Some hunting

It is now mid February. The days are getting longer but it is still raining and there is still snow about. Oh well it's business as usual at Strathblane Falconry.

The weather has been up and down over the last week and as usual it has had some impact on what I can or can't do. The joys of working out doors.

On the Tuesday it was clear dry and the sun came out for a bit which was great and I was able to take Pele out hunting with my friend Nick. Pele did ok. We saw a few rabbits and Pele was willing to give chase and try and catch them. He was a bit unlucky as he never seemed to be in a good position when the rabbits broke cover. Even though we didn't catch anything it was great fun to get out and watch the bird go through it's paces. We were in a small wood which is great for flying Harris Hawks in some ways as the bird can follow on through the trees watching you and anything else that may move making it easier for the birds to spot things to try and catch. The only thing that can go against the bird is that if it sees anything and tries to catch it it does have to work hard flying through the branches and round the trees but it is great to watch.

Wednesday and Thursday it was back to work. Wednesday was spent in the centre while Thursday we were off to do a school visit on the south side of Glasgow. The kids at the school were doing a project on birds of prey. I took along Sanda - Lanner Falcon, Kyle - Common Buzzard, Corrie - European Eagle Owl and Alba - Barn Owl. Corrie seemed to be the favourite even though he didn't have to fly or do anything other than sit on my arm. I think it is just his size that the kids love. Alba was great as well flying about a very small games hall. School visits are something that I always enjoy doing. The kids can be great fun with some of their answers to my questions.

Sanda Lanner Falcon

Corrie European Eagle Owl

The weekend was almost fully booked with 2 bookings each day. The best part was they were all different types of bookings. Saturday started in the centre with a half day session. When that finished it was case of loading up Oran and going over to Cameron House for a hawk walk.  On Sunday the morning was  a bit wet but it had eased off by the time the birthday party had turned up. It has been a while since I have had a group of kids in for a birthday party. The birthday party was very straight forward in the fact there was only 4 kids plus parents and grand parents so a small group. Daniel who's birthday it was very knowledgeable in the fact that he correctly identified Sanda as being a Lanner Falcon. I was very impressed. Not bad for someone who has just turned 8 years old. It was then out into the hotel grounds to allow them tom fly some of the birds. When I do birthday parties at the centre I always like to stress to the kids that they need to be quiet and respect the birds so they don't scare them - no shouting, no screaming, no running and no trying to touch the birds. Birds of prey are for flying not for stroking. I have seen pictures on line of so called kids parties where owls are brought along for everyone to stroke and pat. Where 3 or 4 kids/people are all stroking the bird. I am not comfortable with that and I am pretty sure the birds are not comfortable with it either. It is 1 thing to take a bird somewhere strange and ask it to sit on it's owners glove while they do a talk on it. It is something else to take a bird of prey somewhere and let let a whole group of people sit and stroke, pat and prod the poor bird. That has to be stressful for the bird. I will finish there on that topic. I said at the start when I was going to keep a blog that it was not for ranting. It is just I always try and do the best for my birds. After the party I had a few hours to finish cleaning the centre before the next booking arrived. The next booking consisted of 20 brownies who were on a owl themed weekend. Once again the rules were read out and all 20 brownies were given the opportunity to hold or fly an owl.

Today it was back over to Cameron House. I had to look in at the hotel to speak to someone and while I was waiting in the hotel reception area I got speaking to a guest who was interested in a doing a hawk walk this afternoon. So it was a quick dash back to the centre grab a  Harris Hawk - Oran and straight back to Cameron House. The hawk walk was eventful. Oran has been doing most of the work at Cameron House recently. He is very reliable and is great fun to fly. I also feel he is starting to feel quite good and confident about himself. Any half chance and he has been going for it. Crows and magpies better to be alert when he is about because he is when he sees them. Last week he went and grabbed a goose that was twice his size. He let it go quite quickly though when 2 of it's pals came running over to help it. Today after chasing crows it was squirrels that he turned his attention to. He must of got hold of 1 because he flew behind some bushes and I knew he was going for something. I shouted for him and after a few seconds later he re appeared chasing a squirrel. I didn't think at first he had caught anything as he was only out of sight for a few seconds but a short while later I noticed some blood on his legs and he had 3 or 4 very small wounds. I am not sure what caused them as in was it a squirrel or thorns crashing into the bushes after something. When I got him back to the centre I washed the wounds with pevodine and water and put a anti septic gel on the wounds. I will also get some anti biotics for him as well once Jo (who is a qualified vet) has checked him over. If the wounds were caused be a sqirrel bite then I need to be careful as squirrels have alot of bacteria on their teeth and wounds more often than not turn septic if they are not treated. I don't like my birds going for squirrels. There is nothing cute and fluffy about a grey squirrel. They are a tough opponent for a Harris Hawk. I have heard of birds that have had tendons in their feet severed and toes severed due to squirrel bites. The last squirrel we came up against was also caught by Oran. He jumped off it when I grabbed it and the squirrel turned on me biting so hard that it's teeth went through 2 layers of leather of my falconry glove and into my finger. As I said there is  nothing cute and fluffy about the gray squirrel. 

Tomorrow is a bit more mundane - The food run. This is where I go and collect the birds food for the next 3 months.