought a ton of
plants with my birthday and Christmas vouchers, and have just spent the last
two hours tidying up my courtyard, and the last few days weeding and planting,
I still have a few to go and I hope the bloody rabbits don’t eat them. Oh and
two days ago there was a Roe Deer buck in the field, that was a sight to see,
and I heard my first cuckoo yesterday, it only cuckooed 1.5 times but it was
there.
I was sent a link to a Wildlife programme
made in Wales a couple of days ago, it features a Dr Rhys Jones, who works at
Cardiff University. He is a herpetologist supposedly, but does this programme
that rescues wildlife, or in the case of the Kestrel in the film, fails to
rescue wildlife. All of us were incensed watching it, Firstly it was obviously
desperately thin and he should immediately have taken it to an expert as he is
most definitely not one on birds of prey, it should have been put in the warm
and on fluids, through the night and it might have had a chance of pulling
through. As it was he did none of that, at least not on the TV, instead he fed
it mealworms, which it could hardly manage. He also did a bit on a snake in a
shed, it turned out to be a gravid Grass Snake, so what does he do for the
camera, but handle it until he upsets it enough that it goes into defence mode
and squirts out a smelly fluid which they do if upset, and then it pretended to
play dead. These people who deliberately upset wildlife just to look good on
camera really piss me off. Dr Jones you need to come here and learn what to do
with sick or injured birds of prey before you touch another one. I would be
happy to teach you.
On our side all the injured wild birds that
we had had in and that had been in a fit state to survive have done so and all
have been released back the wild by the various people who brought them in. We
did not upset them, wave them in front of camera’s we just did our job
properly.
Linda and I went shopping at some mall near Bristol, the name escapes me, its really frustrating when you want jersey's and all the womens clothes are for summer and not a jersey to be seen, or at least not one I would be seen dead in. Even though it was bloody freezing outside, so I ended up buying three men's jerseys, which are cheaper as well! I also bought for the first time in 15 years new knickers!!! I bought 15 pairs to celebrate.
However the nicest sight we have seen recently is Hemp with a baby. Holly and I decided that as she had been so good with all the eggs we needed her to sit for us, we would try her with a chick, so she has a baby Spectacled Owl, and does she love it - oh yes, she thinks it is wonderful, it is a sight to behold.
Saturday, 6 April 2013
What a turn up for the books, today after weeks
of bitterly cold wind and generally grey and cold weather – although very dry,
today has been glorious and literally almost warm by the afternoon. Yesterday
was bitter and very windy, although the day before was even worse and you could
see that the birds were getting fed up with it, and apart from the Kites not
flying quite as well the last four days. However today they all had a field
day. I was particularly pleased with Pleiades (female Tawny Eagle) whom I
thought might be lazy today with no wind, but she was a star and loved the warm
and even managed to find a little bit of lift, I came out of the flying ground
with a big grin. Fortina too was first class today and was gaining height even
though she was the last bird of the day.
Yesterday was an interesting day. It was
hectic to start with and we were short of flyers for the first demonstration
because of an experience day and the wind, so I reckoned that Hare should be
the right weight and could do his first demonstration of the year. He was the
last bird, so started at about 11.45, and finally came down again at about 2.30.
While he was in one of the many trees that he sat in that day, Sally came over
the radio and mentioned that there was a car on fire in the car park. And it was
most certainly on fire, in fact quite dramatic. We were worried that the petrol
tank would go up and cause some damage. Luckily the poor family who owned the
car had literally just arrived and so they were out of the car and safe. The
fire engine arrived and all was put out, although the car was not a pretty
sight. I spoke to the family a bit later and I would like to make a comment
about the Prudential Insurance Company with whom they were insured. The husband
phoned the company and bear in mind that at this point anyone would be shocked
and stressed. The pratt on the other end of the phone said that they had to
have the policy number, and he pointed out that the policy was in the car which
had burnt. Eventually the insurance company woman hung up on him!!! Now I think
that is disgraceful, surely insurance companies train their staff to cope with
stressed and upset people and if they don’t, they bloody well ought to. I would
like to bet that if you phoned your company and said that you wanted to insure
another car, and just gave them your address they would find you with ease!! So
be warned – don’t use the Prudential, they are not a pleasant or professional
company in our opinion. Good job I was not on the end of the phone or I would
have ripped them up hill and down dale!
Green Flag on the other hand collected the
car before we had even closed, so they get brownie points. The rest of the day
went OK, although it was cold and windy to the bitter end.
