Saturday, 21 February 2015
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| Soon to come! |
I think one of the saddest and most frustrating things about
me personally getting old is that my singing voice is no longer what it was. It was
never as good as I would have hoped, I always wanted to be a soloist opera
singer and singing was very important to me. In reality my voice was never good
enough and my disposition was too nervous to sing publically (believe it or not!) as I found to my
cost. But to be able to sing along with records (OK CD’s these days) or carol
sing at Christmas, was a joy. Now I hear the songs in my head but hardly dare
open my mouth as the noise is not the controlled steady voice I used to have I sound like a choir boy who's voice is breaking, –
it’s sad and frustrating. I wonder if I practised it would come back, but that is unlikely to happen I suspect.
The last two owls evenings went really well, although it was damp on the Friday we managed to get away with both the outside guided tours and the outside flying demonstration. The birds did superbly. Blizzard our young female Snowy Owl really is coming on a treat. We are working with Drift the male, and he is nearly back to being able to do demonstrations, once there we will give Blizzard a well deserved rest to moult and be ready for next late autumn. We gave a total of 540 people a really good evening over the nine evenings we ran, and it was lovely to hear the nice comments at the end of each of them.
We are now almost at the end of half term and we have been busy apart from one day when it was dreadful weather. Lots of kids and grandparents, and all of them seemed to have a good time, we were lucky with the weather today, the storm of hail came between the two demonstrations and we still managed to get every bird flown. The weather for tomorrow does not look great, cold and dry to start with but then storms coming in.
The breeding season moves on, the baby vulture is back with mum and dad and doing well, one of the Grey Buzzard Eagles went back with mum but did not survive the other one is doing well and is a monster. The Brahminy Kites laid an egg on the bath ledge which survived and is in the incubator, we have to rethink an aviary for them now as she can no longer get to the nest ledge in Barn two. The Hooded vulture egg is going OK we think and we await other eggs as time goes on.
The pups are doing OK, I try to keep Nightshade as quiet as possible which is not easy, Agapanthus continues to eat and chew everything in sight. I was a little horrified when he tried to chew a FULL bottle of wine, phew, thank goodness he failed, although opening the screw top lid may be a challenge in the future. The other dogs are fine and so relieved that we are open again and have visitors and the CAFE!!!
At the end of this month we get out some of the flying team, so Karis will be back on duty and Hare, and as long as it dries out, the burrowing owls as well.
Spring is on the way! Oh and we are going to run a competition to design a new Logo, see our Facebook page (don't ask me I have no idea how to get onto it) for details. Holly has put in her first effort - it is not going to win!Monday, 9 February 2015
A week into being open as a Charity, and being charitable seems to be working so far, its wonderful when people are prepared to pay a little extra and give us Gift Aid. Which is very special I have to say. The weekend was great, on Saturday we had a grey over cast day, but still a goodly number of visitors and all went OK. Sunday was a delight, a frosty to start the day and then sunny all the way through and by the afternoon it was like spring, clear, sunny, warm, birds singing, just amazing. Once the sun went down the temperature plummeted and this morning we had another heavy frost but another amazing day. Far less busy today but then it was a Monday. But Rob even had the chance to mow lawns!!!
Its been a difficult time with the dogs, the poor pups have
had a bad time. Agapanthus has the second of two operations on his front legs to try and
help his elbows, and so is very lame and sorry for himself. Then last week I
was backing the golf cart out of the shed, and caught Nightshade between the
cart and the door frame and fractured off her epiphyseal plate. Growth
plate at the top of the femur on her back leg. It was my fault, which of
course made me feel dreadful. She was at our local vet within half an hour on
Tuesday for X-rays, stayed there over night and then David Morton helped me by
driving her and me down to Bristol to the referral vets where they have
reattached the epiphyseal plate with pins and I collected her on Friday.
Now she has to be quiet and resting for 6 weeks, which is be a nightmare as she is already feeling better and wants to be moving fast!
They were thinking that she might have to have a hip replacement, but I am glad
the primary surgery worked as the hip replacement is really expensive. Hopefully if I can keep them both quiet for the six weeks, they will both be able to run around and annoy people at Easter.
We have our first two chicks of the year two Grey Buzzard Eagles, with the Griffon Vulture hatching
at the moment, the new incubation room is working well and the brooder room
too. Its really nice to be able to go in there and have some space, rather than be cramped, and its lovely to have chicks again and be able to show them to the visitors.
The snowdrops are coming out, the wild daffodils and showing
and although there is probably another five weeks of winter, spring is sort of
on its way!
My Red Kite is finally beginning to get to where I want her in terms of flying, the falcons are doing really well, although my female Merlin Windward is moulting a few of her back feathers and they look more like she might be a he, not a she!! Benbecula is flying well as is the new Verreaux's Eagle, Aurora! Mark's African Hawk Eagle is on a different planet from the rest of us and the owls are just coming back on line for the last two Owl Evenings which are fully booked up.Sunday, 1 February 2015
Well our very first day open as a charity is done and dusted and it was great, Jan got the hang of asking for Gift Aid and the first people who happily paid a little extra we took photos of and they are on our Facebook page. They were lovely and stayed all day. It was bright and sunny although the wind was on the bitter side. The shop looked great with huge amounts of efforts from Helen, Holly, Pippa, Jan, David, and of course the dogs who were really helpful! There is still more to do, but the whole feel of the shop is quite different and it is much bigger or seems it.
