Once again I have been guilty of neglecting my blog. It has been a while since I have put anything up.
Saying that not a lot has been happening so there hasn't been that much happening which is out of the ordinary. Not unless you count the weather.
The only way I think I can describe the weather is that I think we have had almost every type since my last post. There has been a lot of rain and the ground is cutting up easily and becoming very muddy in places as it is saturated. I have to be careful where I walk on the grass in front of the centre to try and keep it nice and grassy for the birds to weathered on (This means to sit on their perches outside). So far I am managing but certain parts are becoming increasingly muddy.
The last week in November was particularly wet and then in December it got a bit cold and the snow came and went with a bit more snow, gale force winds and some more rain. All in all difficult weather for flying birds in.
Bookings have been a bit thin on the ground but they always are at this time of the year and with the way the weather has been people don't think about going outside. Saying that we have still been doing 3 or 4 bookings a week and we have got all the bookings done as we have been a bit lucky with the weather.
The birds are all doing ok with a very small team actually flying at this time of year. What with the weather and the short days it is difficult to find time to fly many of the birds. Also the cold can slow things up with frozen locks and snow to clear. Meaning there is even less time to fly anything.
At this time of the year the number of birds flying is at it's lowest level. At the moment we only have 6 birds flying which are used in the activity days. A lot of the birds are being given a well earned break after the summer display season. Also it is safer for Midge (White Faced Scops Owl) and Taz (Kestrel) to be given as much food as they want as the margins are so small between life and death for these small birds. Taz at the moment is sitting at 8.5oz his flying weight is 6oz. It may not sound much of a difference 2.5oz but when you think about it he has increased his weight by over a third which is a lot. When Taz is at 8.5oz and eating as much as he wants I don't need to worry about him no matter how cold it gets. Saying that the weather is getting milder at the moment so it will be getting easier for the birds.
The birds have been getting fed all sorts at the moment. I was given a dozen adult cockerels a few weeks back. There is a lot of good eating in a good sized cockerel for the birds. I can give 8 birds a good feed from 1 cockerel and that includes the eagle. We have also been using squirrel, quail, mice and some rabbit on top of the usual day old chicks. The birds are eating well at the moment.
I do need to be careful what I am feeding some of them as I am quite busy over the festive period with bookings with 2 demonstration and a number of smaller bookings for people either at Cameron House or at the centre.
Talking about the festive period it will be the normal routine even on Christmas Day. I will be in the centre for part of it. Birds will be put out front of the centre as normal and fed. All the enclosures and aviaries will be cleaned. Just because it is Christmas Day doesn't mean it won't happen. Saying that I will finish up early and only do a half day once I have cleaned everything and fed all the birds.
The only down side at the moment is I normally try and find time to go out and fly a bird for myself but with the way the weather has been I haven't been able to get out so far. Hopefully in the new year I can get that sorted.
Well there is not much more to say except have a great Christmas and New Year and thank you for reading my blog.
742
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Busy busy
In my last entry I said it looked like it was going to be quiet. Well that's not quite what happened. We had a few bookings come in last minute which was great and things have been busy with a few interesting bookings in the diary.
I suppose the big news has been Bella our new Barn Owl. After a bit of a slow start she has really come on leaps and bounds over the last few weeks. Flying really well on bookings at the centre and Cameron House. Also doing 2 or 3 bookings on some days if we have been busy. The big news is that she flew at her first school booking this month. I was a little bit nervous about it. I knew she should be ok but it was her first time and I wasn't sure how she would re-act to being indoors. As it was she was a star. She flew about the school hall and wasn't fazed in the slightest. The following week we were at Glasgow University visiting the zoological department and Bella was flying in a lecture on birds. She was brilliant. The lecture hall was like a amphitheatre with the seats rising up to the back of the theatre and there must of been around 100 people at it. A tough venue for only the second time flying indoors. We did get off to a slow start but then she came good and was awesome. Swooping down from the back of the theatre to the front over peoples heads and then flying back up to the back when called. It is tough for the birds doing an event like this. The thing is they are brought to the place they are needed to fly in a black transport box so they can't see out out and see where they are. The box needs to be black so bird is in the dark so it will sit quietly in the box. They may never of been to the venue before and have no time to tune in and take in where they are but they are being asked to fly. Dylan was good at it, Alba is good at it and Bella looks like she is just going to be just as good as Dylan who she is replacing.
The visit to Glasgow University Zoological Department wasn't the only visit to Glasgow University. We also visited the vet school to give a talk on bird of prey husbandry to some of the vet students. It was also a chance to say hello and catch up with a few people who had been out on EMS placement over the summer.
The other new addition to the team - Cooper (Harris Hawk) has also been progressing well. In my last post I talked about how I had stopped flying Oran (Harris Hawk) and allowed him to have a break because Cooper has been flying so well. I also mentioned that I had a few booking coming up. Well Cooper was great. I have been using him over at Cameron House on hawk walks. These last for an hour and go round the grounds of Cameron House. He has done about 3 or 4 and has been brilliant - flying well, looking confident (he didn't even get stressed when he watched a helicopter land less tan a 100m from us) and always coming quickly to the glove when asked. He even made a half hearted attempt to catch a crow that was shouting at him.
Talking about crows, Pele (Harris Hawk) caught 1. I am not sure how he managed it even though I was kind of watching. Crows are not the easiest of things for a Harris Hawk to catch especially if the crow knows the hawk is there. Crows are smart. Probably 1 of the smartest birds birds about. The crow was sitting in a tree shouting at Pele who was about 50m away sitting on a lamp post looking about not showing alot on interest in the crow. Pele has had crows shout at him before and has ignored them. What I think happened from the angle I was kind of watching from was that Pele flew towards the crow but made it look like he wasn't interested in it and was going to fly past it as he got level he turned quickly towards the crow and grabbed it. Even when he grabbed it there is no guarantee that he will be able to keep hold of the crow. Crows have a large beak which they stab with when grabbed. The crow was almost the same weight as Pele. The crow weighed in at 1lb 3 1/4oz while Pele weighed in at 1lb 5 1/2oz. As I said in my last post, Pele is 9 years old, he has been round the block a few times and is quite a calculated individual. I saw this calculated attitude again last week. We were out hunting and came across a pheasant. Pele was up in a tree and the pheasant was on the ground up ahead. The pheasant saw me and started running. Pele sat in the tree and watched. He knew that from where he was the pheasant had a good head start and he would struggle to get near it. The pheasant turned into the hedge it was running along and went straight into a fence. It was now stuck. This was when Pele attacked. He was straight out the tree, into the hedge and grabbed the pheasant. Unfortunately he grabbed it by the tail. The pheasant managed to escape missing half it's tail which Pele had. A lucky pheasant. I always have to watch Pele when he is flying. He might look like he is not interested or there is nothing going to happen but you never know with him. The only thing I can be sure of is if he thinks he can catch it he will go for it.
Today we had our 6 monthly vet inspection. This is because the centre has a zoo licence and part of the terms and conditions of the zoo licence act of 1981 is that my centre is inspected every 6 months by the vet who I take my birds to for veterinary care and once a year by the council vet. The council vet visited last month and this month it was the vet who treats the birds when things go wrong - Alistair Lawrie. The inspection went well and the vet was very happy with everything in the centre.
The coming weeks are quiet at the moment but that will probably change. We are in the run in to Christmas so if I am not busy with bookings I will be busy with enquiries. Hopefully I will be able to get out and do fly some of the birds for myself though.
677
I suppose the big news has been Bella our new Barn Owl. After a bit of a slow start she has really come on leaps and bounds over the last few weeks. Flying really well on bookings at the centre and Cameron House. Also doing 2 or 3 bookings on some days if we have been busy. The big news is that she flew at her first school booking this month. I was a little bit nervous about it. I knew she should be ok but it was her first time and I wasn't sure how she would re-act to being indoors. As it was she was a star. She flew about the school hall and wasn't fazed in the slightest. The following week we were at Glasgow University visiting the zoological department and Bella was flying in a lecture on birds. She was brilliant. The lecture hall was like a amphitheatre with the seats rising up to the back of the theatre and there must of been around 100 people at it. A tough venue for only the second time flying indoors. We did get off to a slow start but then she came good and was awesome. Swooping down from the back of the theatre to the front over peoples heads and then flying back up to the back when called. It is tough for the birds doing an event like this. The thing is they are brought to the place they are needed to fly in a black transport box so they can't see out out and see where they are. The box needs to be black so bird is in the dark so it will sit quietly in the box. They may never of been to the venue before and have no time to tune in and take in where they are but they are being asked to fly. Dylan was good at it, Alba is good at it and Bella looks like she is just going to be just as good as Dylan who she is replacing.
The visit to Glasgow University Zoological Department wasn't the only visit to Glasgow University. We also visited the vet school to give a talk on bird of prey husbandry to some of the vet students. It was also a chance to say hello and catch up with a few people who had been out on EMS placement over the summer.
The other new addition to the team - Cooper (Harris Hawk) has also been progressing well. In my last post I talked about how I had stopped flying Oran (Harris Hawk) and allowed him to have a break because Cooper has been flying so well. I also mentioned that I had a few booking coming up. Well Cooper was great. I have been using him over at Cameron House on hawk walks. These last for an hour and go round the grounds of Cameron House. He has done about 3 or 4 and has been brilliant - flying well, looking confident (he didn't even get stressed when he watched a helicopter land less tan a 100m from us) and always coming quickly to the glove when asked. He even made a half hearted attempt to catch a crow that was shouting at him.
Talking about crows, Pele (Harris Hawk) caught 1. I am not sure how he managed it even though I was kind of watching. Crows are not the easiest of things for a Harris Hawk to catch especially if the crow knows the hawk is there. Crows are smart. Probably 1 of the smartest birds birds about. The crow was sitting in a tree shouting at Pele who was about 50m away sitting on a lamp post looking about not showing alot on interest in the crow. Pele has had crows shout at him before and has ignored them. What I think happened from the angle I was kind of watching from was that Pele flew towards the crow but made it look like he wasn't interested in it and was going to fly past it as he got level he turned quickly towards the crow and grabbed it. Even when he grabbed it there is no guarantee that he will be able to keep hold of the crow. Crows have a large beak which they stab with when grabbed. The crow was almost the same weight as Pele. The crow weighed in at 1lb 3 1/4oz while Pele weighed in at 1lb 5 1/2oz. As I said in my last post, Pele is 9 years old, he has been round the block a few times and is quite a calculated individual. I saw this calculated attitude again last week. We were out hunting and came across a pheasant. Pele was up in a tree and the pheasant was on the ground up ahead. The pheasant saw me and started running. Pele sat in the tree and watched. He knew that from where he was the pheasant had a good head start and he would struggle to get near it. The pheasant turned into the hedge it was running along and went straight into a fence. It was now stuck. This was when Pele attacked. He was straight out the tree, into the hedge and grabbed the pheasant. Unfortunately he grabbed it by the tail. The pheasant managed to escape missing half it's tail which Pele had. A lucky pheasant. I always have to watch Pele when he is flying. He might look like he is not interested or there is nothing going to happen but you never know with him. The only thing I can be sure of is if he thinks he can catch it he will go for it.
Today we had our 6 monthly vet inspection. This is because the centre has a zoo licence and part of the terms and conditions of the zoo licence act of 1981 is that my centre is inspected every 6 months by the vet who I take my birds to for veterinary care and once a year by the council vet. The council vet visited last month and this month it was the vet who treats the birds when things go wrong - Alistair Lawrie. The inspection went well and the vet was very happy with everything in the centre.
The coming weeks are quiet at the moment but that will probably change. We are in the run in to Christmas so if I am not busy with bookings I will be busy with enquiries. Hopefully I will be able to get out and do fly some of the birds for myself though.
677
Friday, 4 November 2011
Another Duck
October finished how it started and carried on right through - WET. While it has been wet and raining most days it is mild so while the rain has been a pain it has been warm rain. The waterproofs have always been close at hand.
Back to the birds. The flying team is getting smaller and smaller all the time. It always happens at this time of year. There are no more big displays, corporate events are few and far between and it is just bookings over at Cameron House and in the centre over the the coming weeks. I have decided to give Brel and Oran both of whom are Harris Hawks a break and I have stopped flying them. I always stop flying Brel at this time of the year as he does all my display and demonstration work. As there are no big demonstration or corporate work there is no reason to keep him going. He only flies from April till October. He spent yesterday eating a large squirrel. I also decided to stop flying Oran as well. I was going to keep him going up until the end of the year but with Cooper doing so well so quickly I decided to stop flying him. To be fair he needed a break. Oran is a great bird and has worked really hard over the last 18 months. He flew all of the summer 2010, he then got about 6 weeks off in the autumn 2010 and then was brought back for Christmas 2010. I was going to stop flying him after the New Year but we were busy and I just kept him going. He did get about 5 weeks off around April/May 2011 and then was back flying again all summer mainly doing the hawk walks over at Cameron House. He has been a star with only the 1 screw up back in September. I decided to stop flying him because Cooper was flying well and also because he was looking a bit scruffy. He did finish off with a bit of a flourish on his last hawk walk at Cameron House for the season by catching his 3rd duck. When I caught up with him he was in the water, using his wings as paddles to get to the waters edge with the duck held firmly in his talons. Saying that the duck was an easy target and he knew it. The duck had a broken wing. In the end a bit of a mercy killing.
Ok I go hunting with the aim of killing something. Using a bird to catch the prey is maybe not the most efficient way compared to a shot gun or rifle but 1 thing I will say if the bird catches the prey and the prey breaks free then the prey should be ok with nothing more than a few cuts. The 1 thing I don't like about guns/rifles is that if you don't kill the prey and it escapes after being hit and you can't find it then it is in for a long and slow death due to blood poisoning and infection with broken bones and serious injuries. That was what happened to the duck that Oran caught. It had a broken wing. Once I had killed it I could take a closer look at the wing. The wound looked a few days old, with the bone coming through the skin. On closer inspection I found an air gun pellet lodged in the wing with the bone shattered around it. Anyone who uses a air rifle to shoot at duck is just being cruel. There is no other way to describe it. There is no skill in shooting at duck on the water or ones that are on land. Most air rifles don't have the power to kill a duck unless you shoot it in the head, unfortunately most people who have an air rifle don't have the skill to do that. It's the first time I have come across something like that and I hope I don't see something like that again. It has kind of hardened my views and opinions on air rifles and who should have them.
