Christmas day and Boxing day done and dusted. I went carol singing with the villagers last week, at least it was much more fun than last year when we had gales and torrential rain, I was soaked before we even started. This year we did well and many of the people we sang to had a glass of something for us, which was greatly appreciated. Did a reading at the carol service as well and even got to play the Inn Keeper in the kids nativity play. I think that is a first for me!

 

I went to Edinburgh for a few days earlier this month to see my sister Anna, we went to hear the Kings College Cambridge Choir, which was lovely, although we both agreed that carols lose something when not sung in a church. But I have wanted to hear them for ever, so it was great to get the chance. A good friend picked me up from Birmingham airport and we drove to get a Christmas tree - it was huge!!! I ended up cutting about 15 inches off the bottom so it would stop falling over, but it looks super now!

 

Agapanthus had an operation on his right leg to help with his lameness, the vet cut through one of the two bones (radius and ulna) to slow down the growth, it seems to be working although I felt awful putting him through it, especially as he has to have the other leg done, and be neutered at the same time. But if it means he can run around properly without pain it will be worth it. Heaven knows what it will cost, and I doubt the insurance will cover all. Still cheaper than children!! And quieter too! However having to be in most of the time he is getting stir crazy and is chewing any and everything he can find, it is amazing how high he can find things with a broken leg!!

 

Birds are all well, we flew everyone up to just before Christmas and now they are having a short break until all the staff are back which is January 5th next year! I look after everything now until they are all back, its nice to have them to look after for a while, although the golf cart got a bit temperamental yesterday and I was not looking forward to pushing a barrow again, luckily it had recovered this morning. The Griffon Vultures have an egg, so do the Spectacled Owls, which was more of a surprise, a couple of other owls also have eggs.

 

The new incubator room is about ready and just needs Holly to come back to put everything exactly where she wants it. The office bit will be done soon after the 5th and the brooder room will follow. The part of the roof that is over the kitchen is done and I hope to do one more part before running out of funds. It will take a while to do the whole thing, but well worth it. The smaller tiles look so much better than the horrid concrete ones we had.

 

We were actually mowing in December its been so mild, just an amazing autumn and first part of the winter temperature wise. It started to get cold towards Christmas and there was a frost on Christmas morning as I fed round. However the forecast snow for us did not materialise, we just had cold rain. This was probably a good thing as I had to take Agapanthus to Ledbury to have his stitches out this morning.

 

I had my usual Christmas Eve drinks party for locals who kindly allow us to wander over their land when we have a missing bird. It went well, the mulled wine was excellent, so good I had to top it up twice. Most of the food went and almost all the smoked salmon! Luckily I was invited to Christmas lunch by a good friend which was lovely.

 

I am looking forward to 2015, it is going to be a good one. We will be a charity, which should make a difference to us. Our new hospital is working out really well and we are getting far more of the injured wild birds back to the wild. All in all we are hoping for a great year.

 

 

Bloody hell, a month has gone by, I don't know where the time goes, so what has happened. Well if I start from today and go backwards it might work. We spent the last two days looking for Updraft, Holly's male Saker. He buggered off on Monday and we found him fairly easily in the middle of Newent Woods almost at the top of May Hill, he came down pretty well and he was still popular. So having lost a little weight overnight she flew him again yesterday and damn me he did the same thing again! This time we were out in the van from 2.00pm until well after dark. We chased him to Huntley, Kites Nest Woods (very apt!) Highnam, Tibberton, back to Huntley, back to Tibberton and then finally Newent woods again!! But this time on the lower side. By dark having been joined by the rest of the team we were walking through a very muddy wood, I lost my welly and was at one point laughing my head of on my hands and knees with one very soggy sock and my boot about four feet away, and it was not easy to get it out either. We pinned him down to an area where we hoped he was in a tree but it was very dark by this time and very thick woods. So we left him and hoped for the best. Holly and I were back before day light and finally found him on the ground in the middle of the woods, so not only was he very lucky not to have been eaten by a fox, but it explained why the signal was so difficult to follow. He is back and will go back on a training line tomorrow and is rather less popular although he and Holly have now made a record!

The trip to Bangladesh was interesting, the SAVE meeting went very well, it was extremely well organised, the people were wonderful. However - yet another hotel with no alcohol!! We did go on an intrepid trip through Dhaka and found a much posher hotel that did have a bar, but that was the only evening!! Dhaka is a nightmare, the traffic has to be seen to be believed. We then at the end of the meeting went on a six hour trip to a Tea Garden and then in the morning to see birds in a wood (LBJ's) and then to a wetlands where we did see Palaces Fish Eagle (in the distance) and some lovely Brahminy Kites. OK we saw various ducks and more LBJs as well, but I am not a serious bird watcher unless it has a hooked beak and is not a speck in the distance!!

