Changing seasons

One of the great things about working out doors in the countryside everyday is that you get to see or hear the little things that are signs that the seasons are changing. The signs start off small. The sun was shining the other day and I could feel it's warmth on my face. It was great feeling. The daffodils are starting to come up. Saying that I noticed they were starting to come up at the new year. I am now watching for the snow drops coming up, always a sign that spring is just round the corner. They normally flower next month but I am looking for the first signs of them.

The last week has been quite quiet for bookings. I have been taking the opportunity to go out an fly Pele for myself. He is always very easy to fly and work with out in the field. He just gets on with it. There wasn't anything sitting out for him to try and chase. There has been a frost some nights and everything was sitting tight. We had a few half chances at rabbit and pheasant on the days that I took him out but nothing worth writing about. I suspect this winter like last has been hard on the wildlife in general. I was reading yesterday that there has been a sharp increase in the number of wild barn owls that have a ring on them being found dead due to the winter. This no real surprise as barn owls hunt rodents over rough/long grass and if it is covered in snow they are going to struggle to find anything. I was called out earlier in the winter to a wild barn owl that was found almost dead due to it not being able to get enough food which died a short time after we picked it up even though Jo who is a vet started treating it straight away. I will be going back out with Pele later this week as I have a few quiet days.

While I have been able to go and have a bit of fun there has bee 2 highlights to the last week. The first was getting my new Marshals telemetry receiver. I already have 1 but I wanted another as back up. Marshals receivers and transmitters are probably the best you can get. The second was being able to catch up with my friend Jim. Jim is 1 of the very few people I know who is a falconer. He lives and breathes it. Don't get me wrong I know who think they are falconers and are doing falconry. Normally only in their own heads. I don't do falconry and I don't see myself as a falconer. Yes I work with birds of prey and yes I do fly them but I don't do falconry. Jim on the other hand does and has some of the best falcons the best in the country when it comes to catching ducks. We went out with his gyr x peregrine in the morning. This thing will go a mile out and up to over a 1000 feet and it caught a duck that we flushed for it. Unfortunately the batteries died in my camera so I couldn't get a picture but Jim took a picture on his and hopefully he will e mail me it soon. We then took his peregrine out in the afternoon but didn't have any luck with that but it was awesome to see a bird of it's ability fly but Peregrines are like that they have real presence about them. The trick is to get them to a level where they are awesome which very few people do.

Marshals Receiver

It is not all about me going out flying birds there are still bookings to be done. Tomorrow it back to work as it is fully booked with a hawk walk over at Cameron House and then a half day session for 2 people in the afternoon back at the centre. Friday is also booked up and I am doing a demonstration for a VIP group this coming Monday and then it will be February which is a bit scary. 

No time

January is traditionally a quiet time for Strathblane Falconry. A time for maintenance and for me to have some fun before the days get longer, the sun warms the place and spring arrives where the bookings start to come thick and fast with 11hr days 7 days a week. Well not this January. I am not complaining about things it is just this January seem to be totally different..

The last week has been very last minute at time with things happening. For example on Wednesday I was called at mid day and asked if I could do a hawk walk at 2pm. I had just picked up a booking with 2 hours notice. A bit of rushing around getting things ready and I was standing waiting for the client 1hr 45mins later in the front hall of Cameron House. I always try to get to bookings with 15 mins to spare. It means I am relaxed and meeting to client stressed which just doesn't look good. Oran (male Harris Hawk) flew well. 

Thursday was just stress and it had nothing to do with birds of prey. I decided to switch the water back on as it was well above 0C and the pipes had defrosted. I went to switch the water back on and I heard a cracking noise come from the valve as I switched it on with the sound of running water. I realised something was wrong so I went to switch it off  which resulted in the valve breaking up. I was left holding part of the valve and a 2cm hole in the pipe with water pouring into the tack room. I had to run out into the car park lift a man hole cover reach down into a foot of muddy water feel for a tap and shut the water off to the centre and someones house. Thankfully I was able to lift the manhole cover quickly and shut the water off so there was no real damage to the tack room. Then it was just a case of getting a plumber. So that was how Thursday started - STRESS. The plan was to offer some of the birds baths as it was so mild which I was still able to do. It just meant I had to carry water across from the hotel. The birds seemed to appreciate it with several of them jumping straight in while I was still filling the bath. I haven't been able to offer the birds baths for weeks due to it being so cold and the risk of them getting frost bite but as it was so mild on Thursday I was able to get it done.