On a more cheerful note Cooper the Harris Hawk continues to do well. The fact that he is flying so well made me think that Oran should be finished up early. He has been doing a few bookings at the centre and has done a full lap of the grounds of Cameron House with me flying him - all of which he has flown well in. This weekend I will be relying on him with 5 bookings in the next 2 days. He will be used in at least 2 of them.
The other big news is with Pele. On his first hunting day this season he caught a rabbit. He had had a few attempts at rabbit and pheasant and then he caught a rabbit. It was a good size weighing in at 3lb3 1/4oz. Pele was flying at 1lb 5oz. Saying that I suppose it is not that big news as it was Pele. At 9 years old, he has been used in the last 8 seasons for hunting and having caught many rabbits, pheasants and various other things he knows what he is doing. He is always very calm and I get the feeling he is a bit calculating compared to the other the harris hawks. Unfortunately his second hunting session was rained off.
The next few weeks are quiet in the diary but it is November. Saying that while it is quiet I will be busy as I gear up and prepare for Christmas advertising. Time to start dealing with the real world.
655
Back to the birds. The flying team is getting smaller and smaller all the time. It always happens at this time of year. There are no more big displays, corporate events are few and far between and it is just bookings over at Cameron House and in the centre over the the coming weeks. I have decided to give Brel and Oran both of whom are Harris Hawks a break and I have stopped flying them. I always stop flying Brel at this time of the year as he does all my display and demonstration work. As there are no big demonstration or corporate work there is no reason to keep him going. He only flies from April till October. He spent yesterday eating a large squirrel. I also decided to stop flying Oran as well. I was going to keep him going up until the end of the year but with Cooper doing so well so quickly I decided to stop flying him. To be fair he needed a break. Oran is a great bird and has worked really hard over the last 18 months. He flew all of the summer 2010, he then got about 6 weeks off in the autumn 2010 and then was brought back for Christmas 2010. I was going to stop flying him after the New Year but we were busy and I just kept him going. He did get about 5 weeks off around April/May 2011 and then was back flying again all summer mainly doing the hawk walks over at Cameron House. He has been a star with only the 1 screw up back in September. I decided to stop flying him because Cooper was flying well and also because he was looking a bit scruffy. He did finish off with a bit of a flourish on his last hawk walk at Cameron House for the season by catching his 3rd duck. When I caught up with him he was in the water, using his wings as paddles to get to the waters edge with the duck held firmly in his talons. Saying that the duck was an easy target and he knew it. The duck had a broken wing. In the end a bit of a mercy killing.
Ok I go hunting with the aim of killing something. Using a bird to catch the prey is maybe not the most efficient way compared to a shot gun or rifle but 1 thing I will say if the bird catches the prey and the prey breaks free then the prey should be ok with nothing more than a few cuts. The 1 thing I don't like about guns/rifles is that if you don't kill the prey and it escapes after being hit and you can't find it then it is in for a long and slow death due to blood poisoning and infection with broken bones and serious injuries. That was what happened to the duck that Oran caught. It had a broken wing. Once I had killed it I could take a closer look at the wing. The wound looked a few days old, with the bone coming through the skin. On closer inspection I found an air gun pellet lodged in the wing with the bone shattered around it. Anyone who uses a air rifle to shoot at duck is just being cruel. There is no other way to describe it. There is no skill in shooting at duck on the water or ones that are on land. Most air rifles don't have the power to kill a duck unless you shoot it in the head, unfortunately most people who have an air rifle don't have the skill to do that. It's the first time I have come across something like that and I hope I don't see something like that again. It has kind of hardened my views and opinions on air rifles and who should have them.
On a more cheerful note Cooper the Harris Hawk continues to do well. The fact that he is flying so well made me think that Oran should be finished up early. He has been doing a few bookings at the centre and has done a full lap of the grounds of Cameron House with me flying him - all of which he has flown well in. This weekend I will be relying on him with 5 bookings in the next 2 days. He will be used in at least 2 of them.
The other big news is with Pele. On his first hunting day this season he caught a rabbit. He had had a few attempts at rabbit and pheasant and then he caught a rabbit. It was a good size weighing in at 3lb3 1/4oz. Pele was flying at 1lb 5oz. Saying that I suppose it is not that big news as it was Pele. At 9 years old, he has been used in the last 8 seasons for hunting and having caught many rabbits, pheasants and various other things he knows what he is doing. He is always very calm and I get the feeling he is a bit calculating compared to the other the harris hawks. Unfortunately his second hunting session was rained off.
The next few weeks are quiet in the diary but it is November. Saying that while it is quiet I will be busy as I gear up and prepare for Christmas advertising. Time to start dealing with the real world.
655
Thursday, 20 October 2011
More rain and flying free
Well as the title says we have had more rain and then some more rain.
It has been hard at times to work with the birds as the rain just makes it impossible. I am sure it is also impacting on the diary as well as the diary has been a bit quiet. People don't look out the window and see the rain and think lets go and do something outside. At some point the rain has to stop.
Anyway enough moaning about the weather. There is no such thing as bad weather just the wrong clothing.
The birds are all doing ok with the ones who are in moult dropping feather left right and centre. Taz the kestrel is growing in a whole new tail as is Sanda the Lanner Falcon. Alba the Barn Owl is also dropping alot of feathers at the moment.
The birds of the moment are 2 of the Harris Hawks - Pele and Cooper. Pele first. I mentioned in my last post that Pele was back flying and it was case of trying to get him fit now. This has proved to be hard going mainly due to the weather and being unable to get any consistency with him but at last I have been able to get him out and he is looking good. The other 1 is Cooper the new Harris Hawk. He is doing well. I asked him to jump to the glove the other day and he was straight to it and on his first day of flying to the glove he was coming 10m. Needless to say this part of his training moved fast and should of moved faster but last week I didn't have any time to work with him. So he had a week off. This week I knew I had to get things moving with him and that I would be flying him free which I did yesterday. On Monday I just fed him off the glove as he was a bit heavy and grumpy with it. On Tuesday I flew him the creance (long line) and he was coming straight to me from about 15m. I decided that Wednesday would be the day to fly him free. Well Wednesday came and I was going to give him 1 flight on the creance but when I put him on the T perch I could see he was keen and as I walked away he flew after me and landed on the ground next to me so I decided to fly him free. Always a nervous moment the first time you let a bird go free. He flew off and landed in a tree. I called him in and he came straight to the glove without any hesitation. I spent the next 15mins just flying him from perch or tree to the glove. Today I decided to try and get him to follow on a bit. I was just going to get him to fly round the front field but he was flying so well I decided to take him round the hotel grounds which he did. Tomorrow I will take him over to Cameron House and fly him there on the creance as this will be his first time I will of asked him him to fly some where different. Fingers crossed it all goes well
The last few weeks the diary has been steady with the normal booking at the centre and over at Cameron House. There has been no real stand out events. There are 2 though in November that I am looking forward to. At the moment it is just early stages and they haven't been confirmed yet so I don't want to say to much.
The main thing that I have been focused on this week other than Cooper flying free is my Zoo Licence inspection tomorrow. This is something that I need to have done every year on top of the 6 monthly inspection that the vet I use does. The inspection have always gone well and hopefully tomorrow will be the same.
Just a short post this time as I need to go and look out some information and get ready for the inspection tomorrow.
624
It has been hard at times to work with the birds as the rain just makes it impossible. I am sure it is also impacting on the diary as well as the diary has been a bit quiet. People don't look out the window and see the rain and think lets go and do something outside. At some point the rain has to stop.
Anyway enough moaning about the weather. There is no such thing as bad weather just the wrong clothing.
The birds are all doing ok with the ones who are in moult dropping feather left right and centre. Taz the kestrel is growing in a whole new tail as is Sanda the Lanner Falcon. Alba the Barn Owl is also dropping alot of feathers at the moment.
The birds of the moment are 2 of the Harris Hawks - Pele and Cooper. Pele first. I mentioned in my last post that Pele was back flying and it was case of trying to get him fit now. This has proved to be hard going mainly due to the weather and being unable to get any consistency with him but at last I have been able to get him out and he is looking good. The other 1 is Cooper the new Harris Hawk. He is doing well. I asked him to jump to the glove the other day and he was straight to it and on his first day of flying to the glove he was coming 10m. Needless to say this part of his training moved fast and should of moved faster but last week I didn't have any time to work with him. So he had a week off. This week I knew I had to get things moving with him and that I would be flying him free which I did yesterday. On Monday I just fed him off the glove as he was a bit heavy and grumpy with it. On Tuesday I flew him the creance (long line) and he was coming straight to me from about 15m. I decided that Wednesday would be the day to fly him free. Well Wednesday came and I was going to give him 1 flight on the creance but when I put him on the T perch I could see he was keen and as I walked away he flew after me and landed on the ground next to me so I decided to fly him free. Always a nervous moment the first time you let a bird go free. He flew off and landed in a tree. I called him in and he came straight to the glove without any hesitation. I spent the next 15mins just flying him from perch or tree to the glove. Today I decided to try and get him to follow on a bit. I was just going to get him to fly round the front field but he was flying so well I decided to take him round the hotel grounds which he did. Tomorrow I will take him over to Cameron House and fly him there on the creance as this will be his first time I will of asked him him to fly some where different. Fingers crossed it all goes well
The last few weeks the diary has been steady with the normal booking at the centre and over at Cameron House. There has been no real stand out events. There are 2 though in November that I am looking forward to. At the moment it is just early stages and they haven't been confirmed yet so I don't want to say to much.
The main thing that I have been focused on this week other than Cooper flying free is my Zoo Licence inspection tomorrow. This is something that I need to have done every year on top of the 6 monthly inspection that the vet I use does. The inspection have always gone well and hopefully tomorrow will be the same.
Just a short post this time as I need to go and look out some information and get ready for the inspection tomorrow.
624
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
autumn is here
Well autumn is here. The sun may of shone today and it was very warm but it is safe to say autumn is here. the trees are loosing their leaves fast. It seems to be faster this year than previous but then again as I have said this summer has been rubbish with gales in May, raining most of June, July and August with the tail end of a hurricane in September with lots more rain. Some summer. They are talking about an Indian Summer - I won't hold my breath. Any way enough moaning about the weather.
Time to talk about what has been happening in the centre. The answer is quite a lot since my last entry.
I eventually managed to collect the new Harris Hawk. I have decided to carry on the theme of naming the Harris Hawks after pubs in the West End of Glasgow by naming it Cooper after Coopers which is on Great Western Road. Cooper's training is progressing slowly. I don't like to rush the training so I have been taking the first 10 days or so very easy. The first part is all about getting him used to me and people in general so he has been coming home with me so I can spend some time with him sitting on the glove and he was eating fairly quickly when on the glove. Now that he is standing on the glove confidently I have changed the routine. I have now started walking him round the grounds of the hotel while offering him food to get him used to moving about on the glove. He doesn't seem to impressed with the new routine as he hasn't eaten anything since I started this yesterday but all I can do is offer him food. It is up to him to eat. He already knows how to eat off the glove so he will eat when he is ready. Now he has got to do it while I am walking. At this early stage I try to always feed him off the glove.
He has made quite a bit of progress already. He will stand on the glove, eat off the glove if I sit still, he is getting better at getting weighed and will stand on his bow perch. He is also alot more confident in his pen and out on the front lawn when people walk past him.
The rest of the birds are doing ok. The flying team has been cut back a bit in that as the diary quietens down the team is reduced. Taz (Kestrel) is now in moult (dropping out old feathers and growing in new ones). At the moment he is growing in a whole new tail. Alba (Barn Owl) is also being allowed to moult as Bella the new Barn Owl has been flying very well. I felt Bella was now flying at a standard where I could rely on her. Mardy (Harris Hawk) has also been allowed to start his moult and boy does he need it. He is looking a bit of a mess. I also took the decision to stop flying Bob (Gyr x Saker) yesterday. He has been moulting feathers even though I have been flying him. He was making good progress with his flying to the lure and I am looking forward to flying him next year but he is looking a bit scruffy now so a bit of a moult will be good for him.
While some birds are being a bit of a break after working hard all summer it is time to start working with birds who have been moulting over the summer. Pele (Harris Hawk) flew free today for the first time in 4 months. I just asked him to fly from perch to glove but he did it and was no problem. It will be now a case of building up his fitness. Pele is a great bird to work with. He is 9 years old. One of the original team and the oldest Harris Hawk in the centre. He is also not related to the other 4 Harris Hawks who are all related to each other in some way or another. He tends to be a bit calmer and a bit more calculated than the others. He is normally quite a reliable bird who does all sorts of events for me in the fact that he will do corporate work, small demonstrations, activity days, hawk walks and hunting days.
On the work front things have been up and down. Saying that I have been busy. I have been getting back into the routine of working on my own again after spending the summer having various vet students out helping me so they can learn a little about birds of prey. A big thank you to all the students who came out over the summer to learn and help out in Strathblane Falconry.
There have been a few bookings in the centre and over at Cameron House but 1 does stand out. We were asked to take a team of birds to Bellahouston Park for the BBC Deadly 60 road show (Deadly Day Out). It was a great event to be involved with. It was a long day though. I started at 5am in the centre opening up and loading up cars. I think I finished up at 7pm. So a long day. The only down side was the rain came on in the afternoon. I had 11 birds at it with myself and 3 other people helping me. Guil and Gail were out and about in the crowds with falcons talking to the public while myself and Jo were on the stand where we had the birds sitting out. We talking about how the birds fly, owl pellets and why you shouldn't touch a bird of prey. It was a great opportunity to tell people why they shouldn't stroke birds of prey. On the whole a good day. A big thank you to Jo, Gail and Guil for all their help at this event.
I was also able to go and collect the squirrels which had been culled. I think I got about 50 and I have filled a freezer with then. The birds have been loving them. The eagle, the eagle owls, the buzzard, the Harris Hawks, the flacons have all been eating squirrel. Even Taz (Kestrel) has been eating it. It is good eating for the birds as it is quite a rich meat with no fat. I always try and provide a variety of foods for the birds when I can. I feel there are other benefits other than nutritional. The birds always seem alot more excited when given something other than day old chicks. I like to see it as enrichment for them be it a deers head for Artemis or a mouse for Alba.
The coming weeks are bit quiet at the moment but I am expecting that to change when the October school holidays start. Saying that I am not complaining as it will give me a bit more time to work with Cooper.
