Sunday, 29 May 2016
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| Thanks Lou! |
I don’t know where the days and months go. I have more staff
and less time as the years go on, it is quite extraordinary!
So where are we, Easter was not good, the forecast was
dreadful, although the reality was not that bad. But of course by the time it
looks like it is going to be OK people have come to the decision on where they
are going to go – or not.
My cooker is finally fixed and working which quite frankly
was not before time. My next moan is to be at the car parking at Gloucester
station. I used to be able to walk up and pay for my ticket and parking at the
same time. Now it is either a machine, which apparently does not take my cards,
or a phone job. It took me four attempts to get it right and I don’t think I
have the correct reg number even now. I very nearly threw the phone under the
nearest incoming train. How people can think this makes life easier I am at a
loss to know. I was getting so bad tempered that people were moving away from
me!
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| They always look great but for such a short time |
The breeding season has been a difficult one, some
successes, some sad failures, but we do have two baby Brahminy Kites which is
very special, and two baby Lugger Falcons as well, one of which will stay with
us.
One of my dearest friends died in March. I had meant to go
and see her, but a stroke compounded her illness and I did not have the time.
She would probably have laughed to know that I got a speeding ticket on the way
to her funeral. I did try to explain to the fine people that one of the things
you can’t be late for is a funeral. So I go t to do a Speed awareness course
(again!). I can never understand why the people who get given the opportunity
to do one of these are always so miserable about it. I am delighted to have the
chance!
We have had two sad losses here, Hector our 24 year old male lanner produced his last baby this year and quietly died while helping to rear and our beautiful male Verreaux's Eagle who produced the last four chicks died today at 28 of a heart condition. It is these times that are very hard to deal with. But both had a long and I like to think happy life.
I hope you like our new flag pole and flag. On the Queens birthday someone wrote in a local paper that they thought the town should not fly the Union Flag because it might upset someone. I was so livid I spend £157 buying a pole and flag to put up here. She is our Queen in our country, I am very proud of her and if you don't like that - go away!
We have found a wonderful fund raiser locally, she is very
experienced, great to work with, incredibly positive which is important and we
are going to officially launch our appeal next year which is our 50th
anniversary – a good time to do it I feel.
It is the 50th anniversary of BIAZA – the British
and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquaria, and the 50th anniversary
of RRF Raptor Research Foundation both this year. I have to go to both
conferences, although the BIAZA one means that I can’t go the Water Colour
painting course that I had booked on. There is a later one in November and I
have to be in India for that one!! I am doomed!!
The new paths are in, although only one is open as yet. The
fence in the Hawk Walk is working well and I have only fallen over it once,
although I had an impressive set of bruises!!You may have heard that Cremorne our Bald Eagle, did another disappearing act, five days out and we finally got her back. She is going in for breeding! Rombick Knight the White tailed Sea Eagle is taking over from her.
The gardens are looking lovely and the swallows are back and
nesting in the garage, which is great to see. One pair looks like they would
like to nest in Hare’s compartment, I wonder what he will think of that if they
do. The House Martins are interested in my fake nests for them, but if it
encourages them to make their own that is fine by me.
I had invasion of the bees about 10 days ago, there was a
swarm under my bedroom window, and when I went to bed there were a considerable
number dead on the bedroom floor and tons more in the sitting room. I have no
idea how they got in.
I did my first Eurostar trip last week, had to go to a CITES
Stakeholders meeting in Brussels, the meeting was interesting the trip was fine
and all went OK, however the carriage I was in on the way back had two children
opposite one, one of which should have been fed to our condor, she was a
monster. Roll on the day when they see the need for child free travel!
Saturday, 12 March 2016
Its a lovely day, the birds are starting to lay, the wild daffodils are coming out and I am beginning to get the hang of Photo Shop, although I would not say that it is user friendly.
My kitchen is now finished, we knocked down a wall into the Butler's pantry which was a room that I never used apart from to put 'stuff' (i.e. a junk room) and I don't like untidy junk rooms. We use the kitchen for meetings etc, so it was nice to get it larger. The dust had to be seen to be believed, you could have used a plough on top of the cooker!!