I stopped off in India on the way back and we went to Pinjore and the following day found a potential release site for the birds for the first release and then had a meeting with the people from four States to see if we could work on it being a Vulture Safe Zone in time. Chris and I took the train back to Delhi and an Auto - one of those three wheeler things - a first for me! back to a hotel and I flew out the next morning. I did manage to lose my small camera and I can't find my phone anywhere although I know I had it on the train home to Gloucester.

The birds were all well on my return, all flying well, my Merlin Windward is a dream, one of the best merlin's we have had. Scarba my Lugger Falcon after a shaky start is flying well too. Mark is training a lovely adult African Hawk Eagle for demonstration that has been loaned to us. She won't lay eggs and refuses to hunt, which is perfect for us for demonstrations.

Can you believe it, its December 3rd and we have been mowing the lawns!!!! Its the first time they have been dry enough to get a lawn mower on them, and the grass has not stopped growing.

We saw Sedge on Sunday, he is doing really well and is obviously very loved, he of course went completely banana's and even Mike could hear him from up on the roof!! The roofing is going well, the bees caused a problem but we think that is sorted out now and the dry weather is holding which is wonderful for us.

We are closed now and getting stuff done which is always nice, although I was not pleased to have to tidy up the new workshop this morning!! Agapanthus ate the phone and the answerphone while I was away, but hopefully that is sorted out now, I will be pleased when he stops chewing, but he is having front leg problems and so has to be shut in a lot and that does not help. The big chair in the kitchen is in for repairs again as well!

We have a staff meeting tonight and then its time to get my Christmas Cards sorted out!

Apart from Wednesday, and possibly today, its been a glorious school half term and we have been really busy, which has been lovely to see. With sun, and people and autumn colours, it has been a good week, although pretty short staffed a lot of the time. Roll on being able to afford a couple more bird staff.

The dogs have been frightening me to death eating Yew berries, the tree in the drive is laden and as fast as we rake them up, more come down, I will be glad when they are done. So far there has not been a problem but they are very toxic, and I know they are going through them because their droppings are very festive!

We start Owl Evenings next Saturday, its amazing how quickly they come around. I am hoping that the two young Snowy Owls will be able to get into the swing of things and start to be as good as Cool Ground was. The bookings are going well and most of the November dates are full with December slowly filling up, I am always surprised that November is more popular than December as it seems to be such a Christmassy thing to do!

The speakers in the field are now back up and both running properly, we were down to one which was not good, but yesterday the weather was so amazing I tackled the digging in of the new cable with Adam and we started at 9.00am, and by 1.30 with half an hour for coffee and a break during the flying demonstration, we had the cable inside a pipe, the 50 metre trench dug, the cable in, the speakers both working and the soil and turf back in place before 1.30, not bad going for about three hours work. Patrick one of our volunteers came and helped after the first demonstration, and Holly tested the sound system with a poem on the Jabberwok!

We go down to two demonstrations per day as of Monday which should give us more time to get things done. Charlie does it at Duncombe and my staff wanted to see if it could work for us. So often there is no one there for the last demonstration in the winter, so just doing two should work. They will be at 12.00 noon and 2.30pm, and as we will have a fair number of birds to fly, depending on the weather I suspect they will each last close to an hour anyway.

We have a full line up for the seven day course starting on Monday as well, so Mark will be out of action for a week teaching that, with input from some of the rest of us as well.

The move to the new workshop is working well and so far all the tools are being kept tidy - wonders will never cease. It makes such a difference if you can find things quickly to do jobs. We fixed the roof over the coal and wood shed, it was leaking badly over all the main electrics, which somehow did not seem to be a very good idea. Needless to say the job became more complicated as soon as we started, with some of the wall having to be rebuilt! However it looks very good now and I managed by sheer luck to buy 5 solid (and I mean solid - they weigh a ton) for £30 each, so two will go as doors into the new brooder and incubation rooms and three in the courtyard. We priced hardwood door surrounds and they wanted £160 each!!!! So I am getting Philip to make them for me.

The first internal wall in the new Avian Propagation Unit (that will never last as a name!) is up and only has to be clad, so hopefully we will be racing ahead with all that, as some of the birds are already looking like thinking of nest building, we need to get it done. I think the big trench across my front lawn is going to have to wait until next year.

Holly's new Saker called Updraft is going well - very well, the female called Sandstorm buggered off two weeks ago, Mark and Jimmi tracked her until dark and made sure she was up in a tree and Jimmi and I got there just before first light and finally got her back after a couple of hours chase. We did our good deed for the day and rescued a sheep with its head stuck in a fence, it was not at all grateful.

Sedge is well, Agapanthus ate the TV remote control, and has an annoying habit of picking up the water bowl when it is full, you can imagine the result.

The first young bred in Nepal

I know I know, I have not updated for ages, but things have been busy since I got back from India and Nepal. We survived the trip, it turned out to be eight flights, no train trip - probably a good thing, two five hour drives and one nightmare nine hour one in Nepal. That was not fun, we ended up in a rice paddy field, with no lights on the car, no idea where we were and the possibility of Rhino's about, I was not amused! However we got most things done, and that in not particularly good weather, I think it rained in West Bengal, Assam and Nepal!! Next trip is Bangladesh in November with a possible side trip to India on the way back to assess potential release sites. I have not been to Bangladesh, I hope there are not floods when I am there, I have to say that flying always worries me, and now you wonder if the plane has been somewhere like West Africa recently and if so has it been fumigated!!