595
Time to talk about what has been happening in the centre. The answer is quite a lot since my last entry.
I eventually managed to collect the new Harris Hawk. I have decided to carry on the theme of naming the Harris Hawks after pubs in the West End of Glasgow by naming it Cooper after Coopers which is on Great Western Road. Cooper's training is progressing slowly. I don't like to rush the training so I have been taking the first 10 days or so very easy. The first part is all about getting him used to me and people in general so he has been coming home with me so I can spend some time with him sitting on the glove and he was eating fairly quickly when on the glove. Now that he is standing on the glove confidently I have changed the routine. I have now started walking him round the grounds of the hotel while offering him food to get him used to moving about on the glove. He doesn't seem to impressed with the new routine as he hasn't eaten anything since I started this yesterday but all I can do is offer him food. It is up to him to eat. He already knows how to eat off the glove so he will eat when he is ready. Now he has got to do it while I am walking. At this early stage I try to always feed him off the glove.
He has made quite a bit of progress already. He will stand on the glove, eat off the glove if I sit still, he is getting better at getting weighed and will stand on his bow perch. He is also alot more confident in his pen and out on the front lawn when people walk past him.
The rest of the birds are doing ok. The flying team has been cut back a bit in that as the diary quietens down the team is reduced. Taz (Kestrel) is now in moult (dropping out old feathers and growing in new ones). At the moment he is growing in a whole new tail. Alba (Barn Owl) is also being allowed to moult as Bella the new Barn Owl has been flying very well. I felt Bella was now flying at a standard where I could rely on her. Mardy (Harris Hawk) has also been allowed to start his moult and boy does he need it. He is looking a bit of a mess. I also took the decision to stop flying Bob (Gyr x Saker) yesterday. He has been moulting feathers even though I have been flying him. He was making good progress with his flying to the lure and I am looking forward to flying him next year but he is looking a bit scruffy now so a bit of a moult will be good for him.
While some birds are being a bit of a break after working hard all summer it is time to start working with birds who have been moulting over the summer. Pele (Harris Hawk) flew free today for the first time in 4 months. I just asked him to fly from perch to glove but he did it and was no problem. It will be now a case of building up his fitness. Pele is a great bird to work with. He is 9 years old. One of the original team and the oldest Harris Hawk in the centre. He is also not related to the other 4 Harris Hawks who are all related to each other in some way or another. He tends to be a bit calmer and a bit more calculated than the others. He is normally quite a reliable bird who does all sorts of events for me in the fact that he will do corporate work, small demonstrations, activity days, hawk walks and hunting days.
On the work front things have been up and down. Saying that I have been busy. I have been getting back into the routine of working on my own again after spending the summer having various vet students out helping me so they can learn a little about birds of prey. A big thank you to all the students who came out over the summer to learn and help out in Strathblane Falconry.
There have been a few bookings in the centre and over at Cameron House but 1 does stand out. We were asked to take a team of birds to Bellahouston Park for the BBC Deadly 60 road show (Deadly Day Out). It was a great event to be involved with. It was a long day though. I started at 5am in the centre opening up and loading up cars. I think I finished up at 7pm. So a long day. The only down side was the rain came on in the afternoon. I had 11 birds at it with myself and 3 other people helping me. Guil and Gail were out and about in the crowds with falcons talking to the public while myself and Jo were on the stand where we had the birds sitting out. We talking about how the birds fly, owl pellets and why you shouldn't touch a bird of prey. It was a great opportunity to tell people why they shouldn't stroke birds of prey. On the whole a good day. A big thank you to Jo, Gail and Guil for all their help at this event.
I was also able to go and collect the squirrels which had been culled. I think I got about 50 and I have filled a freezer with then. The birds have been loving them. The eagle, the eagle owls, the buzzard, the Harris Hawks, the flacons have all been eating squirrel. Even Taz (Kestrel) has been eating it. It is good eating for the birds as it is quite a rich meat with no fat. I always try and provide a variety of foods for the birds when I can. I feel there are other benefits other than nutritional. The birds always seem alot more excited when given something other than day old chicks. I like to see it as enrichment for them be it a deers head for Artemis or a mouse for Alba.
The coming weeks are bit quiet at the moment but I am expecting that to change when the October school holidays start. Saying that I am not complaining as it will give me a bit more time to work with Cooper.
595
Sunday, 11 September 2011
Rubbish weather
It's been a while. It's been a month since I last updated my blog. The first part of August may of been a bit slow with bookings the second part of August just flew by. Where to start?
The weather that is where I will start. This summer has been the pits. In August I got to the point where I stopped hoping for the sun to shine and I just hoped it would stay dry each day and even that was to much to hope for on a lot of days. I know that this is Scotland and I know that it will rain at some point over a summer and that there is no such thing as bad weather just the wrong clothing but this summer even by Scottish standards has been rubbish. I have spent to whole summer keeping a waterproof jacket close by and I even found myself thinking at the end of August that maybe I should of had thermals on while doing a highland games at Hopetoun House. That's bad! So far September hasn't been much better with talk of the tail end of a hurricane coming into tomorrow and 3 days of rain. Oh great.
On the booking front there has been some good bookings. As mentioned we were back at Hopetoun House for our 4th visit this summer. It has been very much a regular venue for us this summer and what a venue. This time we were back for a highland games. Unfortunately it was a bitterly cold day with gusting winds. This meant that there wasn't a huge number of people attending. Saying that we got a good crowd for our displays and the birds flew well but it was a long day due to the weather.
We were also back at Inveraray Castle for a demonstration for a group visiting the castle. I have said it before but Inveraray Castle is 1 of the most beautiful venues that I get to visit. The timings for the event were thrown into disarray due to the group having to take a detour in getting to the castle due to a traffic accident and the road being closed but they made it and we were able to do the demonstration. The best part was that it has been one of the rare days that the sun has shone this summer.
This weekend we had an event at Lennoxlove House where we were doing a display a group who were having a wedding there. All the birds flew well apart from Sanda who went a landed in a courtyard and became a bit dis-orientated and I had to go and look for her. I found her a short time later and she jumped straight to the glove when she saw me - so it all ended well.
While I have listed 4 of the larger events that we have been doing over the last month there have been many more smaller bookings with up to 4 bookings in a day on some days.
There is another very large high profile booking coming up. At the moment I am not sure if I can say anything but I should know by tomorrow morning as I have a meeting with someone tomorrow about it. It will be happening in the next few weeks. Watch this space.
Now to the birds and how they are getting on. First up Lobey (Turkmanian Eagle Owl). I finished my last blog entry talking about Lobey and saying how he was almost ready to start flying again. Well about 2 days after that entry Lobey was back and flying in bookings so Duffy (Bengal Eagle Owl) is now on a well deserved break and being a typical Bengal Eagle Owl by being a bit grumpy.
Bella the new Barn owl is progressing well and has been flying well in bookings at the centre and at Cameron House. She has really come on leaps and bounds in the last few weeks and is proving to be a lot more reliable.
On the down side I was hoping to have my new Harris Hawk by now as I was meant to go and collect it last Thursday but everything was thrown into to disarray by Oran (Harris Hawk) on Wednesday. I was out flying him with a friend on Wednesday evening and he was playing up. I am not sure why. We were somewhere new but that shouldn't bother him as it has never done so in the past. There was also some heavy showers about and we did get caught in 1 so maybe he just got wet and decided no I'm not playing. Like I said I don't what his problem was. He is normally very reliable so i was really quite disappointed by what was happening. In the end I couldn't get him back and I had to leave him where he was that night.
How wrong was I. Everything was going great right up to the point where Oran was meant to fly to my glove at first light. First light came and Oran flew off and that was the start of a 5 1/2 hour chase through a wood with some of the thickest most overgrown vegetation that I have have ever had to deal with. I had to walk along streams because in place that was the only way through, walk through nettles and brambles that were waist high and I even got bitten by a dog - thankfully it was only a Labrador and I was wearing gaiters so it didn't hurt. When I got him back I was exhausted. It was hard going being only able to follow him as he wouldn't come back to me. All I could do was keep up with him and hope I got a chance to try and catch him - which I did and I took my chance when he swooped down trying to catch something and missed. He flew back up in to a tree but landed on a low branch so I was able to throw food attached to the creance (long line) up at him to get his attention and try and get him to come towards me, which he did. All I can say is thank goodness for the Marshalls Telemetry transmitter that he was wearing and the receiver I was using.
I had to cancel collecting the new Harris Hawk but I should be getting him this week.
Also this coming week I am meeting someone who can supply me with gray squirrels as bird food. They have been trapped to try and stop the spread of them and they want to use them rather than just throw them away. I had a quick chat with the guy and told him that I have a Steppe Eagle and 3 Eagle owls who all love to eat squirrel. They will be say for my birds to eat as they have been trapped and killed by being shot in the head with an air rifle.
Talking of squirrels. I had to use Brel (Harris Hawk) for a hawk walk at Cameron House the other day as Oran was grounded as I had to go and catch him the day before after he flew off. Brel hasn't done a hawk walk at Cameron House for a few years as all I really use him for now is display work. Well we were out flying him and he was looking good when he saw a gray squirrel and he was after it in a shot. It just goes to show you that even though he has never been taken hunting and has only ever caught 1 mouse in the 7 years I have had him he still has the instinct to hunt. It can never be taken out of them. He came very close to catching it.
567
The weather that is where I will start. This summer has been the pits. In August I got to the point where I stopped hoping for the sun to shine and I just hoped it would stay dry each day and even that was to much to hope for on a lot of days. I know that this is Scotland and I know that it will rain at some point over a summer and that there is no such thing as bad weather just the wrong clothing but this summer even by Scottish standards has been rubbish. I have spent to whole summer keeping a waterproof jacket close by and I even found myself thinking at the end of August that maybe I should of had thermals on while doing a highland games at Hopetoun House. That's bad! So far September hasn't been much better with talk of the tail end of a hurricane coming into tomorrow and 3 days of rain. Oh great.
On the booking front there has been some good bookings. As mentioned we were back at Hopetoun House for our 4th visit this summer. It has been very much a regular venue for us this summer and what a venue. This time we were back for a highland games. Unfortunately it was a bitterly cold day with gusting winds. This meant that there wasn't a huge number of people attending. Saying that we got a good crowd for our displays and the birds flew well but it was a long day due to the weather.
We were also back at Inveraray Castle for a demonstration for a group visiting the castle. I have said it before but Inveraray Castle is 1 of the most beautiful venues that I get to visit. The timings for the event were thrown into disarray due to the group having to take a detour in getting to the castle due to a traffic accident and the road being closed but they made it and we were able to do the demonstration. The best part was that it has been one of the rare days that the sun has shone this summer.
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| The display team sitting out waiting to start at Inveraray Castle |
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| Midge (White Faced Scops Owl) at Inveraray Castle |
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| Sanda (Lanner Falcon) at Lennoxlove House |
There is another very large high profile booking coming up. At the moment I am not sure if I can say anything but I should know by tomorrow morning as I have a meeting with someone tomorrow about it. It will be happening in the next few weeks. Watch this space.
Now to the birds and how they are getting on. First up Lobey (Turkmanian Eagle Owl). I finished my last blog entry talking about Lobey and saying how he was almost ready to start flying again. Well about 2 days after that entry Lobey was back and flying in bookings so Duffy (Bengal Eagle Owl) is now on a well deserved break and being a typical Bengal Eagle Owl by being a bit grumpy.
Bella the new Barn owl is progressing well and has been flying well in bookings at the centre and at Cameron House. She has really come on leaps and bounds in the last few weeks and is proving to be a lot more reliable.
On the down side I was hoping to have my new Harris Hawk by now as I was meant to go and collect it last Thursday but everything was thrown into to disarray by Oran (Harris Hawk) on Wednesday. I was out flying him with a friend on Wednesday evening and he was playing up. I am not sure why. We were somewhere new but that shouldn't bother him as it has never done so in the past. There was also some heavy showers about and we did get caught in 1 so maybe he just got wet and decided no I'm not playing. Like I said I don't what his problem was. He is normally very reliable so i was really quite disappointed by what was happening. In the end I couldn't get him back and I had to leave him where he was that night.
How wrong was I. Everything was going great right up to the point where Oran was meant to fly to my glove at first light. First light came and Oran flew off and that was the start of a 5 1/2 hour chase through a wood with some of the thickest most overgrown vegetation that I have have ever had to deal with. I had to walk along streams because in place that was the only way through, walk through nettles and brambles that were waist high and I even got bitten by a dog - thankfully it was only a Labrador and I was wearing gaiters so it didn't hurt. When I got him back I was exhausted. It was hard going being only able to follow him as he wouldn't come back to me. All I could do was keep up with him and hope I got a chance to try and catch him - which I did and I took my chance when he swooped down trying to catch something and missed. He flew back up in to a tree but landed on a low branch so I was able to throw food attached to the creance (long line) up at him to get his attention and try and get him to come towards me, which he did. All I can say is thank goodness for the Marshalls Telemetry transmitter that he was wearing and the receiver I was using.
I had to cancel collecting the new Harris Hawk but I should be getting him this week.
Also this coming week I am meeting someone who can supply me with gray squirrels as bird food. They have been trapped to try and stop the spread of them and they want to use them rather than just throw them away. I had a quick chat with the guy and told him that I have a Steppe Eagle and 3 Eagle owls who all love to eat squirrel. They will be say for my birds to eat as they have been trapped and killed by being shot in the head with an air rifle.
Talking of squirrels. I had to use Brel (Harris Hawk) for a hawk walk at Cameron House the other day as Oran was grounded as I had to go and catch him the day before after he flew off. Brel hasn't done a hawk walk at Cameron House for a few years as all I really use him for now is display work. Well we were out flying him and he was looking good when he saw a gray squirrel and he was after it in a shot. It just goes to show you that even though he has never been taken hunting and has only ever caught 1 mouse in the 7 years I have had him he still has the instinct to hunt. It can never be taken out of them. He came very close to catching it.
567
Thursday, 11 August 2011
Where is the summer
The last 2 days have been rubbish. It has rained almost constantly and the booking that we had yesterday and the 1 we had today both cancelled. This is August - the sun is meant to shine. I heard that Glasgow had had 1 of the wettest 24hrs in August since records started and it doesn't look like it is going to get any better over the next few days.