Which reminds me - I am singularly and I mean singularly unimpressed by Range Master. Their staff need customer relations training, they are not particularly pleasant and as for their speed in repairs - all I can say is I will not be buying Anything from them again. My new cooker arrived before Christmas, I did not use it straight away as my old (very old!) saucepans would not work. When I did, the hob does not work properly. I finally got hold of Range master in January - is the cooker fixed - is it buggery. They sent two technicians once with the wrong part and I have seen or heard from them not once since, that makes it two months. The bloody guarantee will run out before they fix it at this rate. Don't buy from Range Master!!!!
Agapanthus has just walked in with a dog bowl, he throws them around in the kitchen which is particularly noisy and then puts them in my office or on the lawn which makes finding them interesting. He pulled the pen jar off the window sill last night and chewed all the pens, why he has not died of something dreadful in his tummy I do not know. He is without doubt the worst chewer I have ever had and has no conscience about it either.
The new Osprey from Bulgaria is wonderful, he is a charming person. He only has half a wing on one side, we don't know how he was injured, and we keep changing his perching so that we get it right for him, we are nearly there. He was very difficult to get to feed - they often are - the team in Bulgaria suggested live fish, but that is not legal in the UK, and anyway I suspect the public would not like it. However Holly had an idea, so I got a pump for a fish tank and we put it in a shallow dish and then injected air into some dead fish from the supermarket so they floated. The pump moved the water so the fish moved round in the bowl and hey presto Osprey feeding!!! It is lovely to have him here and now we need to find him a wife so I can achieve one of my dreams of breeding Ospreys!
We also were sent an Imperial Eagle - also injured, she is eating but not settle enough to be round people as yet.
We are going to put in a new path next week and use the turf to redo the top lawn in the Hawk Walk, if it works I may think about taking some turf off the horse field (as I don't have a horse sadly) for the middle lawn. To buy it would be over £1000 which I really don't want to do at this time of the year. However it is all weather reliant which has not been very helpful recently.
Helen MA has been working like a Trojan (I wonder if they did work hard?) on the Little Owl nest
box scheme and we now have 16 up in orchards in Herefordshire and a little of Gloucestershire, so we are over half way on our target and she only started on February 19th to put them up. They are cracking boxes, far better than any other design. One of the huge advantages we have over people who only work with wild birds is that we have a far greater understanding of what birds need when they breed, hence the large and posh design and we are confident that it will work. Be careful if you do buy nest boxes some are appallingly badly designed with no idea of what the birds really need.
Here is hoping that we have a wonderful Easter with thousands of nice customers to start the year well.
My kitchen is now finished, we knocked down a wall into the Butler's pantry which was a room that I never used apart from to put 'stuff' (i.e. a junk room) and I don't like untidy junk rooms. We use the kitchen for meetings etc, so it was nice to get it larger. The dust had to be seen to be believed, you could have used a plough on top of the cooker!!
Which reminds me - I am singularly and I mean singularly unimpressed by Range Master. Their staff need customer relations training, they are not particularly pleasant and as for their speed in repairs - all I can say is I will not be buying Anything from them again. My new cooker arrived before Christmas, I did not use it straight away as my old (very old!) saucepans would not work. When I did, the hob does not work properly. I finally got hold of Range master in January - is the cooker fixed - is it buggery. They sent two technicians once with the wrong part and I have seen or heard from them not once since, that makes it two months. The bloody guarantee will run out before they fix it at this rate. Don't buy from Range Master!!!!
Agapanthus has just walked in with a dog bowl, he throws them around in the kitchen which is particularly noisy and then puts them in my office or on the lawn which makes finding them interesting. He pulled the pen jar off the window sill last night and chewed all the pens, why he has not died of something dreadful in his tummy I do not know. He is without doubt the worst chewer I have ever had and has no conscience about it either.
The new Osprey from Bulgaria is wonderful, he is a charming person. He only has half a wing on one side, we don't know how he was injured, and we keep changing his perching so that we get it right for him, we are nearly there. He was very difficult to get to feed - they often are - the team in Bulgaria suggested live fish, but that is not legal in the UK, and anyway I suspect the public would not like it. However Holly had an idea, so I got a pump for a fish tank and we put it in a shallow dish and then injected air into some dead fish from the supermarket so they floated. The pump moved the water so the fish moved round in the bowl and hey presto Osprey feeding!!! It is lovely to have him here and now we need to find him a wife so I can achieve one of my dreams of breeding Ospreys!