The baby Verreaux’s Eagle is doing very
well and growing nicely. His or her parents are now rearing a baby Bald Eagle
and doing a wonderful job. The chick which was with the Steller’s recovered
from being cold and upset and on Tuesday we tried it with the Verreaux’s. It was
a risk, but one that we felt worthwhile. They had had a Steppe’s Eagle egg last
year, but the chick vanished. However this chick was large enough that they
could learn how to care for it. They brooded it the first day, although they
did better once we had removed the goose egg. The second day Holly watched the
parents on the nest ledge and the male was feeding himself and the chick was
trying to feed, then the female started to eat and the chick moved to her and
each time she pulled a bit of rat off for herself, the chick took it, so after
a few minutes she got the idea and was offering the food to the chick. It is an
amazing thing to watch them learn and bodes really well for next year. We were
all delighted.
My baby Savigny’s Eagle Owl is doing well,
he is called Coll, the theme being British Islands, although some of my staff
insist on calling him Collin, however they will grow out of it. And I like to point
out that names are very important. I believe that if you have stupid or
careless names it shows a lack of respect for the birds. We try to make sure
that the birds have nice names that suit them and show them the proper respect
that they deserve.
We are in a lull on hatching, just waiting
for the next batch to arrive. Hopefully the new mincer which I have just
bought, will arrive in time to be useful with feeding chicks. Although we have
been having to chop up food for some of the injured wild birds as well. More have
arrived in, roll on the weather change, so that the wild birds can have a
chance at recovery.
Monday, 1 April 2013
Its April 1st, and the coldest
Easter on record, but actually yesterday was really very pleasant, yes it was
cold, but it was sunny most of the day and the birds flew just amazingly. We
had one visitor who had been concerned about paying to come in and indeed I
think two of them stayed in the car, when he left he said it was the most
amazing place, quite fantastic and he would come again. It’s always so very
difficult to encourage people that what they will see here is amazing and well
worth the entry money.
Mark’s young Grey Buzzard Eagle was just
staggering yesterday, he is almost unfailingly good and uses the wind really
well, but yesterday as you will see in the picture, he got really ambitious and
did the most amazing stoop. Holly and I were watching him from the Hawk Walk
and we were really excited about it, so John got an even better view and the
visitors were entranced. I have to say that Fortina also went brilliantly, both
she and Alexandria and getting back to fitness and she had a whale of a time
yesterday. Alexandria is more tricky, she is 11 years old now, and she had a
couple of illnesses last year, so some days I think I will never get her fit
again, and others she does really well, so we persevere and I am pretty sure
she is having a good time with it.
The babies are doing well, the young Bald
Eagle that we put with the Stellers had to come out though. When we put it in
the Steller’s chick was about twice the size, but they were doing OK, now
however the Stellers is nearly four times the size and the problem is with this
interminable cold is affecting the young. When the parents get off to get food,
or feed the chicks, it is so cold that they quickly lose heat and then don’t
want to feed. So we have whipped the Bald Eagle away and will try it with
another parent on Tuesday when more staff are in. However our most delightful
hatching is our baby Verreaux’s eagle, he or she is doing well, five days old
now, feeding and growing well and due to go to a foster parent in a week or so.
We are really pleased about that. We also have a Hooded Vulture egg with the
hooded vultures, and the Palmnuts have laid and so far the eggs are well, the
new nests are making a difference and the eggs are not getting pushed around as
much.
The Lanners had four eggs and we are double
clutching them, the Sakers have laid and Sage is doing much better with Jack
Danials, he looks like he will be a potential dad, which will be lovely, its not
easy to find pure bred birds these days. We just hope the weather will break
soon and we will have some warm dry weather to encourage everyone else to get
on with laying.
It’s cold and grey today, but at least it
is dry again. The mares have gone back home, Autumn is getting close to
foaling, and my field has no grass left. I need to chain harrow and roll it now
so that if the grass ever does start to grow again, it will have a good chance
and the field needs to look good and be sound by the end of August for our
Falconry Weekend!
And as usual, thanks to Linda for not only her staggering photo's, but her endless generousity in sharing them with us. And that thanks goes to all the photographers who are amazing with their support and their offering of photos, we really appreciate you all.
Monday, 25 March 2013
I am so fed up
and pissed off I probably should not write this now. Late last year an email
came through about a local grant. Now I have never applied for a grant before
and I suspect I never will again!! The people organising it came out and were
great and advised us on what to do, and to be fair they have been wonderful all
the way through. With help from David and Sally we did the application and got
Robin to do the bits that I knew would make me throw the paperwork in the fire.