The last 2 weeks have been interesting and very busy at times. Since my last post we have done the Hopetoun House International Horse Trials. This was an all weekend event. We took a big team of birds - 11 in total and I also had an extra person helping me - so there was 3 of us in total at it. A big thank you to Jo and Becky. I said in my last entry that it was great venue, well on the Sunday it was even better due to the cross country course going round 3 sides of the area where we were doing our static and flying displays. The birds all took it in their stride on the Sunday even though there was horses galloping past them for most of Sunday afternoon.
The displays went well. We had to do 2 flying displays each day. All the birds flew well. I put Bob (Gyr x Saker) into the display on Saturday. I was a bit worried about this. Even though he had been flying well at the centre and out on the farm, this was his first flying display and there is always that little bit of doubt at the back of my mind when a bird does it's first display. There was nothing to worry about though as he flew well and looked very good. In fact he looked so good on the Saturday that I flew him on the Sunday as well. The only down side is that I will now not use Bob for hunting crows as he is now part of the display team. The weekend was a long 1 as I was in the centre for 5am to open up, clean the centre and load the van to go through to Hopetoun House for 8.30am. We would finish up at 8pm.While it was a long 2 days with alot of hard work it was great fun and I loved every minute of it. The event was well run and everybody knew what they were doing.
And then July was over.
While July was finishing being very busy, August started quietly with no bookings for the first 2 days. This was great as it allowed me to get things back to normal after the weekend at Hopetoun House. The birds that were at Hopetoun House got a few days to relax and the birds that weren't used were readied for up and coming events. Things this month have been either very busy with 3 or 4 bookings in a day or nothing on. On the 5th Aug we had 2 corporate events to do at 2 different locations. Thankfully the venues were only a few miles apart so it was relatively easy to do. 1 was just outside Balloch and then it was down the road to Cameron House for the next 1 in the walled garden. Once we had finished the 1 in the walled garden we had to set up for a family fun session at our aviaries on the front lawn. So in the end we did 3 bookings in 3 different places. A big thank you to Stephanie who helped me that day.
The last few days have been the exact same either very busy or very quiet. Saying that now that it has rained for the last 2 days it has been very quiet. I haven't been able to fly the birds for myself due to the rain. The falcons haven't flown in a week due to work and weather which is not great. I have also been trying to fly Bella the new Barn Owl, but it has been difficult to get any consistency with her due to work and the weather. Jo has been a big help by flying her after she has finished work for the day. Bella has been a little bit skittish recently. Some days she has been very good but other days she can be spooked by cars coming into the car park which she has seen loads of time but some days it just spooks her. I am not sure what her problem is but hopefully by trying to fly her everyday we will get it sorted. Saying that she hasn't flown the last 2 days due to the rain but then again nothing has flown over the last 2 days. All I have been doing is cancelling bookings.
The only thing that I have been able to do over the last 2 days was a photo shoot for Glasgow Warriors rugby club. They are playing the Newcastle Falcons this Friday and wanted some pictures of some of the players standing with a few falcons for promotional purposes. The rain eased to a drizzle so we were able to get the photo shoot done. Good luck to the Warriors for the match this Friday.
While the weather and bookings have been making it difficult to work with the birds the 1 thing that doesn't stop is the constant rotation of birds (who's flying and who is being given a break to moult). The bird I am most excited about at the moment is Lobey (Turkmanian Eagle Owl). Lobey
To give you a bit of background on Lobey. He was the first bird I ever owned and he has proved to be real star. Always reliable around the centre, at Cameron House and corporate events. He is a bit of a character and I do need to watch him when he is flying as he is entered and has caught 7 rabbits, 1 hedgehog and chased most things that move even though he hasn't been trained or encouraged to hunt. I am looking forward to him being back on line. He will be replacing Duffy (Bengal Eagle Owl) who has been flying for a year now.
Lobey has about 2oz to loose in weight and then he should be good to go.
The other big news is that I should be able to get the new Harris Hawk sometime in the first full week of September. I spoke to the breeder today and everything is going ok with it.
519
The last 2 weeks have been interesting and very busy at times. Since my last post we have done the Hopetoun House International Horse Trials. This was an all weekend event. We took a big team of birds - 11 in total and I also had an extra person helping me - so there was 3 of us in total at it. A big thank you to Jo and Becky. I said in my last entry that it was great venue, well on the Sunday it was even better due to the cross country course going round 3 sides of the area where we were doing our static and flying displays. The birds all took it in their stride on the Sunday even though there was horses galloping past them for most of Sunday afternoon.
The displays went well. We had to do 2 flying displays each day. All the birds flew well. I put Bob (Gyr x Saker) into the display on Saturday. I was a bit worried about this. Even though he had been flying well at the centre and out on the farm, this was his first flying display and there is always that little bit of doubt at the back of my mind when a bird does it's first display. There was nothing to worry about though as he flew well and looked very good. In fact he looked so good on the Saturday that I flew him on the Sunday as well. The only down side is that I will now not use Bob for hunting crows as he is now part of the display team. The weekend was a long 1 as I was in the centre for 5am to open up, clean the centre and load the van to go through to Hopetoun House for 8.30am. We would finish up at 8pm.While it was a long 2 days with alot of hard work it was great fun and I loved every minute of it. The event was well run and everybody knew what they were doing.
And then July was over.
While July was finishing being very busy, August started quietly with no bookings for the first 2 days. This was great as it allowed me to get things back to normal after the weekend at Hopetoun House. The birds that were at Hopetoun House got a few days to relax and the birds that weren't used were readied for up and coming events. Things this month have been either very busy with 3 or 4 bookings in a day or nothing on. On the 5th Aug we had 2 corporate events to do at 2 different locations. Thankfully the venues were only a few miles apart so it was relatively easy to do. 1 was just outside Balloch and then it was down the road to Cameron House for the next 1 in the walled garden. Once we had finished the 1 in the walled garden we had to set up for a family fun session at our aviaries on the front lawn. So in the end we did 3 bookings in 3 different places. A big thank you to Stephanie who helped me that day.
The last few days have been the exact same either very busy or very quiet. Saying that now that it has rained for the last 2 days it has been very quiet. I haven't been able to fly the birds for myself due to the rain. The falcons haven't flown in a week due to work and weather which is not great. I have also been trying to fly Bella the new Barn Owl, but it has been difficult to get any consistency with her due to work and the weather. Jo has been a big help by flying her after she has finished work for the day. Bella has been a little bit skittish recently. Some days she has been very good but other days she can be spooked by cars coming into the car park which she has seen loads of time but some days it just spooks her. I am not sure what her problem is but hopefully by trying to fly her everyday we will get it sorted. Saying that she hasn't flown the last 2 days due to the rain but then again nothing has flown over the last 2 days. All I have been doing is cancelling bookings.
The only thing that I have been able to do over the last 2 days was a photo shoot for Glasgow Warriors rugby club. They are playing the Newcastle Falcons this Friday and wanted some pictures of some of the players standing with a few falcons for promotional purposes. The rain eased to a drizzle so we were able to get the photo shoot done. Good luck to the Warriors for the match this Friday.
 | |
| Rory Pitman with Gigha (Peregrine) and Chris Fusaro with Bob (Gyr x Saker) |
While the weather and bookings have been making it difficult to work with the birds the 1 thing that doesn't stop is the constant rotation of birds (who's flying and who is being given a break to moult). The bird I am most excited about at the moment is Lobey (Turkmanian Eagle Owl). Lobey
To give you a bit of background on Lobey. He was the first bird I ever owned and he has proved to be real star. Always reliable around the centre, at Cameron House and corporate events. He is a bit of a character and I do need to watch him when he is flying as he is entered and has caught 7 rabbits, 1 hedgehog and chased most things that move even though he hasn't been trained or encouraged to hunt. I am looking forward to him being back on line. He will be replacing Duffy (Bengal Eagle Owl) who has been flying for a year now.
Lobey has about 2oz to loose in weight and then he should be good to go.
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| Lobey in action |
519
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
It's been busy
It's been 2 weeks since my last post. I do try and make time to do this every week but it is just not possible at the moment. The days are long - somewhere between 10 - 11hours and when I get in it is difficult to find time to do the blog. Eating tends to be a bigger priority, walking dogs and then sleep. It is then a case of getting up and doing it all over again.
The last 2 weeks have been busy wit a steady flow of bookings. In my last post I mentioned that we were out doing 3 demonstrations at weddings in 3 days, 2 of which were off site. All the bookings went well. Glenbarvie House went well and was a lovely venue. The venue for the display in St Andrews - St Salvators Quad was very impressive. As a location for a demonstration I was a little bit worried because I worried about what sort of problems the local sea gull problem would cause but they weren't that bad and we got the demonstration done. We did have 1 scare though Alba (Barn Owl) caught a light breeze that carried her over a wall and she disappeared. I had to go and look for her. I found her quickly as she was wearing a transmitter. She was sitting in someones garden just across the road. I won't fly my birds at a demonstration unless they are wearing a transmitter. In my opinion it is just good management and practice. I decided that Alba had done enough after that. Corrie (European Eagle Owl) was next up to fly and was brilliant even with the local seagull population shouting at him. A big thank you to Amanda for helping me with these 2 events.
After we got these bookings out the way it was time to get ready for the next big booking on the Sunday. Millerstain House. It was a good day with the weather. It was meant to rain and I thought it would be a long day standing in the rain but the sun shone and it was all good from that point of view. Brel had another wobble with his form not sure what his problem was as he had been very good. He went up into a tree and was slow to come back but did in the end. It happened in the first demonstration but he was perfect in the second demonstration of the day. Uist (Lugger Falcon) though did screw up though. He was flying well and looking good when he went a grabbed his tail and basically couldn't turn so he went off and sat in a tree. I had to go and look for him but he hadn't gone far and came straight back to me when I caught up with him
After all these booking that were a bit different it was back to the norm with bookings in the centre and over at Cameron House. Last weekend we did 13 bookings in 4 days. Friday was a marathon with 4 bookings, 3 of which were over a Cameron House. That was all easy, the marathon started as we left Cameron House. The A82 was closed due to a serious accident where someone had died. We had to take a detour. A 30 min journey to get back to the centre became a 4 hour marathon. The other highlight of the last weekend was Oran (Harris Hawk) who caught his second rabbit. We were doing a hawk walk at Cameron House and Oran who had been flying great but just at the end he slowed up and wouldn't follow on. I called for him and no sign. I thinking maybe he had moved when I hadn't been watching but I was sure he hadn't as I hadn't heard his bell. Next thing I see him dropping out of a tree straight down in to the undergrowth and there is a squeal. I knew straight away he had caught a rabbit. Sure enough he had. Not planned but it's second rabbit. I need to say a big thank you to Gordon who helped me all last week on his EMS placement from Glasgow University Vet School.
This week so far has been a bit quieter which has been nice. A slightly calmer pace. Today I spent the whole day in the centre something I haven't done in a week. This has been all great as it allows me to get ready for this weekend. This weekend is the Hopeton House International Horse Trials where we are doing 2 displays on Saturday and Sunday. I have been looking forward to this booking for a while. Hopeton House is a stunning venue. Hopefully the weather is ok. I don't want it to be too warm as this can cause problems for the birds and I certainly don't want rain. What I am looking for is a dry day which is mild with a gentle breeze to help the birds fly.
It will be a long weekend starting each day at 5am and finishing at about 8pm. That's ok though. I love doing these big events and what a venue. Finger crossed that it all goes well. Hopefully the birds all fly well. I will let you know hopefully next week.
498
The last 2 weeks have been busy wit a steady flow of bookings. In my last post I mentioned that we were out doing 3 demonstrations at weddings in 3 days, 2 of which were off site. All the bookings went well. Glenbarvie House went well and was a lovely venue. The venue for the display in St Andrews - St Salvators Quad was very impressive. As a location for a demonstration I was a little bit worried because I worried about what sort of problems the local sea gull problem would cause but they weren't that bad and we got the demonstration done. We did have 1 scare though Alba (Barn Owl) caught a light breeze that carried her over a wall and she disappeared. I had to go and look for her. I found her quickly as she was wearing a transmitter. She was sitting in someones garden just across the road. I won't fly my birds at a demonstration unless they are wearing a transmitter. In my opinion it is just good management and practice. I decided that Alba had done enough after that. Corrie (European Eagle Owl) was next up to fly and was brilliant even with the local seagull population shouting at him. A big thank you to Amanda for helping me with these 2 events.
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| St Salvators Quad |
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| Brel (Harris Hawk) at Salvators Quad |
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| The new car at Millerstain House |
After all these booking that were a bit different it was back to the norm with bookings in the centre and over at Cameron House. Last weekend we did 13 bookings in 4 days. Friday was a marathon with 4 bookings, 3 of which were over a Cameron House. That was all easy, the marathon started as we left Cameron House. The A82 was closed due to a serious accident where someone had died. We had to take a detour. A 30 min journey to get back to the centre became a 4 hour marathon. The other highlight of the last weekend was Oran (Harris Hawk) who caught his second rabbit. We were doing a hawk walk at Cameron House and Oran who had been flying great but just at the end he slowed up and wouldn't follow on. I called for him and no sign. I thinking maybe he had moved when I hadn't been watching but I was sure he hadn't as I hadn't heard his bell. Next thing I see him dropping out of a tree straight down in to the undergrowth and there is a squeal. I knew straight away he had caught a rabbit. Sure enough he had. Not planned but it's second rabbit. I need to say a big thank you to Gordon who helped me all last week on his EMS placement from Glasgow University Vet School.
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| Oran (Harris Hawk) with his 2nd rabbit |
This week so far has been a bit quieter which has been nice. A slightly calmer pace. Today I spent the whole day in the centre something I haven't done in a week. This has been all great as it allows me to get ready for this weekend. This weekend is the Hopeton House International Horse Trials where we are doing 2 displays on Saturday and Sunday. I have been looking forward to this booking for a while. Hopeton House is a stunning venue. Hopefully the weather is ok. I don't want it to be too warm as this can cause problems for the birds and I certainly don't want rain. What I am looking for is a dry day which is mild with a gentle breeze to help the birds fly.
It will be a long weekend starting each day at 5am and finishing at about 8pm. That's ok though. I love doing these big events and what a venue. Finger crossed that it all goes well. Hopefully the birds all fly well. I will let you know hopefully next week.
