Snow

It has been an up and down week with bookings - either fully booked or nothing.

On Tuesday I was at a school - Balmuidy Primary. The P3 class were studying The Owl Who Is Afraid Of The Dark. When I do a school visit I take 4 owls - Barn Owl, Tawny Owl, White Faced Scops Owl and European Eagle Owl (2 native, 1 small and 1 big). The Barn Owl flies in the hall. Dylan was once again asked to fly but I suspect this was his last school visit as Alba is almost at weight. It was then back to the centre to clean pens and aviaries and then load up and go to Cameron House for a hawk walk which Pele was used for. I took Artemis as well and did a bit more flying on the front lawn. People were stopping to watch from there cars. She was looking good coming 60m to the food I dropped for her.

On Wednesday there was nothing booked so I took Amber out and flew her for myself. She was very good. She was really alert looking for things to chase. I was hoping to see a few pheasants where we were but no luck. Instead she went for a crow which she missed. The crow wasn't too happy about this and started giving her a hard time. She didn't seem to fussed about it.The other thing we saw a few of was woodcock. They are really hard to spot only breaking cover last minute and are really fast when they get going. She came really close to 2 of them but she stands no chance in level flight against them. The day finished empty handed but that wasn't the point. It was just a chance to get out in to the countryside and fly a bird.

Amber chasing a crow through the trees

Still chasing

The crow getting away

On Thursday I had a  small corporate event to do at Cameron House. Two 30 minute demonstrations with handling and flying for about 20 people in each session. The people attending were from all over Europe and their English was perfect. I always feel a bit embarrassed at how good people from other parts of Europe  at speaking English. They all seemed to enjoy it and I got some good feed back from them. Pele - Harris Hawk and Lobey - Turkmanian Eagle Owl did the flying both were good.

Friday was in the centre chasing up people by phone and answering e mails. In other words running a business. I also decided looking at the weather and that some parts of the country seem to be getting covered with snow that I had better get an order in as I have about 2 weeks left. I didn't want to run my food supply right down which is what i do in the summer and find that I can't go and get any more due to snow. I am collecting food on Tuesday as long as it doesn't snow any more. I also took it as an opportunity to get things sorted for the cold temperatures that were forecasted. Just making sure things were ready.

On Saturday I awoke to find the place covered in snow. This wasn't that surprising when I got up as the centre alarm went off at 1am when I was sleeping and called me. When I was driving out to the centre to deal with it, it called me again. The roads were white and I had to walk up the drive way of the hotel as I couldn't get up the drive way. I got back to bed for 2.30am. An interesting start to Saturday.  We had a half day booked on Saturday afternoon. It was cold but the sun was shining so it was quite pleasant until the sun dropped behind the trees and the temperature dropped. Once the half day was finished everything that had been flying was fed up as it was going to be a cold one on Saturday night -5C. Mice, pigeon, sausages, rat were all used as well as chicks. When we have cold weather like that I don't like to muck about. I like to give the birds loads of food to make it as easy for them as possible. Midge the White Faced Scops Owl has been moved out of the centre due to the cold and is now staying at my mum and dads to make it a bit easier for him.

Sunday was a complete loss with it snowing for most of the day. It was a case of checking that all the birds were OK and feeding with a bit of cleaning.

Today though Monday it had stopped snowing and the sun was shining so it was all go to clear 7inches of snow from the path and doorways so we can get into the aviaries and get birds out. We also had to clear snow from parts of the front lawn so birds can be tethered out and be fed. I did all this and Jo did the cleaning. After about 4 hours everything was sorted.

Scops Owl who is from Africa and very small. He is brought indoors. Then there are other who are prone to getting wing tip oedema (frost bite of the wing). I think I mentioned this in a previous post but the Lanner Falcon, Lugger Falcon and Harris Hawks are all quite prone to this. I try and keep them quiet and dry. The thing is life in the centre still carries on. The centre needs cleaned, the birds and the ferrets need fed. Just because there is snow on the road or it is -5C or below and the water supply has frozen doesn't mean you don't have to be there or that the cleaning can stop. I have to be there. In some ways even more so. It is business as usual.

The centre this morning

Artemis on her perch

Birds in the areas that have been cleared for them

 The only down side of the snow is that it has brought the flying of Artemis to a halt. Artemis won't fly to the glove. I have tried and she won't do it. She will fly to a lure. The only thing is that when you drop a lure onto 7 inches of powder snow it disappears. I will need to try and work something out.

Last minute

As I said in my last post the coming week had a bit of a variety in the bookings I had this week.