We also were sent an Imperial Eagle - also injured, she is eating but not settle enough to be round people as yet.
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| Of course we have to have sustenance to help her! |
Helen MA has been working like a Trojan (I wonder if they did work hard?) on the Little Owl nest
box scheme and we now have 16 up in orchards in Herefordshire and a little of Gloucestershire, so we are over half way on our target and she only started on February 19th to put them up. They are cracking boxes, far better than any other design. One of the huge advantages we have over people who only work with wild birds is that we have a far greater understanding of what birds need when they breed, hence the large and posh design and we are confident that it will work. Be careful if you do buy nest boxes some are appallingly badly designed with no idea of what the birds really need.
Here is hoping that we have a wonderful Easter with thousands of nice customers to start the year well.
Tuesday, 16 February 2016
Half term and good weather so we have been very busy for the last three days, I think the weather is supposed to be turning tomorrow, which is a shame but may mean that I don't have to be doing to washing up in the cafe over lunch time!The new fence is done and dusted, it looks pretty damn good, and will look even better when we have managed to either seed or turf the grass. Then it will look amazing, and with a few nice shrubs in the right place, it is going to work a treat and with luck will last out my lifetime!
Karis is back on duty as is Windward, my Merlin, who is flying like a demon, and Hare is back as well. We had the most glorious day today, sunny, a little wind but cold. Mathon the young African Fish Eagle was amazing, you could see him getting the idea about using lift, I think he is going to be excellent. Both Holly and I had huge grins after he had flown.
The Griffon Vultures are in disgrace, they have managed to break not only the first egg (they only lay one in a clutch) but the second one as well. We are praying that they will go a third time and if they do, either we are going to remove the egg immediately, or take out the male until we have allowed the egg some natural incubation and swapped it for a wooden one - in which case they can play football with it.
The Brahminy Kites have laid, and this time she is happy with the nest so the eggs are beautifully place in a lovely nest. The Palm nut Vultures which are not really vultures, are looking very loving at the moment as well, so fingers crossed for them.The wild daffodils are coming up, although the snap of cold has slowed things down for the time being, however Rob did manage to get much of the grass mown in the last week. It was SO long because of the mild wet winter.
We have our event for the Little Owl nest box scheme this Thursday. We are working on putting up Little Owl nest boxes in apple orchards in Herefordshire and a little of Gloucestershire - closest to the border with Herefordshire. It is of course a good Cider producing area and so there are lots of both old and new orchards and these can lend themselves to being good habitat for Little Owls. We have some Very cool and well designed nest boxes made by Helen McSweeney and some good volunteers. They are very roomy. I have a problem with nest boxes being badly designed and too small. So we are confident that we have the design right. Adam and Helen are also working on camera's to go in them, so it will be an exciting project.The house roof is nearly finished, just one tiny bit to go and then we are putting up some man made House Martin nests to encourage them back in the spring.
Friday, 15 January 2016
There needs to be more hours in a day, I don't have enough to do all I need to do damn it! That plus I need to feel less tired at the end of the day. There is a lovely frost today, what a relief from rain, rain and more rain. However that does mean I can't go digging hardcore for the paths (what a shame) until it thaws out a bit. So I have been doing emails which I am well behind on.
One does wonder about the morons who send these numerous emails to try and ruin your computer or life, they do seem remarkably stupid. Nat West have just told me they had closed my account - I don't have one at Nat West, so there is one for the bin. I have the usual adverts for viagra, but I am female plus whoever invented the stuff should have asked women if they really do want men to be able to go on for hours - NO!
I probably should have a spam folder, but all too often important emails get lost in them so I don't.
Well Christmas is over and long gone, I had the care of the birds over the period until everyone was back on the 4th of Jan, which would have been more fun if it had not been raining pretty nearly every damn day. I then went to Scotland for a few days to see my sister and have a break, it was lovely to be up there and looked after and I bought a really nice pair of boots, however it would have been nicer if it had not been raining! But we did go one morning to see their Herdwick Sheep - they are lovely!