498
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Slow start
It is a bit scary to think we have entered the second half of the year. The first half of the year has flown in. The second half has now started and the first few days have been quiet. This is partly my fault as I have taken 2 days off. The first 2 full days I have taken off this year. It was meant to be Friday to Sunday as I was going to T in the Park but I ended up having to work Saturday so I only got 2 days off.
With me taking some time off this means that the birds are going to get some time off as well. On my day before T in the Park started most of the birds in the centre were given as much as they wanted to eat with lots of pigeon, quail, rat, mice and duck neck being used up with chicks only being given to the birds who would be flying on Saturday at the demonstration but don't worry they were all given a good feed after the demonstration with more quail, rat and mice being used up. I feel it does the birds good to have a few days off every now and then just to sit and relax. The birds work hard doing sessions and displays and I am sure they appreciate getting a few days off. My attitude is a lot of birds of prey in the wild don't fly for food everyday. For example if a Peregrine kills and eats a pigeon it is not going to hunt the next day. It will sit about for a day or 2 digesting the food. Birds of prey in the wild will gorge themselves so they don't have to go hunting everyday. In falconry it can be a bit un natural because we may want the bird to fly/hunt every day which is something it wouldn't do in the wild unless it had young to feed. There are other reasons why birds of prey in the wild will fly for example to find a mate, to find a territory, to escape predation and some birds of prey migrate. In captivity it is all to do with food - hunger. A few days of feeling full and well fed in some ways would be quite relaxing for them.
With all this extra food the birds have been getting the last 2 days have been spent getting the birds ready to fly again. Monday was spent weighing the birds and seeing who needed to loose weight. Tueasday I flew Bob (Gyr x Saker) and he was ok in his usual style as was Uist (Lugger Falcon). Sanda (Lanner Falcon) on the other hand was rubbish but her weight was a bit heavy. Today we flew all the falcons and they were all in good form with Gigha (Peregrine Tiercel) in great form. He was just picking his moments to come in and attack the lure flying with real determination. Oran (Harris Hawk) and Bella (Barn Owl) on the other hand need alittle bit of work put into them to get them back into the routine.This though was why I made sure I had no bookings in the days after T in the Park.
I do love flying Gigha (Peregrine Tiercel) to the lure. He is great fun to fly. It is just the sheer speed when he is fit that he comes in at to attack the lure. I don't know what speed he is doing but it's quick. He may not be the biggest. Sanda (Lanner Falcon) is 4oz heavier and a wing span that must be twice the size of his and Bob (Gyr x Saker) is 12oz heavier and look about half again as big as Gigha but when Gigha leaves the glove you can hear the power and when he grips on to the glove and flaps his wings you can feel the power and strength that he has. I love working with birds of prey but when I pick up Gigha to fly him I always get a feeling of anticipation, a little flutter of excitement in my stomach as I walk out on to the field to fly him.
The run up to T in the Park was steady with a few booking and the rain causing a few problems that we managed to deal with. Thankfully though the weather did hold for the corporate event at Dundas Castle where the sun shone and everyone had a great time. I was a little bit worried about Brel (Harris Hawk) after the demonstration at Chatelherault where he wasn't at his best but at Dundas he was his usual reliable self and flew brilliantly in a 7 group rotational event. This is where I will have 7 groups come 1 after another, with each group staying for say 20 mins to learn a little bit about falconry hold a bird and fly a bird and then they move on to their next activity. These events are hard work as you are always watching the clock as you don't want to run over as this could mess up the whole event yet you are trying to give everyone a chance to fly a bird. Brel is great at them as he just gets on with it and he was back on form for this 1.
Now that i have had a few days to get things back up and running again it is time to look at the next few days. Demonstrations at wedding are the order of the day for the next 3 days. 2 of the demonstrations are off site. The first 1 is at a hotel out near Falkirk, the second 1 is in St Andrews at St Salvators Quad and the third 1 is at Strathblane Country House where we are based. Now that may sound a lot but there is also a hawk walk over at Cameron House tomorrow once we get back from the 1st wedding demonstration, before the third wedding demonstration I have a 1 hour family fun session in the morning and a half day session in the afternoon. Once I have got through the next 3 days it is off to Kelso on Sunday to do a demonstration at a highland games. The next couple of days are busy to say the least. After a few days off and a more gentle pace about the centre it is good to get back into the routine and working with the birds again.
The other good news is I have a car again which I get on Friday. Just in time for going through to St Andrews and then down to Kelso. A big thankyou to my friend Brian for lending me his van and keeping me on the road.
477
With me taking some time off this means that the birds are going to get some time off as well. On my day before T in the Park started most of the birds in the centre were given as much as they wanted to eat with lots of pigeon, quail, rat, mice and duck neck being used up with chicks only being given to the birds who would be flying on Saturday at the demonstration but don't worry they were all given a good feed after the demonstration with more quail, rat and mice being used up. I feel it does the birds good to have a few days off every now and then just to sit and relax. The birds work hard doing sessions and displays and I am sure they appreciate getting a few days off. My attitude is a lot of birds of prey in the wild don't fly for food everyday. For example if a Peregrine kills and eats a pigeon it is not going to hunt the next day. It will sit about for a day or 2 digesting the food. Birds of prey in the wild will gorge themselves so they don't have to go hunting everyday. In falconry it can be a bit un natural because we may want the bird to fly/hunt every day which is something it wouldn't do in the wild unless it had young to feed. There are other reasons why birds of prey in the wild will fly for example to find a mate, to find a territory, to escape predation and some birds of prey migrate. In captivity it is all to do with food - hunger. A few days of feeling full and well fed in some ways would be quite relaxing for them.
With all this extra food the birds have been getting the last 2 days have been spent getting the birds ready to fly again. Monday was spent weighing the birds and seeing who needed to loose weight. Tueasday I flew Bob (Gyr x Saker) and he was ok in his usual style as was Uist (Lugger Falcon). Sanda (Lanner Falcon) on the other hand was rubbish but her weight was a bit heavy. Today we flew all the falcons and they were all in good form with Gigha (Peregrine Tiercel) in great form. He was just picking his moments to come in and attack the lure flying with real determination. Oran (Harris Hawk) and Bella (Barn Owl) on the other hand need alittle bit of work put into them to get them back into the routine.This though was why I made sure I had no bookings in the days after T in the Park.
I do love flying Gigha (Peregrine Tiercel) to the lure. He is great fun to fly. It is just the sheer speed when he is fit that he comes in at to attack the lure. I don't know what speed he is doing but it's quick. He may not be the biggest. Sanda (Lanner Falcon) is 4oz heavier and a wing span that must be twice the size of his and Bob (Gyr x Saker) is 12oz heavier and look about half again as big as Gigha but when Gigha leaves the glove you can hear the power and when he grips on to the glove and flaps his wings you can feel the power and strength that he has. I love working with birds of prey but when I pick up Gigha to fly him I always get a feeling of anticipation, a little flutter of excitement in my stomach as I walk out on to the field to fly him.
The run up to T in the Park was steady with a few booking and the rain causing a few problems that we managed to deal with. Thankfully though the weather did hold for the corporate event at Dundas Castle where the sun shone and everyone had a great time. I was a little bit worried about Brel (Harris Hawk) after the demonstration at Chatelherault where he wasn't at his best but at Dundas he was his usual reliable self and flew brilliantly in a 7 group rotational event. This is where I will have 7 groups come 1 after another, with each group staying for say 20 mins to learn a little bit about falconry hold a bird and fly a bird and then they move on to their next activity. These events are hard work as you are always watching the clock as you don't want to run over as this could mess up the whole event yet you are trying to give everyone a chance to fly a bird. Brel is great at them as he just gets on with it and he was back on form for this 1.
Now that i have had a few days to get things back up and running again it is time to look at the next few days. Demonstrations at wedding are the order of the day for the next 3 days. 2 of the demonstrations are off site. The first 1 is at a hotel out near Falkirk, the second 1 is in St Andrews at St Salvators Quad and the third 1 is at Strathblane Country House where we are based. Now that may sound a lot but there is also a hawk walk over at Cameron House tomorrow once we get back from the 1st wedding demonstration, before the third wedding demonstration I have a 1 hour family fun session in the morning and a half day session in the afternoon. Once I have got through the next 3 days it is off to Kelso on Sunday to do a demonstration at a highland games. The next couple of days are busy to say the least. After a few days off and a more gentle pace about the centre it is good to get back into the routine and working with the birds again.
The other good news is I have a car again which I get on Friday. Just in time for going through to St Andrews and then down to Kelso. A big thankyou to my friend Brian for lending me his van and keeping me on the road.
477
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
1st rabbit and rain
Late once again with the blog but it is getting done now.
The end of June is upon us and when I look back the main memory is rain. There was a lot. Several booking were cancelled due to it which was not good but that's 1 of those things when you work outdoors.
The weather hasn't been the only bad news. Last Thursday my the trusty Volvo came to the end of the road. When it starts blowing lots of blue smoke that's the end. I am now actively looking for a new car. A big thank you to Brian for lending me his van so I can get to work.
The last 2 weeks have been steady even with the rain making it difficult.
A highlight was doing a hawk walk at Cameron House for Brain Jackman who is a travel journalist for the Daily Telegraph. He also got the first wildscreen award for the script for the wildlife film Osprey and he has a real passion for nature/wildlife. I felt the pressure was on. Things got off to a brilliant start as I was explaining what was going to happen when I spotted a Osprey flying overhead which I pointed out to him and his wife. I looked on it as a good sign for the hawk walk. Oran (Harris Hawk) was brilliant and both Brian Jackman and his wife were very impressed and seemed to have a great time.
The following day was a bit different. We were off to do a demonstration at a school sports day. I have never had to do a display at 1 of those before but it went well and the birds flew well. Bookings like that are great because they are totally different to what I would do normally so they really change the routine of the day.
The next big incident was Oran catching his first rabbit last Thursday. This I would like to point was not planned but when a Harris Hawk sees an opportunity to catch something it tends to be game on. We were coming out of the woods behind Cameron House Hotel and I thought Oran had gone on ahead and was heading back to the aviaries as he does. We were just about to walk in that direction when I heard a quiet squeal somewhere behind me and I knew straight away Oran wasn't ahead but behind us. I doubled back and he was sitting on a rabbit that he had caught. This is his first rabbit and I was proud of him (a special moment) even if we hadn't been trying to catch it.
Since then things have been busy which is great but it does make finding time to work with some the birds difficult. It is always a challenge at this time of year. The diary is busy with booking but I still need to find time to work and fly some of the birds myself. Over the last weekend it was just too busy. On Saturday we had 4 bookings. I did 3 and Jo did a demonstration for the wedding at Strathblane Country House Hotel where we are based. I spent the morning in the centre and the afternoon over at Cameron House where we had 2 hawk walks booked. Oran did both and spent the afternoon looking like he was a mission to catch his 2nd rabbit. With it being so busy some of the birds were given a well earned weekend off.
Sunday was was busy with a highland games at Chatelherault just outside Hamilton. I was a bit worried about this event. The concern was the weather and would it stay dry. Thankfully it did and we were able to get the demonstrations done and we had good numbers come and watch and look at the birds when they we doing the static display. The only down side Brel (Harris Hawk) who is normally very reliable at these type of events was not that responsive. Sometimes he was great but at other he was a bit reluctant to come to the glove. Not sure what his problem was. Hopefully it was a 1 off.
While things have been steady with bookings and the rain has made it a bit difficult to get things done with the birds we have still been flying and working with the birds with 13 out of the 19 birds we have flying in bookings or in training.This is 1 of the things I like about a small team of birds to work with. Yes it sounds great to say I've got 50 or 60 birds but how many are being flown at any 1 time and how many are sitting about as there is no time to fly them. With a small team you can more time into them individually and also spend more time flying them. The days at the moment usually finish with the falcons being flown. All them are doing ok. Sanda (Lanner Falcon) and Uist (Lugger Falcon) have been there usual reliable selves, Gigha (Peregrine) is now flying again and looking great and then there is Bob(Gyr x Saker), he is flying and will come into and attack the lure every so often when being flown but other times he is just flying about. I am hopefully going to get him onto a farm that I can fly on which doesn't have a lot of trees on it so hopefully I can push him a bit more and see what he does.
We are making slow progress with Bella the young Barn Owl but today she made real progress flying close on 30m to the glove and being quick when called. I am hoping to have her flying free in the next week or so which will be great. Up until today it has been slow going but it is like she has worked out what is expected of her and she is doing it. Hopefully we will get the same tomorrow.
The coming week is steady. We have a corporate event at the beginning of next week with should be good fun over at Dundas Castle - a venue that we are at on a regular basis. It is also game fair weekend. This is for all those interested in hunting, shooting, fishing, falconry and country pursuits. I treat it a bit like a trade fair. it is where I can get work wear and equipment for the birds. On the shopping list this year are a hood for Sanda, a few nobel bells for putting on the birds, a new falconry bag, maybe a new glove, mole skins, jumper, a pair of walking boots and maybe 1 or 2 things that take my fancy.
458
The end of June is upon us and when I look back the main memory is rain. There was a lot. Several booking were cancelled due to it which was not good but that's 1 of those things when you work outdoors.
The weather hasn't been the only bad news. Last Thursday my the trusty Volvo came to the end of the road. When it starts blowing lots of blue smoke that's the end. I am now actively looking for a new car. A big thank you to Brian for lending me his van so I can get to work.
The last 2 weeks have been steady even with the rain making it difficult.
A highlight was doing a hawk walk at Cameron House for Brain Jackman who is a travel journalist for the Daily Telegraph. He also got the first wildscreen award for the script for the wildlife film Osprey and he has a real passion for nature/wildlife. I felt the pressure was on. Things got off to a brilliant start as I was explaining what was going to happen when I spotted a Osprey flying overhead which I pointed out to him and his wife. I looked on it as a good sign for the hawk walk. Oran (Harris Hawk) was brilliant and both Brian Jackman and his wife were very impressed and seemed to have a great time.
The following day was a bit different. We were off to do a demonstration at a school sports day. I have never had to do a display at 1 of those before but it went well and the birds flew well. Bookings like that are great because they are totally different to what I would do normally so they really change the routine of the day.
The next big incident was Oran catching his first rabbit last Thursday. This I would like to point was not planned but when a Harris Hawk sees an opportunity to catch something it tends to be game on. We were coming out of the woods behind Cameron House Hotel and I thought Oran had gone on ahead and was heading back to the aviaries as he does. We were just about to walk in that direction when I heard a quiet squeal somewhere behind me and I knew straight away Oran wasn't ahead but behind us. I doubled back and he was sitting on a rabbit that he had caught. This is his first rabbit and I was proud of him (a special moment) even if we hadn't been trying to catch it.