I picked up 2 last minute bookings on the Monday and the Wednesday for hawk walks at Cameron House on top of the booking on Tuesday at Cameron House. The call for each 1 came through in the mornings of Monday and Wednesday and I was able to do it in the afternoon. Very last minute. Pele the Harris hawk did both.  The 1 on the Monday was uneventful but on Wednesday it was quite windy. This wasn't a problem for Pele. He is 8 years old and lets say he has been round the block a few times so knows how to deal with the wind. It just makes him a bit more exciting to fly. He was soaring at 1 point above to roof of Cameron House and looking good. I shouted at him and he swooped down to the clients glove making it all look very easy. He is a great little bird to work with. Always very steady and fairly easy going.

Thursday was spent sorting out things in the centre and getting ready for the Festive season. Not very falconry related I know but as i said in my last post it is not all about flying birds of prey.

I had been looking forward to Friday as it was a bit of mixed bag with 2 bookings. Both were repeat bookings. the first 1 in the morning is 1 that i have been doing for about the last 4 or 5 years. It is at Glasgow University. I am asked along to fly a bird for the 2nd year Zoology students in their introductory lecture on birds. It is normally a Barn Owl as it has to fly in the lecture theatre. Dylan has done all of them and has always been quite reliable. He had a good day with his eye site. I think the the lecture being so bright helped as he never missed the glove when I called him in. Either that or he was having a  good day with it. It was then straight back to the centre to clean the aviaries, feed the birds and then do some work with Artemis. Once I had done all that it was time to get ready for the second booking. A company bought all the tickets for opening night of the new Harry Potter film at a Glasgow cinema for the their clients and families and they wanted to have an owl to welcome every one. I normally use Corrie for this type of work for 2 reasons. 1 As he is a European Eagle Owl he is big so he is impressive and he has seems to have a bit of a presence about him. 2 He is very steady - he has been known to fall a sleep at things like this.

When I do work like the event at the cinema I am very strict about what I will and won't be doing with the bird. For example the bird stays on my glove and is not used for handling. Also no one is allowed to touch the the bird. I have a zero touch policy. If they want pictures with the bird then people can stand next to it while I am holding the bird and they can have their picture taken. I also limit the time to 1 hour that the bird is on display.  When I do things like this I am always  trying to make it as easy and stress free for the bird as possible. When I see people standing there with a selection of owls charging for photos as the poor thing is passed about with people stroking and touching it for hours on end with a donation bucket for the upkeep of the owls I always feel quite upset and uneasy by it. Owls can very expressive with their facial features and body language. This may sound odd but it is true. I have looked at pictures on line of people stroking owls and I can by the owls body language tell that it is stressed. I have never done this type of work and I don't plan to.  My attitude if you want to run a business involving birds of prey then fine but if the business plan to run it is based on how many photos you can sell of people holding a bird then don't bother. Also if you need donations to help pay for the up keep of a bird then you can't afford it so don't get a bird. Anyway rant over. This is not what my blog is for.

Corrie European Eagle Owl

Things are moving along with Artemis very slowly. As with the previous week weather and bookings restrict the time I can put into her but things are moving slowly. She is getting more steady. I had her coming about 60m to the lure. She was straight off which was great. I introduced the dummy bunny lure for her to chase but she was a bit unsure about it but she got the idea and chased it. She is a lot more vocal because she is hungry and she is a bit imprinted on me but the good thing is she is showing no aggression towards me. She can a bit of a handful when she has food but once she has eaten it she settles down. I have been trying to fly her in other place when I  and where I can. I had her over at Cameron House with me today doing a bit on the front lawn. I still don't have a tail mount on her for telemetry but that will be going on soon once I feel she is in more of a routine and bit more reliable .

Getting ready to grab lure

Got it

Hooded afterwards

The coming week has filled up a bit. Tomorrow I am running about with a school visit in Bishopbriggs and then over to Cameron House. Wednesday is quiet so I will try and get some me time with the birds in other words I will do some work with Artemis and fly Amber. Thursday is a corporate event - I don't tend to get many at this time of year and it only came through today so a bit last minute but who cares. Friday is quiet and Saturday is booked up. A bit of a up and down week.

Rain and stuff to do

The title kind of sums up the last week.

I haven't been able to do a lot over the last week due to the weather - rain. The week hasn't been that busy with bookings and the weather makes it hard to get any consistency when it comes to training or working with the birds.

