Hopeton House and Canal Festival

After a quiet start to the week once we got the food run out of the way and we even managed to get a day off on Tuesday (that's my day off for the month) and on Wednesday we had no bookings. This allowed me to go out to a farm where i like to fly the falcons and  fly Bob and Uist. Both looked good especially Uist.

After the quiet start it was back to normal. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday we were out doing events with very early starts on Saturday and Sunday. All good fun. Brel a male Harris Hawk was once again a star. He did 6 events in 4 days and never put a wing wrong and never let me down. The big event was on Saturday where we were doing a big corporate event on the back lawn of Hopeton House near Edinburgh. Brel did a great flight from the roof of Hopeton House to the middle of the main arena to a member of the publics' glove. It was windy and Alba the Barn Owl was struggling a bit and got blown away at one point but we got her back quickly and she was able to carry on. Uist the Lugger Falcon was a bit of a disappointment even though it was good conditions for him.

Most of the other events were at Cameron House with the birds all flying well there. Jo was at the Canal Festival in Kirkintilloch on Sunday with 4 birds doing a static. Jo and the birds got a lot of positive feed back. Alot of the interest was in Luca, Jo's Northern Hawk Owl. A lot of people seemed very impressed that we don't allow touching of the birds as we don't want to stress them out and that we are always thinking about the birds' welfare rather than making  a few quid. I don't run Strathblane Falconry with the sole object of making as much money as possible (don't tell my accountant i said that). I run Strathblane Falconry so i can get to work with birds of prey on a daily basis. I am not very comfortable with the whole take a stand somewhere and charge for photos with birds being stroked  and constantly getting passed about from person to person with a donation box out front. Birds are for flying not standing somewhere and charging for photos. Others may disagree with this but i am doing what i feel is best for my birds.

Today we had out annual inspection from the council vet. I always look forward to these as i am always confident that the systems we have in place at Strathblane Falconry for the up keep of the birds meet if not exceed the standards set out in the Zoo Licensing Act of 1981. Saying that the centre looked at it's best today in the sun. The vet was very happy with things and will be saying that in his report to the council.

We had the inspection in between a half day session in the morning and a family fun session in the afternoon so a busy day in the centre.

Lobey, the Turkmanian Eagle Owl appeared in the Hello magazine in the readers wedding section.

Food run & autumn

I mentioned in my last post that autumn was here well i feel it is well and truly here. There other night i noticed how short the day was and how early it was when getting dark. The thing is i always looked on August as a summer month. This year i am thinking autumn is here. Seasons come and go.

Things at the centre have been busy as usual. In the last week we have been out on the road doing demonstrations and flying sessions on 6 days. A lot of running about but great fun. Even though there has been a lot of bookings away from the centre the centre still has to be cleaned and birds that are not being used still have to be looked after. Cleaning and feeding still has to be done and birds still need to be flown. Jo has been a massive help and over the last few days i have had Thomas another vet student on EMS placement to help me. Thank you to both of you.

The event that sticks out over the last week was the demonstration for a wedding down near Ayr. Lovely location out in the Ayrshire countryside the birds all flew well and we got a lot of good feed back. It was on a farm and there is a possibility that i may be allowed back to fly the birds at rabbits as there seems to be a lot on certain parts of the farm. I had better get Amber going.

Talking of Amber. Her training is going well. I asked her to jump to the glove the other day in her aviary which she did. This was the first time in 6 months that she has come to me for food so she is getting closer to her flying weight which is great. Hopefully i will have her flying in a week or so. I always get excited when i get a bird flying again after it's moult. It's hard to explain. It is like meeting a close friend who you haven't seen in ages and you are catching up with each other

Today was a long day as i had to go and collect the food for the centre. I have to do this every 3-4 months. 30 boxes of chicks, 60 quail, 1kg mice, 3kg rat, 2kg of duck neck, 1kg of sausages and 12 pigeons. It is normally quite simple. Drive 1 hour, collect food, drive 1 hour back and load food into the freezer. 4 hours and it is all over. Simple. Not today. Drove 1hour and picked up food (so far so good). Started to drive back and the car broke down and i had to call the RAC. Thankfully they got is started again and i got up the road and the food hadn't de frosted. I was well impressed with the RAC. After they had got the car going again they followed me up the road for a bit to make sure things were ok. Just as they were about to leave the car lost power again. Once again they got it going and once again followed to make sure it was ok. Thankfully there was no more problems this time. Plugs and leads are being replaced tomorrow. What should of been 3 hours running about turned in to 7 hours of driving and brake downs. Thank you RAC for all your help.

the leaves are turning

It's kind of sad. We are in the middle of August and i have started to notice that the leaves are starting to change colour. I guess autumn is just around the corner which is a little bit depressing but at the same time it is a time of change and that is 1 thing i do love about my job that i am out in the great out doors if you like and i get to see the seasons come and go.