We are now in the throes of the massive Hawk Walk revamp and again, at the risk of being boring, the rain has not helped. However on Monday Mark, David and Mitchel Kay came down to help and they were fantastic. All the foundations were completed in two and a bit days, Mike has been helping on the brick laying with Mark and hopefully by the end of today all bar the long stretch of wall on the top side will be completed. I have been clearing behind them and getting the paths at least the lower one back to usable because we have an Owl Evening tonight.
I could wish I felt better for it, I got a letter a couple of days ago about getting a flu jab, but I think it was too late - I have already got it!
The roof is all but finished we are waiting for the scaffolding to be taken away and then it should look lovely. Oppps they are here to take it away - hooray!
So we are getting ready to open with birds. I start on the new Bald Eagle after the new fence is done, all the birds that are either still working through the winter are doing fine. The newer birds for the early part of the year will all come out again once the new fence is in and they will feel secure. It is going to look lovely I think, although you may miss the plants to start with, but I have some good ideas for that as well. And if the cold weather holds we should be fine for February 1st.
Moccas thinks she should be doing demonstrations! And we think she is looking rather splendid as well.
Wednesday, 30 December 2015
What a wet soggy windy December and Christmas! I got soaked to the skin today taking the dogs out, I clean my kitchen and within about five hours it is covered in dust again as the mud on the dogs dries out - very tedious.
We did some nice filming with Country File, the people were all charming and very nice to work with, Ellie was excellent with the birds, impressively so, even with Moccas who is not small as we all know. It will be shown on January 17th
I had a very pleasant Christmas, David Morton came round and helped with the feeding round, which was a learning experience for him, I then went for lunch with Alice as per usual, which was delicious, the only down side is that because I don't cook a turkey I never get cold turkey which is almost better than hot turkey, ah well, its worth it knowing I have a lovely Christmas lunch without the work. Came home, took the dogs out, and tried to watch TV but I have to say Christmas TV really is appalling these days. I did watch the last episode of Downton Abbey, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and spoke to my sister in Scotland, my sister in New York and emailed my brother in New Zealand and they all have had the flu - so I have managed to get away without it.
All birds are OK and coping with the damp and the wind. We took Moccas over to Wales on the 28th to show my benefactor her flying, she did pretty well considering there actually was no wind for a change.
Then on the 28th I had noticed some rising water in the car park, but had hoped it was a spring
because of all the rain, however yesterday it was most definitely not a spring it was a mains leak, so I phoned Mike who came over and not only found the leak but discovered that the meter in the field next door which is our meter was pouring out water. So I phoned Severn Trent and I have to say I was very very pleasantly surprised, I got a real person, he was very helpful and within an hour two vans and three very nice men were in the carpark, and not only sorted out the meter leak but helped us with the one near the freezer shed as well. It was so nice to have something like this happen in this day and age so Well Done Severn Trent Water 10 out of ten in my book.
On the other hand I bought a new cooker before Christmas a Rangemaster and it is not working properly. I tried to phone them before Christmas and after waiting 12 minutes with their recorded message I gave up and sent them an email after Christmas, I have heard nothing yet which is annoying. It may be something that I could fix, but unfortunately Agapanthus ate the instruction book!
My wallet is back with all the stuff I did not want to lose apart from the money. I hope they have a very difficult time trying to change the english money and I hope they freeze in my coat!
The house roof is nearly finished thank God, I will be glad to see the back of the scaffolding, which as you can see is not frightfully attactive, but it is lovely to have the roof safe again.
So what else, I have finally finished the Business Plan, apart from the budgeting which I hate loath and detest and have no idea how to do anyway. I have finished an article I was supposed to write, I am sort of up to date with emails. I need to organise two events before the end of May and I desperately need to find someone who can help us with writing grants to get lots of money to do the business plan, so if any of you know one, please send them in my direction.
I am going go Scotland on the 4th to see my sister Anna and back on the 8th in time to have a meeting to do the BUDGET - Oh joy!! And get on with all the work in the Hawk Walk. Our newest member of staff arrives on the 4th as well. Oh and if anyone wants to volunteer during the week after the 8th - I have lots to do!
Happy New Year One and all.