Since then things have been busy which is great but it does make finding time to work with some the birds difficult. It is always a challenge at this time of year. The diary is busy with booking but I still need to find time to work and fly some of the birds myself. Over the last weekend it was just too busy. On Saturday we had 4 bookings. I did 3 and Jo did a demonstration for the wedding at Strathblane Country House Hotel where we are based. I spent the morning in the centre and the afternoon over at Cameron House where we had 2 hawk walks booked. Oran did both and spent the afternoon looking like he was a mission to catch his 2nd rabbit. With it being so busy some of the birds were given a well earned weekend off.
Sunday was was busy with a highland games at Chatelherault just outside Hamilton. I was a bit worried about this event. The concern was the weather and would it stay dry. Thankfully it did and we were able to get the demonstrations done and we had good numbers come and watch and look at the birds when they we doing the static display. The only down side Brel (Harris Hawk) who is normally very reliable at these type of events was not that responsive. Sometimes he was great but at other he was a bit reluctant to come to the glove. Not sure what his problem was. Hopefully it was a 1 off.
While things have been steady with bookings and the rain has made it a bit difficult to get things done with the birds we have still been flying and working with the birds with 13 out of the 19 birds we have flying in bookings or in training.This is 1 of the things I like about a small team of birds to work with. Yes it sounds great to say I've got 50 or 60 birds but how many are being flown at any 1 time and how many are sitting about as there is no time to fly them. With a small team you can more time into them individually and also spend more time flying them. The days at the moment usually finish with the falcons being flown. All them are doing ok. Sanda (Lanner Falcon) and Uist (Lugger Falcon) have been there usual reliable selves, Gigha (Peregrine) is now flying again and looking great and then there is Bob(Gyr x Saker), he is flying and will come into and attack the lure every so often when being flown but other times he is just flying about. I am hopefully going to get him onto a farm that I can fly on which doesn't have a lot of trees on it so hopefully I can push him a bit more and see what he does.
We are making slow progress with Bella the young Barn Owl but today she made real progress flying close on 30m to the glove and being quick when called. I am hoping to have her flying free in the next week or so which will be great. Up until today it has been slow going but it is like she has worked out what is expected of her and she is doing it. Hopefully we will get the same tomorrow.
The coming week is steady. We have a corporate event at the beginning of next week with should be good fun over at Dundas Castle - a venue that we are at on a regular basis. It is also game fair weekend. This is for all those interested in hunting, shooting, fishing, falconry and country pursuits. I treat it a bit like a trade fair. it is where I can get work wear and equipment for the birds. On the shopping list this year are a hood for Sanda, a few nobel bells for putting on the birds, a new falconry bag, maybe a new glove, mole skins, jumper, a pair of walking boots and maybe 1 or 2 things that take my fancy.
458
Monday, 13 June 2011
I'm back
Ok I'm back. Moving house is a busy stressful time. There are still thing to sorted but at least I can start to get things back to normal in the centre again.
It has been over 2 weeks since I last made an entry in the blog and things have been a bit busy.
We have been at the Drymen Show doing a static which was great fun but hard work as it was very windy and every so often there was heavy rain showers coming in which would only last a few minutes and then blow over and the sun would come out. The weather conditions were hard going but the birds all did well. The Sunday was spent in the centre which after the Saturday was great. It was a busy day with the afternoon fully booked with a half day session.
I was then going to try and keep the following week clear to move house which didn't quite happen the way I wanted it to. I needed to go up to the centre every day to open up, clean the aviaries and feed the birds. Also at the end of the day I would need to go up and lock up. That is a given. The thing is I ended up picking up 6 bookings and having to go and collect bird food. The bookings were all straight forward and went well. Thursday and Friday were both full on days.
On Thursday I made my 3 monthly trip to go and collect the food for the birds. There was the usual assortment of food - chicks (which is the birds main food), quail, rats, mice and duck neck. I kind of messed up with the order and ordered an extra 4 boxes of chicks. This did cause a bit of a problem as I struggled to fit it into the freezers but I got there in the end though. I just had to jam or weigh the freezer doors down so they wouldn't burst open. Artemis got a deers head which I wasn't planning to de-frost as there was just no space for it in the freezers.
The last week has been steady with a quiet mid week and a fully booked weekend. In some ways this has been great. May was full on very busy with a lot of bookings (a fair few out on the road at different locations) and with the whole moving house it has been good to get a few quiet days just to get things back into the routine in the centre.
While it has been a bit quiet with bookings this allows me to fly and work with the birds. Sanda(Lanner Falcon) is back flying again. I am getting her ready for a large event at the end of July. I will reveal all closer to the day. Sanda is 9 years old and 1 of the original team. Normally very reliable unless it is getting to the end of her season and then she can be a bit wayward. To get her flying because of her age and experience it is just a case of take her weight down to 1lb8oz and let her go. She will normally go and sit some (she is not meant to do this) and take a minute to look about and then she will fly to the lure and this will happen for a few days and then she normally stops sitting and gets on with it.
Uist (Lugger Falcon) is flying well also but I may give him a week off at the end of the month just to break up the routine for him. I have also been having real fun with him by moving about a lot when flying him so he is really having to work to try and catch the lure. I have even been running while swinging the lure just to get into a position which may catch him out. There have been a couple of time where he has expected me to be in 1 spot only to find I have doubled back on myself and I am in another spot. It is no mean feat to run and swinging a lureat the same time with a falcon chasing you. It does make the lure work even more fun.
Normally I would have 2 falcons flying at this time of year but not this year. Bob (GyrxSaker) is flying free. I am still not convinced that he knows what he is doing but he is flying so he is getting fit, he comes to the lure when called and will stoop to the lure every so often. Just to give abit of info on Bob. He is second hand. I am always very wary about taking on a second hand bird as you could be getting someones problems or mistakes. Lets just say Bob had some problems when I got him just over a year ago. I tried to fly him last year and it was a bit of a disaster but hopefully this year he will fly better and we should have a better season together. Time will tell.
That's 3 falcons now flying. There is 1 more - Gigha (Peregrine). He is not flying just yet but hopefully at some point this week he will. I will start working with him to get him ready for this event at the end of July. I always love flying Gigha. It is just the thrill of flying a Peregrine even if it just to a lure. Once he gets fit I know I need to be focused or he will catch me out. You can watch him in action on our Fcaebook page or on You Tube. Just look under Strathblane Falconry.
On the down side it looks like I won't be getting the Prairie Falcon this year which is a shame as I was looking really forward to training and working with it. I spoke to the breeder and he told me that he has had a bad season for breeding and there is no Prairie Falcon for me. These things happen. I was going to get something else but I think I may just work through the summer with what I have got and hold out for next year.
The other big news is that Bella (Barn Owl) is now up at the centre full time. She was put in an aviary where she spent a week and then she had her anklets and jesses put on. Now it is time to train her. This has already started in the fact that she has gone from getting 3 or 4 whole chicks to 3 chicks with the yolk sack removed to 2 chicks with the yolk sack removed as we increase her hunger so she will be responsive when called to the glove.
The coming week is busy with the weekend being fully booked with Friday and Saturday being the 2 busiest days. Both being spent doing events out on the road 1 of which is at a sports day. The days are also busy as well as I am working / flying 13 out of 19 birds that I have in the centre. Just as well the days are long at the moment.
442
It has been over 2 weeks since I last made an entry in the blog and things have been a bit busy.
We have been at the Drymen Show doing a static which was great fun but hard work as it was very windy and every so often there was heavy rain showers coming in which would only last a few minutes and then blow over and the sun would come out. The weather conditions were hard going but the birds all did well. The Sunday was spent in the centre which after the Saturday was great. It was a busy day with the afternoon fully booked with a half day session.
I was then going to try and keep the following week clear to move house which didn't quite happen the way I wanted it to. I needed to go up to the centre every day to open up, clean the aviaries and feed the birds. Also at the end of the day I would need to go up and lock up. That is a given. The thing is I ended up picking up 6 bookings and having to go and collect bird food. The bookings were all straight forward and went well. Thursday and Friday were both full on days.
On Thursday I made my 3 monthly trip to go and collect the food for the birds. There was the usual assortment of food - chicks (which is the birds main food), quail, rats, mice and duck neck. I kind of messed up with the order and ordered an extra 4 boxes of chicks. This did cause a bit of a problem as I struggled to fit it into the freezers but I got there in the end though. I just had to jam or weigh the freezer doors down so they wouldn't burst open. Artemis got a deers head which I wasn't planning to de-frost as there was just no space for it in the freezers.
The last week has been steady with a quiet mid week and a fully booked weekend. In some ways this has been great. May was full on very busy with a lot of bookings (a fair few out on the road at different locations) and with the whole moving house it has been good to get a few quiet days just to get things back into the routine in the centre.
While it has been a bit quiet with bookings this allows me to fly and work with the birds. Sanda(Lanner Falcon) is back flying again. I am getting her ready for a large event at the end of July. I will reveal all closer to the day. Sanda is 9 years old and 1 of the original team. Normally very reliable unless it is getting to the end of her season and then she can be a bit wayward. To get her flying because of her age and experience it is just a case of take her weight down to 1lb8oz and let her go. She will normally go and sit some (she is not meant to do this) and take a minute to look about and then she will fly to the lure and this will happen for a few days and then she normally stops sitting and gets on with it.
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| Sanda Lanner Falcon |
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| Uist Lugger Falcon |
That's 3 falcons now flying. There is 1 more - Gigha (Peregrine). He is not flying just yet but hopefully at some point this week he will. I will start working with him to get him ready for this event at the end of July. I always love flying Gigha. It is just the thrill of flying a Peregrine even if it just to a lure. Once he gets fit I know I need to be focused or he will catch me out. You can watch him in action on our Fcaebook page or on You Tube. Just look under Strathblane Falconry.
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| Gigha the Peregrine |
The other big news is that Bella (Barn Owl) is now up at the centre full time. She was put in an aviary where she spent a week and then she had her anklets and jesses put on. Now it is time to train her. This has already started in the fact that she has gone from getting 3 or 4 whole chicks to 3 chicks with the yolk sack removed to 2 chicks with the yolk sack removed as we increase her hunger so she will be responsive when called to the glove.
The coming week is busy with the weekend being fully booked with Friday and Saturday being the 2 busiest days. Both being spent doing events out on the road 1 of which is at a sports day. The days are also busy as well as I am working / flying 13 out of 19 birds that I have in the centre. Just as well the days are long at the moment.
442
Thursday, 26 May 2011
Good Bye Dylan
Yesterday evening Dylan (Barn Owl) was put to sleep. I finally took the decision to have him put to sleep after speaking to Jo about it. Dylan has been struggling for quite a while with his eyesight. We had stopped him flying to people last year as he was struggling to land on peoples' glove when asked to fly. He has also been struggling to find food that is put in the aviary for him and he was starting to show signs that he couldn't see where the perches were in his aviary. I decided to end it as it wouldn't be fair to drag it out right to the bitter end where he would almost be blind. I didn't want to remember him like that. I wanted to remember him as the Barn Owl who would do big laps of the front field every so often, who once went after a Jackdaw, at school visits he would just fly about games halls and as a strong member of the flying team who could be relied upon to fly no matter where we were.
I had Dylan since he was 19 days old and he died 4 days before his 9th birthday. He was with me near enough his whole life and that was the way it was meant to be as far as I am concerned. Unfortunately that life has been cut short by incredible bad luck with him getting pigmentation of the retinas and slowly loosing his eyesight. He was not old at 9, if anything he was probably only middle aged for a captive Barn Owl. He was one of the original birds of Strathblane Falconry in the fact I got him when I first started. He worked hard and more than earned his keep. He may be gone but he won't be forgotten and will be dearly missed. RIP Dylan.
Life in the centre has been busy since my last post. In the last 10 days I have had the centre's 6 monthly vet inspection, 3 hawk walks at Cameron House, 3 corporate events, 1 highland games, 2 school visits and a scout group visited the centre. Plus 2 vet students from Glasgow University on EMS placement. On the whole it has been quite busy. We should of been busier in the fact that a further 2 bookings were cancelled due to the rain.
The highland games was hard going in the fact that I had too leave the centre at 6am to get up to Gordon Castle for 10am to set up and get ready for the event opening at 11am and finishing at 4pm with 2 flying demonstrations at it. I got home at 11pm after being up since 3.30am. The event itself was great fun with all the birds behaving and the flying displays going well. Uist (Lugger Falcon) was in good form as was Brel (Harris Hawk).
Pele (Harris Hawk) has not been at his best recently while flying at Cameron House but he was back to his best last Friday in the woods behind the hotel. He was flying with real purpose and determination. In other words a joy to fly. He was flying so well he took a gray squirrel out of a tree and landed on the ground with it. While it is not the hunting season, I always respect the seasons and I will always try and release what the bird catches at this time of year - gray squirrels are the exception. If I let the squirrel go I will be technically breaking the law as I would be releasing a non native invasive species into the the wild. For this reason I will always kill a gray squirrel. It is also safer for the bird and me as well - kill it quickly less chance of getting bitten. While Pele was looking good Mardy was copying Oran his brother. I was flying Mardy on the front lawn when he crashed into a bush and came out holding on to a very angry goose. In the 5 years that I have flown Mardy at Cameron House he has never pulled a stunt like that before. Sure he chases all sorts but he has always blanked the geese. Just shows you you never know what may happen. You may think you know but at the end of the day if the bird thinks it can take it then it is game on.
Bella the baby Barn Owl is slowly progressing and seems to be taking her time. She has been preening a lot and is loosing her down feathers with the adult feathers coming through. She hasn't shown any sign of wanting to fly as yet and is still coming home with me. I keep on saying in the coming week she will be left up at the centre but that hasn't happened yet as she hasn't shown any sign that she is ready for that.
The coming week is busy in the fact that we are doing a static at the Drymen Show on Saturday. This is the local agricultural show. We did it last year and it was good fun and it is a great day out. Sunday will be spent in the centre doing bookings which will be a welcome break from being out on the road doing events.