It was 1 of those weeks where even though there are not many bookings I am still busy. Some people think when you run a bird of prey centre all you do is fly birds of prey. I did when I first started doing this full time but I soon learned that it is not like that. Especially if you own / run a bird of prey centre. For example Tuesday last week was spent cleaning the centre, feeding birds, having a meeting  with someone about promotions, speaking to Jim the IT guy who hosts my web site as he was getting a new lap top for me (the last 1 died), speaking with Jimmy who does all the electrical work and services the alarm in the centre and then going to meet another Jim who takes care of my car as it had broken down on the Sunday. It's quite handy that a lot of the people who I rely on to help me keep things working for me are called Jim. It makes it easy to remember names. There was no time to fly anything.

On Wednesday there was a booking and on Thursday and Friday it rained and things were fully booked over the weekend.

As you can see it is not all about flying birds. When you look after animals of any kind there is the cleaning and feeding that is the 1 constant and it has to be done. This is the less glamorous side of working with animals but is very important that it is done. Just because it is raining or it is cold does not mean that the cleaning can stop or you can't be bothered.

The training of Artemis has taken a slight alteration. I was trying to get her to fly to the glove but she didn't seem to confident with it. We would get to about 10m  and be ok. Anything over 10m and then she wouldn't do it. She would however fly past me to a piece of food dropped on the ground so I am back flying her to the lure and it is going well. She is coming straight off to the lure from 30m away. Next step is to start flying her free which is always a bit scary.

I am not a big fan of eagles. don't get me wrong they are stunning and very impressive but a lot of hard work. All birds of prey are hard work to try and get the best from them but eagles more so. It is not just the fitness and time you need to put in but the responsibility of flying an eagle. Artemis is a Steppe Eagle and no where near as powerful as a Golden Eagle but she is still a large powerful bird of prey. It is not like taking a Harris Hawk out. There are place i can go to fly her. Away from right of ways and public roads. I will try and get some pictures of her flying for the blog.

The coming week is not like last week. There is a random selection of bookings to make a very interesting and fun week. There is a couple of hawk walks, some promotional work, a trip to Glasgow University and the weekend is fully booked

Sad news

Unfortunately we had some bad news this week. Patch 1 of the ferrets passed away. It was not unexpected due to her age. She was over 8years old and they say the average life expectancy for a ferret is 8 years. Patch and her sister Fatty had been with me from when I started my business. She was a great working ferret when you put her down a rabbit warren. Very easy to handle as she would never bite.  I am expecting Fatty her sister to pass away in the next few weeks as I got the two of them together. RIP Patch.

I forgot to mention in last weeks blog that on Tuesday 2nd November I had my 6 monthly vet inspection. This is different to the 1 i had at the end of August. That inspection was by the council vet. This 1 was by the vet that i use if the birds are unwell or have an injury. It is part of my zoo licence conditions that he visits the centre every 6 months to check on the birds, ferrets and the centre. He goes round the centre and i just mention how all the birds and ferrets are doing. It is a chance for him to check anything that has been to see the him in the last 6 months. We had a chat about Artemis the Steppe Eagle and what we can do to try and stop her from laying an egg next year -implant or medication? Not sure on that 1 yet. We checked on Patch and Fatty the 2 elderly ferrets and commented on how well and lively Patch looked. She passed away 48 hours later. We also had a look at Dylan the Barn Owl. I have noticed for a while that he sometimes misjudges his landing on the glove when called (some days he is worse than others) and he always used to land perfectly. Also he sometimes seems to struggle to find food if it has been left in his aviary. I spoke to the vet about this 18 months ago and he checked his eyes and said they were fine. I had noticed that he seemed to be getting worse and really struggles some days. I asked the vet to check his eyes again. This time he said he could see pigmentation of the retina which basically means that Dylan is going blind. The vet couldn't tell me how long he has got and there is nothing that can be done for him. He probably doesn't even realise that he is going blind due to the nature of it. I have decided to get Alba the other barn owl flying again and only use Dylan as back up over the winter. I will get another young barn owl in the spring to replace Dylan. As to what I do with Dylan. I will probably retire him. It is unfair to ask him to keep flying in bookings with his eyesight failing. I do realise that at some point I will have to make a decision to have him put down when his eyesight starts to get really bad and he can't find the food or see perches in his aviary. I feel I owe Dylan a lot. He was another original member of the team and worked really hard for me doing all sorts in the first few years when i started the business and trying to get established. He was a bit of a handful at the start but settled down and was always very reliable.

On a more positive note the inspection went very well and the vet was happy with everything and everyone in the centre.   

In my last post I said i was going to try and get out and fly Amber for myself as it was quiet. I did manage to get out with her but only on 1 day.  I had 2 free days to fly her and it rained on 1 of them so there was no chance to go out. I did get a few hours on the other day. She had a half chance at a rabbit and followed on well for the time that we were out.