Adam sorted out all the phones and computers, so it all works well and David - Jan's husband removed one radiator and moved the other one. David Morton sorted out all the accounts and finances and two Trustees David and Adam were with us for most of the day.
The birds flew well, OK I admit my Red Kite was not quite what I would have liked, but the flying was nice, the coming back not quite so nice and the sitting in a tree definitely not nice. However Benbecula flew brilliantly, it is lovely to see such a huge eagle in the air. Holly's Saker did very well and the new African Hawk Eagle was not phased by the visitors, but also not exactly keen to fly - but she looked good!
It all looks so much more open with the Leylandii gone, and once the summer comes the aviaries will be much lighter. The gardens are looking good and the snowdrops are coming out - apart from the ones that Briza dug up - three times. Jimmi and Rob had a team of Scouts with them today and they did a huge clear up in the horse field where the hedge along the road is being laid. Again the difference with it down low is amazing and the view of the Malverns is lovely
Sedge came over today as well to see everyone, he was very very very excited and very very very vocal!! But it was great to see him and he remembered all the members who love him, he also went down to the café and had a whole sausage. Angela and Tracy, who have worked really hard getting the café all spruced up were very pleased to see him - oh and you should try the home made bread Angela is doing - its to die for!
Pippa has a GoPro camera, which she put on Adam and he filmed the Eurasian Black Vulture Bernard (not my choice of name I promise) who was delightful and later she put it on Briza, that made for some interesting filming. I particularly liked the bit where the screen went black as Night Shade tried to bite it!
The breeding season is upon us, the Verreaux's Eagle laid last night - we saw it happen, the Griffon Vulture's egg is in the incubator and she is on a wooden one. The Grey Buzzard Eagle eggs are also in the incubator and the Hooded Vultures have an egg. So things are moving on that is for sure.
Come and see all the changes, you will be amazed!
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!
Monday, 29 December 2014
Its time for a bit of a rant. I enjoy watching Saturday Kitchen during the two months that we are closed, I am usually doing other stuff in the house, but I do like it, I really like that James chap, he seems good fun, very honest and a good chef. I like him and Raymond Blanc and Nigel Slater, they are all great to watch and I would love to try their food. However I was really annoyed by a film they showed last Saturday with a cook called Rick Stein, the guy is an idiot. Firstly he commented how he loved that every inch of viable land is cultivated for food. He does not seem to understand that to do that over 90 per cent of the natural rain forests have been destroyed in that area, not only causing the extinction or near extinction of some amazing species, but taking down trees is a really bad thing to do for the planet, and these are, unless humans stop breeding the way the do now, irreplaceable. They also give us oxygen and I don't know about you, but I really like having oxygen. 
Then he showed a wild civet cat in a tiny cage and gaily told us that it is being fed on nothing but coffee beans, indeed he fed it with some (I would love to see him survive on nothing but coffee beans for a month, let alone all its captive life), the beans go through the animals body and the resulting coffee is supposed to be very special. He then tried some on his staff in his restaurant somewhere in Devon to see if they could tell the difference between normal coffee and beans that have been eaten and crapped out by a civet cat. Not only were only just over half his staff able to correctly identify the right coffee but none of them said that it was stunningly better than any other coffee. Just imagine how many civet cats are kept in an appalling way to produce this ridiculous variation of a coffee that is not even identifiable by a bunch of people who supposedly are experts in terms of taste. The guy as I said, is an idiot and very short sighted, and I will not be going to his restaurant.
At the same time I would like to congratulate Chris Packham for his letter to Ant and Dec (whoever they are) about I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of here. I have to say that I have not watched it, I find most reality television a cheap and nasty way to supposedly entertain the public and I abhor it. But the stuff they do on that particular programme is obscene and cruel and completely unnecessary. The use of insects and reptiles, fish and amphibians to amuse the public is reminiscent of the old Roman Games where animals killed one another or humans for the entertainment of other humans. The Japanese do the same sort of programme and all it does is as Chris says, vilify the animals which they do not deserve and teach people to have a complete lack of respect for life other than their own. Its not acceptable and shows a huge lack of intelligence both from those who are involved in making those sort of programmes and I am afraid those who encourage it by watching them.
While I am mentioning television just how many times has Back to the Future been shown on TV, it must be even more times than the Harry Potter films. Good Lord there must be more films to show us!
It was pretty cold last night and this morning the weather forecasters were bemoaning the fact that it
was cold - its winter for heaven's sake, its supposed to be cold and actually we have only had about four frosts here this winter, and only one last winter. Its good for the country, kills off insects and breaks up the soil. We like it here in the winter - its proper and in its place and time.
The birds are well, the daffodils are showing a inch of leaves as are the snowdrop, although the frosts may slow them up. New Year approaches!
Saturday, 27 December 2014
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.
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