After the weekend it will be quiet though for the birds but not for me. I have bought a house with Jo so next week will be spent moving house so I need to focus on that and deal with the real world to get things sorted with that. For the birds it will be a chance to relax with a lot of quail, rat, pigeon, mice and venison getting used on Sunday to feed the birds. A little bit of down time for them.
413
I had Dylan since he was 19 days old and he died 4 days before his 9th birthday. He was with me near enough his whole life and that was the way it was meant to be as far as I am concerned. Unfortunately that life has been cut short by incredible bad luck with him getting pigmentation of the retinas and slowly loosing his eyesight. He was not old at 9, if anything he was probably only middle aged for a captive Barn Owl. He was one of the original birds of Strathblane Falconry in the fact I got him when I first started. He worked hard and more than earned his keep. He may be gone but he won't be forgotten and will be dearly missed. RIP Dylan.
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| Dylan the Barn Owl in action |
The highland games was hard going in the fact that I had too leave the centre at 6am to get up to Gordon Castle for 10am to set up and get ready for the event opening at 11am and finishing at 4pm with 2 flying demonstrations at it. I got home at 11pm after being up since 3.30am. The event itself was great fun with all the birds behaving and the flying displays going well. Uist (Lugger Falcon) was in good form as was Brel (Harris Hawk).
Pele (Harris Hawk) has not been at his best recently while flying at Cameron House but he was back to his best last Friday in the woods behind the hotel. He was flying with real purpose and determination. In other words a joy to fly. He was flying so well he took a gray squirrel out of a tree and landed on the ground with it. While it is not the hunting season, I always respect the seasons and I will always try and release what the bird catches at this time of year - gray squirrels are the exception. If I let the squirrel go I will be technically breaking the law as I would be releasing a non native invasive species into the the wild. For this reason I will always kill a gray squirrel. It is also safer for the bird and me as well - kill it quickly less chance of getting bitten. While Pele was looking good Mardy was copying Oran his brother. I was flying Mardy on the front lawn when he crashed into a bush and came out holding on to a very angry goose. In the 5 years that I have flown Mardy at Cameron House he has never pulled a stunt like that before. Sure he chases all sorts but he has always blanked the geese. Just shows you you never know what may happen. You may think you know but at the end of the day if the bird thinks it can take it then it is game on.
Bella the baby Barn Owl is slowly progressing and seems to be taking her time. She has been preening a lot and is loosing her down feathers with the adult feathers coming through. She hasn't shown any sign of wanting to fly as yet and is still coming home with me. I keep on saying in the coming week she will be left up at the centre but that hasn't happened yet as she hasn't shown any sign that she is ready for that.
The coming week is busy in the fact that we are doing a static at the Drymen Show on Saturday. This is the local agricultural show. We did it last year and it was good fun and it is a great day out. Sunday will be spent in the centre doing bookings which will be a welcome break from being out on the road doing events.
After the weekend it will be quiet though for the birds but not for me. I have bought a house with Jo so next week will be spent moving house so I need to focus on that and deal with the real world to get things sorted with that. For the birds it will be a chance to relax with a lot of quail, rat, pigeon, mice and venison getting used on Sunday to feed the birds. A little bit of down time for them.
413
Monday, 16 May 2011
Busy weekend
I am feeling the effects of a busy weekend. The weekend went very well considering how busy it was. There was an Agricultural Show on Saturday and visit to a Brownie camp on Sunday morning to do a flying display and Jo was at Mugdock Castle to do a static display and I did the afternoon session when we had to do a flying display.
There has been 2 early starts, with 2 late finishes, loading and unloading of cars, lots of talking to members of the public with 3 demonstrations at 3 different locations in 2 days. I would like to point out that I am not complaining. I love it when it is like this. There is a real pressure and buzz. The events have all been going well with a lot of good positive feed back.
There is not much to tell about the run up to last weekend. I had 2 hawk walks to do over at Cameron House on the Thursday that went well with Mardy and Pele (both Harris Hawks) flying well. Saying that Mardy did go off on 1 of the hawk walks but he came back quickly. I suspect it was just Mardy being Mardy. As I have said before he is 1 of the most up for it Harris Hawks I think I have worked with in the fact that he is always looking for something to catch. He always keeps me on my toes.
The weekend was very busy but all good. It was our 6th year at the Agricultural Show so we must be doing something right to keep on getting asked back. It starts with a static display and then we do a 30 min flying display in the main arena and then we get the birds back out for another static display. The flying display went very well with Alba (Barn Owl) Brel (Harris Hawk) flying really well and Uist (Lugger Falcon) being in great form using the wind to get height and speed to swoop down at me swinging the lure. He didn't grab his tail so he put in a good shift. The birds were all looking good during the static display. Where the birds sit at this show is great. We are right next to the main arena so we get lots of people stopping to look at the birds. The birds were all on great form. The back of the static area is gorse bushes, there are no people there, and the birds were watching the local mouse population run about in the gorse. Brel spent a good 20mins staring into the gorse and Artemis (Steppe Eagle) was at it as well trying to catch them, Corrie (European Eagle Owl) spent most of the static display sleeping with the odd rouse (shaking of his feathers) to get comfortable, Taz (Kestrel) sunbathed in between the showers and Bod (Gyr x Saker) put alot of effort into preening. This was great to see as it showed once again the birds were not stressed by the event as they were displaying signs of natural behaviour. It also meant that we could point this out to the public and once again try inform as many people as possible that you shouldn't stroke birds of prey.
Sunday was more of the same with a visit to a Brownie camp. This was our 3rd visit to this group which was great. We did an hour there and then it was load up the car and head over to Mugdock Castle to take over the static display that Jo was doing and and do the flying display. Once again alot of time on Sunday afternoon was spent talking about the birds welfare and why we don't allow handling or touching as they would find this stressful.
The baby Bran Owl is still living in the flat with me and Jo. It is getting big. It's tail is also just starting to come through and there is what looks like a dark stripe across it. With the size and the fact there is a dark stripe on the tail we think it will be female. In the the bird of prey world the female is always bigger than the male and the female Barn Owl is meant to have dark stripes across it's tail. If it is a female we are going with Bella as a name.
Still no sign of it flying so it will be with us for the next week at least.
The next 6 days are very busy. I have 2 corporate events to do, a highland games where we are doing 2 flying demonstrations, 3 hawk walks at Cameron House, 1 scout group visiting the centre and 1 demonstration at a wedding at the hotel. On top of that I have my 6 monthly vet inspection by the vet that I use which is part of the terms and conditions of my zoo licence and I have someone coming out to speak to me about getting a bird of prey. A good week with a good variety of bookings at a good variety of venues.
I am looking forward to the 6 monthly vet inspection as I am always confident. The way I run the centre has always passed any inspection and I have always had good feedback from the people making the inspections of the centre.
BrelBrel on numerous occasions in the blog but I feel I need to mention him again. For 6 months I will barely talk about him in the blog. Over the autumn and winter I don't fly him. He sits on his perch and is generally a bit grumpy and anti social while I allow him to moult. If someone other than me picks him up a bit grumpy becomes very grumpy but come the spring he is brought back down to flying weight, he is flown, his fitness improves and he is back. No matter where we are, if I have to do a flying demonstration I want Brel to be part of it. He floats about and will fly to anybody I ask him to. At this time of year when the big events are coming thick and fast Brel is flying at them all. The only thing is if someone other than me picks him up off his perch he will be grumpy no matter how hungry he is. I am the only person who handles him. He is a star and a big player in the team who flies at the big events or venues and there have been a few over the years.
Anyway time to go. I need my sleep as I get ready for another hectic week at Strathblane Falconry. While for some so called falconry companies it is all about charging to have your photo taken holding a bird of prey or hugging or stroking an owl whilst rattling a tin for donations at Strathblane Falconry we are about flying birds of prey and promoting the welfare of the birds through good husbandry and management.
387
There has been 2 early starts, with 2 late finishes, loading and unloading of cars, lots of talking to members of the public with 3 demonstrations at 3 different locations in 2 days. I would like to point out that I am not complaining. I love it when it is like this. There is a real pressure and buzz. The events have all been going well with a lot of good positive feed back.
There is not much to tell about the run up to last weekend. I had 2 hawk walks to do over at Cameron House on the Thursday that went well with Mardy and Pele (both Harris Hawks) flying well. Saying that Mardy did go off on 1 of the hawk walks but he came back quickly. I suspect it was just Mardy being Mardy. As I have said before he is 1 of the most up for it Harris Hawks I think I have worked with in the fact that he is always looking for something to catch. He always keeps me on my toes.
The weekend was very busy but all good. It was our 6th year at the Agricultural Show so we must be doing something right to keep on getting asked back. It starts with a static display and then we do a 30 min flying display in the main arena and then we get the birds back out for another static display. The flying display went very well with Alba (Barn Owl) Brel (Harris Hawk) flying really well and Uist (Lugger Falcon) being in great form using the wind to get height and speed to swoop down at me swinging the lure. He didn't grab his tail so he put in a good shift. The birds were all looking good during the static display. Where the birds sit at this show is great. We are right next to the main arena so we get lots of people stopping to look at the birds. The birds were all on great form. The back of the static area is gorse bushes, there are no people there, and the birds were watching the local mouse population run about in the gorse. Brel spent a good 20mins staring into the gorse and Artemis (Steppe Eagle) was at it as well trying to catch them, Corrie (European Eagle Owl) spent most of the static display sleeping with the odd rouse (shaking of his feathers) to get comfortable, Taz (Kestrel) sunbathed in between the showers and Bod (Gyr x Saker) put alot of effort into preening. This was great to see as it showed once again the birds were not stressed by the event as they were displaying signs of natural behaviour. It also meant that we could point this out to the public and once again try inform as many people as possible that you shouldn't stroke birds of prey.
Sunday was more of the same with a visit to a Brownie camp. This was our 3rd visit to this group which was great. We did an hour there and then it was load up the car and head over to Mugdock Castle to take over the static display that Jo was doing and and do the flying display. Once again alot of time on Sunday afternoon was spent talking about the birds welfare and why we don't allow handling or touching as they would find this stressful.
The baby Bran Owl is still living in the flat with me and Jo. It is getting big. It's tail is also just starting to come through and there is what looks like a dark stripe across it. With the size and the fact there is a dark stripe on the tail we think it will be female. In the the bird of prey world the female is always bigger than the male and the female Barn Owl is meant to have dark stripes across it's tail. If it is a female we are going with Bella as a name.
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| Bella preening. You can see the new feather coming through in the wing |
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| Spud takes his baby sitting very seriously |
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| Bella the Barn Owl |
The next 6 days are very busy. I have 2 corporate events to do, a highland games where we are doing 2 flying demonstrations, 3 hawk walks at Cameron House, 1 scout group visiting the centre and 1 demonstration at a wedding at the hotel. On top of that I have my 6 monthly vet inspection by the vet that I use which is part of the terms and conditions of my zoo licence and I have someone coming out to speak to me about getting a bird of prey. A good week with a good variety of bookings at a good variety of venues.
I am looking forward to the 6 monthly vet inspection as I am always confident. The way I run the centre has always passed any inspection and I have always had good feedback from the people making the inspections of the centre.
BrelBrel on numerous occasions in the blog but I feel I need to mention him again. For 6 months I will barely talk about him in the blog. Over the autumn and winter I don't fly him. He sits on his perch and is generally a bit grumpy and anti social while I allow him to moult. If someone other than me picks him up a bit grumpy becomes very grumpy but come the spring he is brought back down to flying weight, he is flown, his fitness improves and he is back. No matter where we are, if I have to do a flying demonstration I want Brel to be part of it. He floats about and will fly to anybody I ask him to. At this time of year when the big events are coming thick and fast Brel is flying at them all. The only thing is if someone other than me picks him up off his perch he will be grumpy no matter how hungry he is. I am the only person who handles him. He is a star and a big player in the team who flies at the big events or venues and there have been a few over the years.
Anyway time to go. I need my sleep as I get ready for another hectic week at Strathblane Falconry. While for some so called falconry companies it is all about charging to have your photo taken holding a bird of prey or hugging or stroking an owl whilst rattling a tin for donations at Strathblane Falconry we are about flying birds of prey and promoting the welfare of the birds through good husbandry and management.
387
late
I was getting into a bit of a routine with the blog. Monday evening do the blog up until last Monday. I finished work a bit late and by the time I got home and made dinner it was just too late to start.
I was going to do it on Tuesday but there was a programme on about the persecution of birds of prey on shooting estates. I decided to watch it and I can safely say it was nothing programme. There was nothing new in it. They didn't give any numbers of cases and incidents of persecution. So the blog didn't happen on Tuesday either.
It is now Wednesday and the blog is getting done.
The big event of the last 9 days was on Saturday. We were doing an event for Hopetoun House. As we turned up the rain was coming down heavily so we couldn't set up on the front lawn. We had to set up next to the house on some gravel where it was a bit more sheltered and we could only put a few of the birds out. We allowed people to come up close and look at the birds, to give photo opportunities and to tell them why you shouldn't stroke a bird of prey. We had a few "but at the last event I went to they allowed us to stroke the birds". It's then that we have to point out things like the birds body language and how this shows that the bird is relaxed because they are showings signs of natural behaviour - like standing with 1 foot tucked up, rousing and preening. I am starting to feel like I am on a mission to stop the stroking of birds of prey at times.
Anyway back to the event. We had to fly birds at it and Brel was first up. I cannot sing Brel's praises high enough when it comes to this type of work. He might be a bit moody and bad tempered if someone picks him up other than me but if I pick him up off his perch and get him ready to fly, he will fly to anyone I ask. He must of flown to close on 40 people on Saturday evening swooping off the roof of Hopetoun House and over the crowds head. He was awesome. I decided to keep the Harris Hawk theme going so I got Pele out and he flew off. He only flew to the edge of the lawn and with in 15 mins I had him back. As I said in a previous post he is proving to be a bit erratic at the moment but I have lengthened his season this year and is maybe needing a break. This is being sorted as I am bringing Oran's weight back down so we should have him flying again by the end of the month. Other than that the event went well. We will be getting to know Hopetoun House well as we have another 2 events there this summer.
The rest of the week has been spent doing sessions at Cameron House and at the centre with a few days with nothing booked. I was hoping to use this quiet time productively and try and get some more painting done in the centre but there has been rain showers almost everyday so the place is always a bit damp. It has given me more time to fly birds though. I have had time to work with Artemis (Steppe Eagle). She has been refusing to fly to the glove again but she did fly to the glove today so hopefully we are getting back in the routine.