 

I came back to the most beautiful end of September, I was a little miffed that I had missed such lovely weather, but it was great to be home and at the start of autumn which I love. It has been extremely wet since, but as I write the sun is out and the colours on the trees are sparkling as is the pond.

 

New tractor shed and Jimmi pretending its all his own work!

We have been very short staffed with various people having holidays so I have been out in the Centre and neglecting my computer, the dreaded emails and this weblog. However the new workshop/tractor shed is done with a little more to do inside and the power to get down to it, but otherwise all the stuff is now safely away. We took down the very dilapidated and ugly old workshop, boy that was a task, but its done and the tree roots are out so we are getting it all looking smart again. While I was away Mike and Rob with a little help cut the leylandii that are behind the small falcon block right back as they had got far to large, it does not look pretty right now, but it will smarten up over the next growing season and we will be able to keep it in check now. The difference in the light levels in those enclosures and in Barn 3 is amazing. Next job is the leylandii's by Real, which need to go and that will give those birds far more light throughout the year.

 

All the new birds are going well, some have left us for new homes and the rest are going to join the official team. The Brahminy Kite Zephyr is now fishing on the pond which is very exciting, a great chance of wonderful photos! The three Lanners that we have kept are all doing well, the two Sakers we bought have been a challenge, they were in my opinion not parent hatched and reared, but hopefully once we have got over their temperament problems they will fly well.

 

Sedge is doing really well in his new home and if you do FaceBook I think you will find he has his own page, I have no idea how to work Facebook and I am not sure I want to learn at this point! The puppies are well, Agapanthus has so far destroyed the kettle and a salt cellar, I have to put everything out of reach at night, which is a challenge as he gets bigger, and bigger he is getting!

 

The charitable status is coming along, it is hard work and my role apparently is going to be to raise money, so look out, I will be on the hunt once we are a charity, I need you to introduce me to lots of rich friends (I don't think I have any!) so that we can make this place sing the way that it should do. I have a ton of ideas, just need the funds to do them all - oh and a very long life!

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!

Its autumn!! It really is, mists in the morning, the leaves are turning on the field maples and on my Indian Horse Chestnut tree, I have picked and eaten (and survived!) mushrooms from the field and it feels like autumn now, although it has been very warm once the mist has gone.

 

The Falconry Weekend went really well, the weather was kind, I was worried during the week as we did have rain and I was concerned that the field would get cut up before the weekend, but Burgoynes who put up all the shedding and marquees were great and did it all from their lorry on the hardstanding track at the top. The people delivering the loos were really helpful too as the ground was a little soft on the Wednesday. However Saturday dawned dry and reasonably bright with a zephyr of a breeze and all went well. Helen MacDonald signed and sold all her books and David Cobham signed and sold all his by lunchtime, I find it remarkably stupid of the publishers that they would not allow either author more books when they probably could have sold double the number. Very stupid people who obviously do not know their job! Poor Helen had to buy the extra books I suggested she bring and even then did not have enough - Publishers - grow up and learn your market a little better.

Baby Verreaux's will be out soon!

 

All the birds did well, the seminars were well attended and we had nearly double the number of stands this year over last year. Helen, Jimmi, Adam and Holly all helped me cut up the venison on Thursday evening and we ate some as well to test it - it was very good. I then marinated it in cider until the BBQ on Saturday evening for all the clubs and trade stands, we had a very good time. I am told that one artist who shall be nameless had a particularly good time and had to be helped up the lawn to his bed at 2.00am! He did not look that well in the morning!!

 

Sedge was greatly missed, he probably would have had a great time and eaten himself silly, Indigo certainly would have done as he did last year. I missed them both. The other dogs behaved well, although Briza did steal some socks from Trevor Fowles' tent - he flew his lovely Bald Eagle for us. I have not offered to give them back as they are not really wearable any longer. The puppies enjoyed it and Agapanthus joined me in the last demonstration and helped to fly a falcon - well sort of helped!!

 

I had to go to a meeting of the National Birds of Prey Trust on Monday morning in London which I did not want to do, because really I was needed for the clear up, however next year I will be home to help do it. I must have been more tired than I thought as I ran to catch the 2.30 train home and then went to sleep just before Swindon where I should have changed trains and woke up just as the damn train was pulling out of the station so there went all my plans for getting home early.

 

However the field is clear and clean, everything is away for another year, or almost everything. We have a seven day course next week and I fly to India on Monday Week for twelve days. I am not looking forward to it as I miss so much here. However needs must as they say.

 

I am hoping to get my Hobby out soon, and probably a good thing not today as there were a ton of dragonflies on the pond.

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.