We did some nice filming with Country File, the people were all charming and very nice to work with, Ellie was excellent with the birds, impressively so, even with Moccas who is not small as we all know. It will be shown on January 17th
I had a very pleasant Christmas, David Morton came round and helped with the feeding round, which was a learning experience for him, I then went for lunch with Alice as per usual, which was delicious, the only down side is that because I don't cook a turkey I never get cold turkey which is almost better than hot turkey, ah well, its worth it knowing I have a lovely Christmas lunch without the work. Came home, took the dogs out, and tried to watch TV but I have to say Christmas TV really is appalling these days. I did watch the last episode of Downton Abbey, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and spoke to my sister in Scotland, my sister in New York and emailed my brother in New Zealand and they all have had the flu - so I have managed to get away without it.
All birds are OK and coping with the damp and the wind. We took Moccas over to Wales on the 28th to show my benefactor her flying, she did pretty well considering there actually was no wind for a change.
Then on the 28th I had noticed some rising water in the car park, but had hoped it was a spring
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| It is going to look great - eventually! |
On the other hand I bought a new cooker before Christmas a Rangemaster and it is not working properly. I tried to phone them before Christmas and after waiting 12 minutes with their recorded message I gave up and sent them an email after Christmas, I have heard nothing yet which is annoying. It may be something that I could fix, but unfortunately Agapanthus ate the instruction book!
My wallet is back with all the stuff I did not want to lose apart from the money. I hope they have a very difficult time trying to change the english money and I hope they freeze in my coat!The house roof is nearly finished thank God, I will be glad to see the back of the scaffolding, which as you can see is not frightfully attactive, but it is lovely to have the roof safe again.
So what else, I have finally finished the Business Plan, apart from the budgeting which I hate loath and detest and have no idea how to do anyway. I have finished an article I was supposed to write, I am sort of up to date with emails. I need to organise two events before the end of May and I desperately need to find someone who can help us with writing grants to get lots of money to do the business plan, so if any of you know one, please send them in my direction.
Happy New Year One and all.
Friday, 4 December 2015
The good news is that my wallet minus any money has been found. That is really good because you can't get a National Insurance card anymore, trying to get a replacement driving license is a nightmare and all the other stuff I had in there I was starting to miss. Still have not sorted out all the debit card problems, but that is happening slowly. I will be glad to see my wallet back. However I am going to now have an away wallet and a home wallet and the away wallet will have bugger all in it apart from neccessities! A lesson learned.
Other good news is that I went on Ebay and found a replacement Barbour. My old stolen one was a 2000 version and so no longer made but I found a couple on Ebay and one arrived today and is perfect which is wonderful. I have bought two so will wait to see what the other one is like.
The African Fish Eagle now called Mathon is flying really well, he looks like he is going to be a great success. My African Goshawk is now flying loose and called Dinder, she is very funny, she is a bit bad tempered and keeps threatening me but there is not much of her so it just makes me laugh. She finally learnt how to go up into a tree properly today and did it several times.
The weather has been dire, nothing but wind and rain or wind or more rain. We are in the midst of an Owl Evening right now and I am thanking the Lord - (thanks Lord) that it was not on last night as that would have been awful.
My model farm is slowly progressing, Helen had a good idea for making hills, so I am going to try that soon. I have just caught up with all my emails which is making me feel good as well. Need to paint the ceiling in the utility room, and do a couple of other things in the house, hopefully by next weekend. This coming one is the first one off since January - yippee.
Ah well better go and check out the mulled wine and fly some owls.
Other good news is that I went on Ebay and found a replacement Barbour. My old stolen one was a 2000 version and so no longer made but I found a couple on Ebay and one arrived today and is perfect which is wonderful. I have bought two so will wait to see what the other one is like.
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| Mark looking really scary! |
The weather has been dire, nothing but wind and rain or wind or more rain. We are in the midst of an Owl Evening right now and I am thanking the Lord - (thanks Lord) that it was not on last night as that would have been awful.
My model farm is slowly progressing, Helen had a good idea for making hills, so I am going to try that soon. I have just caught up with all my emails which is making me feel good as well. Need to paint the ceiling in the utility room, and do a couple of other things in the house, hopefully by next weekend. This coming one is the first one off since January - yippee.Ah well better go and check out the mulled wine and fly some owls.