Gigha having a bath.

On Friday the plumber was able to fix the valve in the tack room so I now have running water for the first time in about 6 weeks in the centre. No more water barrels or getting water from the hotel for the cleaning hopefully this winter. Once this was done I was actually able to do something that I had planned to do and was go and visit a farm that I have been given permission to fly on. Unfortunately it rained most of Friday, there was some dry spells but it mainly rained so it was case of just talking and checking where the boundaries are rather than actually get out on it and start flying a bird on it.

My weekend was fully booked which was great. Weekends at this time of the year can be a bit hit and miss with bookings. People don't have alot of money after Christmas and the weather can put a lot of people off from doing things outside. Especially this winter with the cold. Even though it rained all day Saturday we were still able to get all the bookings done. At least the sun came out for a bit on Sunday.

I mentioned in my last post something about Gigha (male Peregrine) which didn't make a lot of sense. I was full of the cold when I did my last post so I wasn't at my best. What I should of said was that I have been asked to loan him to a friend who breeds Peregrines. He has been looking for a mature male to put in an aviary with a female he has. Gigha meets the requirements as he is 6 years old. This is not that old for a captive Peregrine but he is mature. I am not that hopeful that there will be any young this year as this is his first time being used for breeding but you never know. I was meant to drop him at the beginning of the week but I was mess with a cold and I couldn't do it. I am hoping to be to drop him off this coming Monday. The move won't be permanent as Gigha will be coming back. If the breeding is not successful then he will be back by April. If it is successful then he will be back later in the summer. I guess we shall wait and see.

Cold again

I had planned to have a productive week and it just hasn't quite worked out like that.

Tuesday was going to be a day of maintenance in the centre and making new jesses for some of the birds. I got into the centre and was getting ready to start putting some of the birds out front to feed them when the phone goes. Someone who worked at Balfron High School  which is about 20 mins drive from the centre had spotted what they said was a European Eagle Owl sitting in a tree next to the school and asked if I had lost 1. I hadn't and I didn't know anyone that had but I would go out and have a look to make sure it was a European Eagle Owl. Sure enough there was a European Eagle Owl sitting in a tree. It wasn't difficult to find as there was a few crows giving it a hard time which it didn't seem to concerned about. I whistled at it showed it some food and while it looked at me that was about as much of a reaction as I got. I spoke to the person in school who had called me and a few of the owners of the surrounding houses and left a few business cards so they could contact me if they had any concerns. I was able to confirm that it was a captive bird because as I was talking to someone it decided to walk along the branch it was sitting on to get more into the sun and I saw that it was wearing anklets. I asked about and was able to find out from another falconry centre that they knew who had lost it and they informed the owners. The bird has seemingly been free since before Christmas and had covered a fair  distance in that time. I don't know how the bird got free or if it has been re-captured. That was Tuesday kind of taken care off.

I had no sooner got the water back on in the centre and it was off again as the temperature dropped and the place turned into an ice rink but at least it was dry. I had a booking at the centre on the Wednesday the first 1 of the new year. It was just a Family Fun Session for a group of adults.

Thursday I finally was able finish the maintenance work which was great. I was replacing some of the netting on the aviary doors with doweling. The netting is ok for the eagle owls but the Harris Hawks grab it and there tails are forced through it breaking feathers (not good). Most of the aviary doors are now a mixture of netting on the lower section with doweling on the top. I don't like using welded mesh apart for the barn owls due to the fact if the birds hit it with any force they cut their feet. Barn owls seem to be ok but they don't tend to hit it with any real force or not enough to injure themselves. I never like it when I see welded mesh being used on aviaries where raptors or medium to large owls are being kept. I feel that a cheap option has been taken and 1 which risks injuring the bird.

