Good news

The good news first. Pele has recovered from his broken talon. While it hasn't healed in the fact that the talon hasn't grown back he is using it. Even better he caught a rabbit today at Cameron House.

Things have been steady over the last week. Tuesday was busy with 3 hawk walks back to back at Cameron House. Mardy did 2 and he was great. Flew really well for 2 hours.

On Wednesday i was meant to take some people out hunting but they didn't show so went out myself with Amber to check on a bit a ground that i have permission to hunt on. It was not good. A few years ago it was over run with rabbits but over the last 5 years there has been a steady decline in the rabbit numbers to the point where i would say there is none. This is not unique in this area. I have permission to fly else where and i have noticed the same there as well. Other falconers in the area have said the same on ground that they have permission on. I need to find some new land that i am allowed to fly on. There were a few pheasants about and Amber was unlucky with them coming close to catching 2 of them.

On Thursday it was St Phillips Secure Unit. Like i said in my last entry, it is always an experience going there. I have no idea as to why these boys are there. I know some are there for 3 - 4 years so they have done something wrong. I am never that comfortable when i am there and it is not dealing with the boys who stay there. It's the fact that where ever i go the door is always locked behind me. First of all i drive my car into a loading bay and the gates are locked. The a door is opened into a games hall and once i am in the door is locked. I never feel that comfortable being locked in a room that i can't get out. I guess most people are like that.

The on going saga that is Bob has stopped for the time being. There was a few days last week where I knew I was going to be struggling to fly him so i gave him half a pigeon to eat. He was delighted. I didn't need to feed him for 3 days after he ate the half pigeon. He also dropped 3 feathers so I have decided to let him moult and tidy himself up.

The weekend bookings passed with out incident unlike today. As I said at the beginning of the post Pele caught a rabbit. I was at Cameron House and the person out was someone from the sales team. I said I would take them on a hawk walk so they knew what it was all about and could tell guests about it. We were walking through the grounds and Pele drops out of a tree and goes behind some bushes and has nailed a rabbit. The person from the sales team was ok about it. At the end of the day it was a good incident.

Winter is now starting to show that it is almost here even though it is only mid October. They were mentioning on the weather this evening that there could be frost tomorrow night. I will need to start restricting when the birds can have baths as the last thing you want is the bird to have a bath late afternoon or early evening and then for there to be a frost. Some of the birds are prone to getting a condition called wing tip edema which is frost bite like the Harris hawks, the Lanner and the Lugger. As the seasons change the routine in the centre changes. The two go hand in hand.

The coming week is fairly quiet so a chance to relax a bit myself. The last 6 months have been full on and next week may be busy due to the English schools being off on holiday and then I need to start preparing for the Christmas rush of gift vouchers as presents. This doesn't impact on the birds but it does mean i am on the phone and e mail answering enquiries. The days are short and the weather can be rubbish so i can be limited as to when i can fly the birds.  Over November and December the number of birds flown is reduced to it's lowest level in the year. I don't like birds sitting about at weight and not flying. I don't think this is healthy for them. So we only have about a third of the birds flying at this time of the year. The rest are given extra food and rested over the worst of the winter.

Everything i do i am always thinking about the birds welfare and health. This is why i won't do certain types of work with birds. Namely allowing people to come and hold a bird and charge for a photo at a gala day or car boot sale and the bird spends all day getting passed about and not allowed to settle. Out at the centre it is different. You are welcome to take as many photos as you want and you WON'T be charged. The handling only last for a few minutes or the birds are flying and choosing to come to the person. Rant over.