Thursday, 26 November 2015
A proper shower, what a treat, one of the nicest things when you get home from a trip, is a proper shower. Guaranteed hot water, not having to run around trying to find a drip or two, you can actually have one without clamping your mouth shut so as to avoid swallowing any. Just a joy. I am so glad to be home again.
I have to say that this trip for the SAVE meeting has been
full of rotten luck for me. We arrived in India on the 17th with an
extremely scary landing with Air India not to be repeated I hope! We then flew on to Kathmandu, however the
plane which was supposed to get us there by about 9.30 was delayed so we did
not arrive at the hotel until the afternoon. By the following day I had already
lost my alarm clock. The first day of the meeting went well, I was glad I had
remembered to take a jersey as it was pretty cold in the evenings and we ate
every meal out in the garden as the dining room was not large enough for all
the people. Late that evening I found my alarm clock inside the pillow case! I
had to chair a number of the sessions, which went well until the mid-morning
when the whole room tremored and I experienced my first earthquake. Everyone
moved swiftly out of the room and within minutes one of them had discovered
that the measurement of the earth quake was 5.2. After several minutes we all
went back into the room and carried on as if nothing has happened!
At the end of the second day of meetings, including the
Board meeting we all broke up and then went
outside for a celebration meal. The
lock on my room door had been causing me huge problems so I decided to get my
coat, but put my wallet in the inner pocket, just to keep it safe – wrong move
sadly. There was a fire on the lawn and we all sat round it, so after I had warmed up I took off my
coat and sat on it. You can imagine what happened. Left at about 10.00pm
without my coat. At 7.00am I got up the next morning, instantly remembered
about my coat, but not a sign was to be found. So my favourite brown Barbour
jacket that I had had for 15 years and had been all around the world with me,
plus my wallet with money, debit card, driving license, social security number,
train tickets home, and a whole load of other stuff that I suspect I will miss
over time having forgotten what was in there, was gone.
I had to fly down to Chitwan where the Nepalese conservation
breeding season to check that things were going OK there early that morning. So I left at 8.30
minus coat and wallet, hoping that it might be found. Chris sent an email to
home to tell them to stop my card, which unfortunately went to the wrong email
and never got seen. It was useful to see the vulture centre and as the various
questions needed. Because India is boycotting Nepal for some reason I do not understand, and not allowing any fuel
in, moving round in cars is tricky so I got from the hotel to the centre on the
back of a motorbike. I have not ridden a motorbike for donkey’s years, and
never without a helmet, it was an experience. On the way there we could go
through the woods which was interesting and somewhat bumpy but the evening we
had to go on the road through the village because of tigers. The road as well
as being longer was also a great deal rougher. Luckily the hotel would accept
being paid in Kathmandu by one of the NGO’s in the vulture programme as I had
no funds apart from what I had been lent by friends as the meeting. I flew back
to Kathmandu the following day, only to discover that I had left my alarm clock
at the hotel in Chitwan!! I hope to get it back next time I come over. (did I see this Elephant - no!! But I thought you might like the photo)
There had been no sign of my belongings, although the hotel
was very apologetic, so it had been stolen. I finally managed to get hold of
the Centre at home, but only by phoning a friend as I had had no replies to
emails or five phone calls, by which time I was somewhat stressed and my card
was stopped.
The following day we left at 6.00am to get to the airport
and fly to Delhi and then on to Chandigar, the second plane was delayed by two
hours so we finally got to the hotel in Pinjore at 7.30pm, a long day.
I woke the following day with a cold! We completed various meetings, had a look at the release aviary and on the second day there was actually an adult wild Oriental White-backed Vulture sitting on the top of it which bodes well.
Rhys and I left at 5.45am the next morning for Chandigar Airport and then Delhi Airport. We got to Heathrow late so I missed the train I had hoped to get but got there just in time for the next one. The Heathrow Shuttle people were really kind and gave me a card to let me on without paying again, which was a good thing as I did not have enough funds anyway! No one asked to see my tickets on the train thank goodness. Holly and Adam picked me up.
Things have been hard during my absence with various things going wrong. I was going to go up and see my sister Anna in December, but have changed that to January when all the staff will have had 10 days off and should be rested and ready to start the year again.
And now I am going to go and have a bacon and egg bap!! Hooray!
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