I also had another school visit this week. Slightly different talk to the normal ones - owls or birds of prey. This 1 was on flight and to a P6 class. I normally have to do the talks to P3 or P4. I took Gigha the Peregrine, Kyle the Buzzard, Corrie the European Eagle Owl and Dylan. I flew Dylan in the school hall and he was great. His eyesight seems to have good days and bad at the moment. More good than bad but as I said i don't know for how much longer. I also make a point of calling a lot more when he is flying so he knows where I am.

The weekend was spent doing bookings. Pele a Harris Hawk took the opportunity to catch another rabbit at Cameron House when we were doing a booking over there. So there was some more good news.

Hope the coming week brings better news than last week.

Number 7

I feel I should start with the stand out moment of the week.

On Sunday we had a group of 3 people in for a half day session. The sun was shining and it was a very relaxing day. Jerry the Tawny Owl had flown well to everyone. Next up was an eagle owl so I picked Lobey to do it. To give you a bit of back ground information on Lobey. He is the only owl in the centre who is entered. This means he has hunted and caught things. He went through a spell where he was chasing almost anything that moved from Robins to Black Headed Gulls to Gray Squirrels to the autumn leaves as they fell out the trees. During all this he caught 6 rabbits and a hedgehog. He then seemed to settle down and not show a lot of interest with only the odd attempt to catch something. I have had to watch him over the years and he has a bell on him just in case he does go after something and disappears so I can hear him in the trees. I have also flown him with a transmitter on as well. He hasn't shown any real interest in going for anything for the last few years until Sunday afternoon. He was about half way through the session and he saw a rabbit. Now you know when Lobey has seen something that has caught his interest. You will see him stand still and stare, he also stops calling, next he seems to tense up you can see all his feathers being pulled tight round him, then he moves his head from side to side or up and down. At this point he is working out what he is going to do. This can all take seconds. He did all this on Sunday. The next thing I know he is off the persons glove and aiming for a rabbit he had spotted. The rabbit didn't even move until Lobey hit it. It didn't have a clue he was going for it and that is with him wearing a bell. Eagle Owls have a real turn of speed on them when that big wing span is put to work. The rabbit didn't stand a chance against him. The people were ok with it and accepted it was just 1 of those things. It wasn't planned it was just bad timing by the rabbit to come out when Lobey was about. So he is now on 7 rabbits and 1 hedgehog. I would like to point out that Lobey has never been trained or encouraged to hunt. He has spotted things and thought I can catch that.

A lot of people in the falconry world go about how difficult it is to get  eagle owls to hunt and I am sure it is for some owls but Lobey has always had a bit of get up and go about him which has made him good fun to work with and a little unpredictable if he sees something. He started to watch things as soon as I started to fly him and started to chase things not long after he was flying free. He is 8 years old and with the life expectancy of an eagle owl (anything from 30 to 40 years in captivity) I am sure he will add to his total.

Now back to the rest of the week. It has been a bit of a blur. On Monday we did a Hawk Walk for a father and son. They enjoyed it so much the Dad called me back later on Monday afternoon to book a Family Fun Session for  him, his son, wife and daughter on the Tuesday. Tuesday was full on with 3 1 hour booking back to back and it rained all day but we got everything done. Pele was the stand out bird yet again as he did all 3 bookings the middle 1 being a Hawk Walk in the rain.

Wednesday was also full on with 3 bookings. The first 1 was at the centre, the 2nd 1 was at Cameron House and then it was back to the centre for the 3rd booking. So there was a bit of running about.

Thursday was a school visit and a talk on owls at Strathblane Primary. I was looking forward to doing this as i always enjoy school visits and I thought great a booking in the morning just down the road and then straight back to the centre and the afternoon is mine. That was the plan until I clipped a kerb leaving the school and got a puncture so the afternoon was spent going to the garage to get a new tyre. Not what I had planned and the less said about Friday the better. Wash out springs to mind with the amount of rain we had on Friday so I got nothing flown.

Saturday and Sunday were busy with 3 bookings on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. A busy week.

I love it when things are like this. The birds all generally fly well as weeks like this are not uncommon during the summer so the birds are all very much in a routine. I don't like to see lots of birds sitting around the centre not being used. I want to see them flying. This what they are supposed to be doing.



With this week looking a bit quieter I have promised myself some time hunting with Amber my female Harris Hawk and I may get a little bit of time to do some falconry. This is 1 of the benefits of your hobby being your job. I am not really expecting to catch anything with her but I just love being out in the countryside flying her watching her go about her business. We shall see if I get the time. Most times the phone rings and it is back to work. I will let you know in my next post