We then applied
for planning permission to replace our very old 8 foot wide by 18 foot long
shed, that we have used for decades as a hospital room. It is a horrid room, it
used to house a huge generator when we moved here. The place is very
dilapidated and will eventually fall down and be a health hazard to the staff
probably, the tiles on the side are falling off now, it is far too small and
not suitable any long for taking the injured wild birds that we take in (free
gratis and for nothing with a substantial cost to us).
So it was with
enormous joy that we heard that if we could get everything going and finish the
building by June, we had a high chance of getting a £20K grant, that was a huge
lift to all the staff here, particularly after such a shitty year that we had
just finished. We were all very excited about it.
But things were
not going to be that easy, oh no. Now bear in mind that I am a conservationist
but a realistic one, keep that in mind! We have planted a wood, which will
probably all die in the next ten years because of Ash dieback. We have built a
large pond, we manage the 12 acres for wildlife as well as being a public
facility. We have more small birds living here than any of the surrounding
land, but unfortunately and I never thought I would say that, but I do mean it
now, we have bats as well. I had intended to help them and put up bat boxes
around the place, however that is not going to happen now, not a chance in
hell. I can see why Charlie feels the same. We had both thought about putting
bat boxes on the barns for them, here and in Yorkshire but if we did and then
we needed to do something to the barn we would not be allowed to, so no bat
boxes for us I am afraid. This sort of legislation is completely
counterproductive to conserving and helping bats, in fact I would say it does
the opposite.
After we had
applied for the planning permission, we were hit with the fact that we had to
have a bat survey - £480.00. The chap was very nice, very efficient, but sadly
found about 10 bat droppings in three places. Well now the shit as it were has
hit the fan. I have to have more surveys – see the price going up!!! I may have
to have DNA done on the bat droppings (£125.00). If they are Pipistrelle bats,
which the expert considers they are, there are 2 million of them in the UK, it is found in Europe, South Africa and South
West Asia and its conservation status is least concern, which means there is
not a problem with the damn thing!
This roof, which
we are not permanently removing, but just taking down and replacing had no
winter bats, so it is most likely a summer roost. The building that we will put
up will have a larger roof, it is attached and yes I do mean attached to
another identical roof, so if by chance we upset a bat, it can move 8 feet to
another part of the damn roof. I am very happy to put up whatever bat
mitigation is required, special tiles etc. etc. If we had done the building in
April it would have been finished before the bloody things wanted to roost
anyway. We may lose the grant, we have had to pull the planning application so
when it goes in again it will be another six weeks, after the next survey which
has to be done in May. The effect on the bats would have been negligible in
April, however I doubt we will start, if we even get the grant and are able to,
before July. We have had three buzzards, two sparrowhawks, one barn owl, one
goshawk and a Kestrel in during the last two weeks and we are absolutely
stretched with them all, so I have to say that there goes any affection I might
have had for bats, or any assistance I might have given them in the future.
And want to know
the best bit, technically you are not allowed to apply for a bat license to
disturb the little dears until you have planning permission to do whatever it
is you want to do, but you won’t get planning permission without the licence.
What fucking moron worked that one out!!!!!
Then Charlie’s
bank in Yorkshire has told Charlie that my credit rating is not good because
when I moved my bank account over to Lloyds, (where we have paid in our funds
since 1967) I did not give them identification to prove I am whom I say I am!!!
I have only known some of the people down there for over 4 decades!!! However I
am obviously a dangerous risk to the world and am trying to launder money.
Believe me if I had any it would not be going into the bank!!!! So I had to
take my driving licence and a utilities bill down, but I took one that was too
old – it has to be in the last three months. So as you can see, life has been
frustrating.
However Carl
Jones’s has a pair of condors and they have laid, last year they broke their
egg, so this year, he decided not to risk the first egg and brought it here. It
is huge!! We are incubating it and hoping that all will go well and it will
hatch. That will be great stuff and good experience for Holly. The Stellers
managed to hatch one chick by themselves, sadly they lost the other egg, but
they are rearing their own baby plus a Bald Eagle for a friend. The Palmnut
vultures have laid an egg, so fingers crossed for that one.
Just to put the
cap on things the weather is bitterly cold and we have snow on the ground and
it does not look like it is going to change for Easter which is particularly
scary financially I have to say. I did win £5.10 on the lottery last week, but
that is not going to help a great deal.
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