It is the time of year when i start to think about other things in the centre. The hunting season mainly. I am already starting to prepare for it by bringing Amber's my female Harris Hawks weight down. I should hopefully have her flying by the end of the month. Once i get her flying i will start to get Pele a male Harris Hawk going. Both these birds have had the summer off for the moult (drop old feathers and grown new ones). I hope the rabbit numbers are up on last year. For the last few years there has been a steady decline and it has been more and more difficult to see a rabbit never mind catch 1. Each year i keep saying hopefully things will pick up. I don't think it is Myxomatosis. There has been some of that about but i have not seen a lot of signs of it. We shall see what the coming season brings.

As i am getting these 2 birds ready I will also be getting Jerry the Tawny Owl ready to start flying in activity days. He has also been rested over the summer and has finished his moult.

Jerry the tawny owl

Work wise things have been steady and the birds have all been flying well apart from Bob. Who had been doing ok up until Friday evening when i flew him and he was nice enough to fly behind some trees and get lost so that i needed to go and look for him. Just what i needed at the end of a 11hour day - a 30 minute walk to locate a lost falcon. As soon as i caught up with him he came straight to me. I think he was quite happy to see me as he was getting a hard time off 3 wild buzzards. I flew him again today (Monday) and he was perfect as he flew about trying to get height and he is starting to look fitter. All i need to do mow is find time to take him out flying away from the centre so i can start to push him a bit more.

Cameron House and Inveraray castle

Saturday was a busy day. We had started with 3 booking and by the end we had done 4 as we picked up 1 more that day. There was a lot of running about with it. The first and third were at the centre and the second and forth were at Cameron House so there was alot of driving - 2 hours to be exact. I would like to say a big thank you to Jo (my girlfriend) and Alix (vet student) who looked after the centre for me on Saturday while i was dealing with the booking and driving back and forth to Cameron House. I have to admit i love days like Saturday where things are really busy and there is a lot of running about.

On Sunday we had a booking that I have been looking forward to for a while. It was at 1 those locations that i get really excited about going to. We had to do a demonstration at Inveraray Castle. What a venue. The castle and grounds are stunning. The sun was shining as well which made it all the better. The birds flew well. Brel a Harris Hawk put in his usual good performance. Duffy the Bengal Eagle Owl was also flying and once again was brilliant. He is going to be a good addition to the team.

                                           Duffy in action

Even though we have been busy with bookings we are still flying and working with other birds in the centre. At the moment we are bringing Amber's weight down. It is getting to that time when I start to think about the coming season and i can start hunting again. Amber in the past has only been used for hunting but this year i am going to use her in activity days at the centre as well so that she is doing more flying to improve her overall fitness and her manners as she can be a bit stubborn at times. Once we get her going it will be time to get Pele a male Harris Hawk and Jerry a tawny owl going as well. Dylan a Barn Owl will also be flying soon and this means that Alba the other Barn Owl will be given a rest and a chance to moult out for 6 months. As you can see we are always rotating the team so that the birds are not working constantly and are given a break from doing events and bookings at the centre.

Another week gone

This year is racing past. Hard to believe that we in August already.

The weeks just fly by the time cleaning - pens, aviaries and hutches, feeding birds and ferrets, answering phones and replying to emails it is time to fly any birds that need to be flown. Then there are the bookings which everything needs to be worked round.

The big event last week was the corporate event over looking Balloch. This was to be Duffy the Bengal Eagle Owls first corporate event. It was being held in a lovely location on a hill over looking Balloch and Loch Lomond. The down side was 1 of the events was clay pigeon shooting and Duffy was very worried by the noise of the shot guns. I had brought Lobey as well to give myself a bit of cover in case Duffy would not fly. When Duffy first heard the shot guns he was very worried but as the event went on he became more and more confident. I didn't use him in first group but he did the next 2 sessions and didn't seemed bothered by the shot guns at all by the end of the day. Brel the Harris Hawk was his usual brilliant self with nothing bothering him and  flying to everyone . We got some good feed back at the end of the event which is always great to hear.

I had a chance to speak to the vet about the wild buzzard and why it had to be put to sleep. He told me that when they x rayed it they could see that it had broken it's back and this had resulted in nerve damage. I will try and put a copy of the x ray on the blog but it is very difficult to see the break.






Today we had an exciting incident at Cameron house. We had a hawk walk and i was out on the front lawn with a family of  4. Mardy a Harris Hawk was flying about the trees and coming into the glove when called. Everything was going great. Mardy was being perfect. Long sweeping flights into the glove and looking great. I was explaining something to the family and i see Mardy out of the corner of my eye flying down between the trees and crashing in. I knew straight away he caught something. I ran over to see what he had caught to find it was a duck. Not good as they are not  in season at the moment. Thankfully i was able to get Mardy off the duck and release it back on to Loch Lomond. It swam away quickly quacking at me. I am not sure if it was  thanking me or telling what for