I have also started to work with Bob (Gyr x Saker). I tried to fly him last summer and it was a disaster. I bought him last April from someone. He was 5 years old and I don't think he had flown that much in the previous years that I got him and I don't think he had been handled that much either as he was very scatty and crashed about alot smashing most of the feathers in his wings and tail. Also I was told he would fly at 1lb 12oz which is way to low for him the whole experience was messed up.
A year on and he seems calmer so hopefully he will be better to work with. We shall see. The plan is to try and use him for hunting crows but we shall see. The first thing will be to try and get him to fly well. He does seem keen to come to the lure when I show it to him so fingers crossed. I suspect it will all come down to time.
The baby barn owl is making great progress. In the 12 days that we have had it I think it has doubled in size. I suspect it is a female. I haven't named it yet but hopefully we will have a name for it after the weekend. It still comes home every night with me and stays in the house but hopefully that will stop in the next week to 10 days as it will be big enough to keep itself warm and stay in an aviary.
I still haven't decided what to do with Dylan (Barn Owl) who is being replaced. His eyesight I feel is getting worse. I have noticed that if he doesn't see where the food lands when it is thrown into his aviary he does struggle to find it for a bit. Within a minute though he will find the food and he is still able to land on perches ok. I will speak to Alistair Lawrie (Vet) and ask for his opinion in the next few days about it. He is 1 of the top exotics vets in the UK.
The next 2 days are quiet with only 2 hawk walks over at Cameron House tomorrow and nothing on Friday but this is good as it give me time on Friday to get ready for the Kilmacolm and Port Glasgow Agricultural Show on Saturday and then on Sunday I am back over at Kilmacolm doing a display at a Brownie camp and then off to Mugdock Castle to do a display in the afternoon so a busy day.
I should be hopefully back doing the blog on Monday to say how the weekend went.
377
I was going to do it on Tuesday but there was a programme on about the persecution of birds of prey on shooting estates. I decided to watch it and I can safely say it was nothing programme. There was nothing new in it. They didn't give any numbers of cases and incidents of persecution. So the blog didn't happen on Tuesday either.
It is now Wednesday and the blog is getting done.
The big event of the last 9 days was on Saturday. We were doing an event for Hopetoun House. As we turned up the rain was coming down heavily so we couldn't set up on the front lawn. We had to set up next to the house on some gravel where it was a bit more sheltered and we could only put a few of the birds out. We allowed people to come up close and look at the birds, to give photo opportunities and to tell them why you shouldn't stroke a bird of prey. We had a few "but at the last event I went to they allowed us to stroke the birds". It's then that we have to point out things like the birds body language and how this shows that the bird is relaxed because they are showings signs of natural behaviour - like standing with 1 foot tucked up, rousing and preening. I am starting to feel like I am on a mission to stop the stroking of birds of prey at times.
Anyway back to the event. We had to fly birds at it and Brel was first up. I cannot sing Brel's praises high enough when it comes to this type of work. He might be a bit moody and bad tempered if someone picks him up other than me but if I pick him up off his perch and get him ready to fly, he will fly to anyone I ask. He must of flown to close on 40 people on Saturday evening swooping off the roof of Hopetoun House and over the crowds head. He was awesome. I decided to keep the Harris Hawk theme going so I got Pele out and he flew off. He only flew to the edge of the lawn and with in 15 mins I had him back. As I said in a previous post he is proving to be a bit erratic at the moment but I have lengthened his season this year and is maybe needing a break. This is being sorted as I am bringing Oran's weight back down so we should have him flying again by the end of the month. Other than that the event went well. We will be getting to know Hopetoun House well as we have another 2 events there this summer.
The rest of the week has been spent doing sessions at Cameron House and at the centre with a few days with nothing booked. I was hoping to use this quiet time productively and try and get some more painting done in the centre but there has been rain showers almost everyday so the place is always a bit damp. It has given me more time to fly birds though. I have had time to work with Artemis (Steppe Eagle). She has been refusing to fly to the glove again but she did fly to the glove today so hopefully we are getting back in the routine.
I have also started to work with Bob (Gyr x Saker). I tried to fly him last summer and it was a disaster. I bought him last April from someone. He was 5 years old and I don't think he had flown that much in the previous years that I got him and I don't think he had been handled that much either as he was very scatty and crashed about alot smashing most of the feathers in his wings and tail. Also I was told he would fly at 1lb 12oz which is way to low for him the whole experience was messed up.
A year on and he seems calmer so hopefully he will be better to work with. We shall see. The plan is to try and use him for hunting crows but we shall see. The first thing will be to try and get him to fly well. He does seem keen to come to the lure when I show it to him so fingers crossed. I suspect it will all come down to time.
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| Bob Gyr x Saker |
I still haven't decided what to do with Dylan (Barn Owl) who is being replaced. His eyesight I feel is getting worse. I have noticed that if he doesn't see where the food lands when it is thrown into his aviary he does struggle to find it for a bit. Within a minute though he will find the food and he is still able to land on perches ok. I will speak to Alistair Lawrie (Vet) and ask for his opinion in the next few days about it. He is 1 of the top exotics vets in the UK.
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| Dylan flying to the glove |
I should be hopefully back doing the blog on Monday to say how the weekend went.
377
Monday, 2 May 2011
New arrival
At last I was able to pick up the new Barn Owl who was only 25 days old. I am glad I have finally got it. I always feel happier if I imprint an owl that I need to train or work with.
When I talk about imprint - I mean hand rear. If you wan to work with owls - fly them - then you need to hand rear them so basically they grow up looking on you as the parent and the food source. You do not want to be handling an owl that is parent reared and it grows up knowing it is an owl - nasty.
While I had full confidence in the breeder I would still rather do it myself then I know what I am getting. We haven't named it yet as I have no idea if it is a male or a female. What they say is if it has a white tail it is a mail and if it has bars across it's tail then it is female. At the moment it has no tail so we will wait and see.
Since I last posted a blog things have been busy with 11 bookings in 6 days. 6 of the bookings were at then centre, 4 at Cameron House and 1 in Edinburgh. On the whole the birds flew well. Mardy (Harris Hawk) did another hawk walk at Cameron House and was perfect. I was really watching him to keep an eye on him just in case he went off on 1 but he was perfect. He was flying in his usual style up high in the trees keeping a good height so he could try and see everything or anything that moved. This time there wasn't too much moving about but he did have a go at something in woods behind the hotel again. Once again I am not sure what as I couldn't see but certainly Mardy thought it was worth a shot at.
Pele (Harris Hawk) has been continuing his erratic form at Cameron House. At the centre where we are based he is perfect. He flies well at Cameron House in the fact that he will come straight to the glove putting in long sweeping flights across the front lawn but he can be a real pain to follow on. On Thursday I had a last minute booking for a hawk walk at Cameron House so I decided to take the more relaxing option - Pele - over the 1 where I need eyes on the back of my head - Mardy - as I was meeting with friends in the afternoon to go fishing and I thought I would make it easy for myself. Pele was good in the fact that he was once again coming straight to the glove but a bit slow to follow on or in some cases not following on. I know he is hungry enough in the fact that when the client puts up their glove he is always very quick to come to the glove - no hesitation. He is however still very reliable and caused no real problems. On Saturday though I decided to change things with him when he was showing signs that he wasn't going to follow on well. I decided to go straight into the woods at the back of Cameron House and he was perfect following on through the trees being quick and responsive. I suspect the problem was he was bored and knew there was no chance of him catching anything on the front lawn, so I suspect he was thinking why bother. Hopefully with the new routine things will be back to normal.
Today's event in Edinburgh was mostly straight forward. Artemis (Steppe Eagle) wouldn't settle due to all the children running about at it as it was a 50th birthday garden party so there was a lot of kids running about. Artemis is not a big fan of children, because of her weight she has no real contact or interaction with children as she is too heavy for them to hold. The other thing is children tend to be a bit random in the way they behave and move which unsettles her. Children move quickly and suddenly. We were asked to provide a static demonstration where people could come up and look at the bird and we allowed some people hold the birds and answer any questions that people had. As always we don't allow anyone to touch or stroke the birds. We also had to provide a flying demonstration as well. I decided to make the demonstration very hands on as it was a small group and there were loads of kids. First up was Alba (Barn Owl) who was great even though the wind was quite strong. She was looking good and was her usual reliable self. Next up was Corrie. I had just put him on the T-perch and I was walking away to call him when a large black dog appeared from no where and spooked him he stood looked at it for a second and as I reached to grab his jesses he took off round the house. The only thing I could do was go and look for him. This wasn't a big deal as I always fly my birds with telemetry on them at events. It doesn't make any difference if it is an owl, falcon or hawk they all wear a transmitter. It is just good management. Off I went with the receiver following the signal. He was actually really easy to find as he had only gone about 150m and was sitting on the ground. So it was just a case of picking him up and heading back to where the demonstration was being held. I decided not to try and get Corrie to fly again. I got Brel Always good to get positive feed back.
The coming week is quiet until the weekend. This weekend I have a large corporate event at Hopeton House so it is back through to Edinburgh for the 3rd week running. I am looking forward to this event. I have done events before at Hopeton house but this will be the first one where they have booked me direct. Before it has always been through event companies. The pressure will be on but it is always on when you do a corporate event. The standards are high. The client is not really interested in what you can't do. They are interested in what you are going to do. The other thing is they have an expectation as to what they expect and the very least I can do is equal that - that is the minimum requirement. That means 100%. The thing is if that is the standard you set on your first event with an event company then that is the standard that you have to maintain. I have always said that if an event company decide to use me to provide falconry services then the easy part was getting the work - the most difficult part in holding on to it as there is always someone waiting in the wings to take your place and once it is gone it is almost impossible to get back in. I always look forward to the corporate work. I like the change in environment, with some of the place I get to fly the birds being stunning. Hopeton House falls into that category.
Hopefully it all goes well.
364
When I talk about imprint - I mean hand rear. If you wan to work with owls - fly them - then you need to hand rear them so basically they grow up looking on you as the parent and the food source. You do not want to be handling an owl that is parent reared and it grows up knowing it is an owl - nasty.
While I had full confidence in the breeder I would still rather do it myself then I know what I am getting. We haven't named it yet as I have no idea if it is a male or a female. What they say is if it has a white tail it is a mail and if it has bars across it's tail then it is female. At the moment it has no tail so we will wait and see.
Since I last posted a blog things have been busy with 11 bookings in 6 days. 6 of the bookings were at then centre, 4 at Cameron House and 1 in Edinburgh. On the whole the birds flew well. Mardy (Harris Hawk) did another hawk walk at Cameron House and was perfect. I was really watching him to keep an eye on him just in case he went off on 1 but he was perfect. He was flying in his usual style up high in the trees keeping a good height so he could try and see everything or anything that moved. This time there wasn't too much moving about but he did have a go at something in woods behind the hotel again. Once again I am not sure what as I couldn't see but certainly Mardy thought it was worth a shot at.
Pele (Harris Hawk) has been continuing his erratic form at Cameron House. At the centre where we are based he is perfect. He flies well at Cameron House in the fact that he will come straight to the glove putting in long sweeping flights across the front lawn but he can be a real pain to follow on. On Thursday I had a last minute booking for a hawk walk at Cameron House so I decided to take the more relaxing option - Pele - over the 1 where I need eyes on the back of my head - Mardy - as I was meeting with friends in the afternoon to go fishing and I thought I would make it easy for myself. Pele was good in the fact that he was once again coming straight to the glove but a bit slow to follow on or in some cases not following on. I know he is hungry enough in the fact that when the client puts up their glove he is always very quick to come to the glove - no hesitation. He is however still very reliable and caused no real problems. On Saturday though I decided to change things with him when he was showing signs that he wasn't going to follow on well. I decided to go straight into the woods at the back of Cameron House and he was perfect following on through the trees being quick and responsive. I suspect the problem was he was bored and knew there was no chance of him catching anything on the front lawn, so I suspect he was thinking why bother. Hopefully with the new routine things will be back to normal.
Today's event in Edinburgh was mostly straight forward. Artemis (Steppe Eagle) wouldn't settle due to all the children running about at it as it was a 50th birthday garden party so there was a lot of kids running about. Artemis is not a big fan of children, because of her weight she has no real contact or interaction with children as she is too heavy for them to hold. The other thing is children tend to be a bit random in the way they behave and move which unsettles her. Children move quickly and suddenly. We were asked to provide a static demonstration where people could come up and look at the bird and we allowed some people hold the birds and answer any questions that people had. As always we don't allow anyone to touch or stroke the birds. We also had to provide a flying demonstration as well. I decided to make the demonstration very hands on as it was a small group and there were loads of kids. First up was Alba (Barn Owl) who was great even though the wind was quite strong. She was looking good and was her usual reliable self. Next up was Corrie. I had just put him on the T-perch and I was walking away to call him when a large black dog appeared from no where and spooked him he stood looked at it for a second and as I reached to grab his jesses he took off round the house. The only thing I could do was go and look for him. This wasn't a big deal as I always fly my birds with telemetry on them at events. It doesn't make any difference if it is an owl, falcon or hawk they all wear a transmitter. It is just good management. Off I went with the receiver following the signal. He was actually really easy to find as he had only gone about 150m and was sitting on the ground. So it was just a case of picking him up and heading back to where the demonstration was being held. I decided not to try and get Corrie to fly again. I got Brel Always good to get positive feed back.
The coming week is quiet until the weekend. This weekend I have a large corporate event at Hopeton House so it is back through to Edinburgh for the 3rd week running. I am looking forward to this event. I have done events before at Hopeton house but this will be the first one where they have booked me direct. Before it has always been through event companies. The pressure will be on but it is always on when you do a corporate event. The standards are high. The client is not really interested in what you can't do. They are interested in what you are going to do. The other thing is they have an expectation as to what they expect and the very least I can do is equal that - that is the minimum requirement. That means 100%. The thing is if that is the standard you set on your first event with an event company then that is the standard that you have to maintain. I have always said that if an event company decide to use me to provide falconry services then the easy part was getting the work - the most difficult part in holding on to it as there is always someone waiting in the wings to take your place and once it is gone it is almost impossible to get back in. I always look forward to the corporate work. I like the change in environment, with some of the place I get to fly the birds being stunning. Hopeton House falls into that category.
Hopefully it all goes well.
364
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