On Friday I had planned to go out and do some hunting but I felt the start of a cold coming on and didn't feel great. I decided to take it easy as I was meant to meet up with a friend on Monday evening who I loaning Gigha my male Peregrine to for breeding and then on Tuesday we were going to out duck hawking with his Peregrines which are probably some of the best falcons in the country and I didn't want to cancel due to being unwell.

Saturday I had things to do in the real world so not alot was achieved at Strathblane Falconry that day. My cold was steadily getting worse.

Sunday was spent doing a Interactive Day for 2 gentlemen. 1 of whom was thinking about getting a bird. I was able to advise him of a few things to think about if he wanted a bird like - why? As soon as someone tells me they want a bird I am always very wary. I want to know why. I will then have a chat with them to see if I think they are suitable and if they have thought it through. I can't stop people from getting a bird of prey but I can try and advise and discourage if I think it necessary. This is not me trying to stop everyone from having a bird. To give you  a few examples. I had a guy come to me a few years ago saying he wanted to take up falconry. At first he seemed like he had thought about it and wasn't rushing in until I asked him where do you plan to keep it and he said in a box over night as he lived in a flat. I am not sure where he was going to keep it during the day but I said not through me. 1 of the other that stands out was somebody phoned me  to ask what's the cheapest you can get a Harris Hawk for. If you are going to do it on the cheap don't bother as you will probably end up loosing or killing the bird. The guy who came out on Sunday was going about it in the correct way.

Gigha off. I am not to hopeful that the breeding will be successful as this will be Gigha's  first attempt but he is a good age at 6 years old so he is at least mature. We shall wait and see. I will know by April hopefully.

A New Year

Things have been quite busy over the New Year period. In the 5 days since my last post on the blog I have done 2 hawk walks, 2 demonstrations and a 2 hour session.

All the bookings were over at Cameron House and went well. On 1 of the hawk walks I lost Pele (male Harris Hawk) well more like misplaced him for 5 mins. I couldn't see him or hear his bell. Pele is normally quite reliable and never really goes to far. Also if you shout his name he usually re-appears unless something else has got his attention. I had to get the telemetry out and I tracked him down standing in a small stream having a bath to the amusement of the clients. Thankfully he hadn't go too wet so he was able to carry on. 10 mins later he was chasing a squirrel through the woods which gave the hawk walk a bit of a exciting finish. Thankfully he didn't catch the squirrel. Squirrels are trouble and I don't like my birds going for them. The other hawk walk was uneventful.

New Years day was just a normal day out on the road doing 2 1 hour demonstrations over at Cameron House. We got some good numbers attending. On the first 1 there was about 40 people and in the second there was about 60 people. We got a lot of good feed back with guests who had seen the demonstrations stopping me the following day when I was back out at Cameron House saying how much they had enjoyed it, which is always great to hear.

On the 2nd January we had another busy afternoon at Cameron House with a hawk walk and then doing a 2 hour session for a group of 12 gentlemen which finished in the dark. Both sessions were uneventful and went well with more good feed back.

The only thing was that my voice was pretty wrecked after all the talking I had done over the 3 days. Saying that I do have a few days for it to recover before the next booking.

Thankfully the fog has cleared and temperature has risen a bit so things up at the centre are drying out a bit. I have also been able to switch the water on which save me using the water bouser or getting water from the hotel to do the cleaning in the centre. There is still alot of ice and snow about in places and the ground is still frozen but the place looks like it is starting to thaw out slowly as the temperature is above freezing. Only just though.

I am determined to try and get out myself this week and do some hunting. I have a booking on the 5th and then a few days with nothing booked. January is the month where I do try and have some fun myself before things start to pick up. Usually starting in mid February. Next week is quiet and I will try and get out then to look at the new bits of ground that I may be allowed to hunt on.

I also have a few things that need done in the centre - new jesses (this is the leather straps that you use to hold on to a bird ) for the birds, get Corrie (European Eagle Owl) going again after his moult and general maintenance. Most of all though I am looking forward to the festive period being over and the country getting back to normal.

Anyway here is to the New Year and new opportunity's.