Strange week

Well after the initial burst of activity doing 6 bookings in 2 days - 2 were at the centre, 3 were at Cameron House and 1 was in Bishopbriggs so there was a fair bit of driving about and loading up of the car with both days turning into 12 hour shifts and then it went all quiet and I had no booking Thurs, Fri, Sat or Sun. The Thursday was great. A nice lazy day where I got to work in the centre with the birds with no rushing about which after the 2 previous days was great. Friday was much the same as Thursday. By Saturday though I was starting to get a bit restless, Sunday I was wanting to do a booking and then today I had 2 bookings so it was back to normal which was great. Having 4 days of no bookings is strange especially over a weekend in March. I normally get a day here and there but 4 days in a row that normally only happens in January. A little bit odd but things are back to normal with the coming week.

While I was a bit restless it was great to be able to work with the birds that I will be flying over the coming months during the spring and summer months and the bookings are still coming in with some very interesting enquiries. At the moment everything is still up in the air but once things confirm I will be able to say more. A venue has made enquiries for 2 events -1 of which will be an evening and the other will be over 2 days. I have done demonstrations at this venue before for other companies but this is the first time that the venue has come to me direct.

The work with the birds has been going well. I will start with the Harris Hawks Brel and Mardy. Brel is almost at flying weight. He has been a lot more sociable in the last few days. Stepping up onto the glove when I am putting him out on the front lawn or putting him away. I should be able to start flying him in the coming week. Mardy is in the same position. Still being a bit grumpy but Mardy has always been like that. By the end of the week 1 or both will be back flying free and it will be a case of just building up fitness. This will mean Amber (female Harris Hawk) will be put in the back aviary for her moult. I should also be able to give Oran a few weeks off but that is something I can think about over the coming week.

Next are the falcons Sanda (Lanner Falcon) and Uist (Lugger Falcon). I mentioned in my last post that we had put their tail mounts on so that we can attach a transmitter when flying them. Well I started flying them free on Wednesday. Both are really unfit but progress can be seen in the 5 days that they have been flying, especially with Sanda. She was using the wind to get height on me today and came in a really fast. this only lasted for about 2 passes to the lure and then she started to tire but it is progress. Uist is moving a bit slower but still looking good for only 5 days of flying.

Sanda Lanner Falcon

Uist Lugger Falcon

All it is with Sanda and Uist is time. I just need to find the time each day to fly them and they will get fitter. Fitness is important when working with any bird of prey but with a Harris Hawk you can get away with flying it for a bit on 4 days a week with falcons that just doesn't work. Sanda and Uist will be flown 7 days a week for the next week or 2 to get them to a descent level of fitness then I will cut them to 6 days and that is what I am aiming for each week. 6 days with 1 day of rest. I should point out both of the above pictures were taken last summer

Then there is Artemis. I think we have turned the corner and she is coming straight to the glove. She is coming straight in from 60m. As soon as the glove goes up she has been coming to it. The only disappointing thing is she needs to be flown free and while I can do it at the centre I am a bit limited on space and there really isn't enough space to fly an eagle. I really need to get her out onto 1 of the farms that I have permission to fly on but I can't do that as the lambing season has started and the last thing the farmers want to see is me with an eagle on their land during the lambing season. So I may have to stop with her and start again later in the summer

Artemis coming to the glove

I will see about Artemis. It has been a long slow process with her. The simple answer looking back at it would be just to strip the weight of her but I didn't want to do that. I am glad I took it slowly with her and now she is looking good. Her manners are not to bad. She can be a bit of a handful on the glove when coming in for food but once she has eaten it she tends to quieten down quite quickly.

for someone wanting to use a voucher they have bought.

The coming week is a mixture of school visits - 1 tomorrow  and 1 on Thursday. The 1 tomorrow I am looking forward to as the first talk is on medieval falconry and hunting and the second talk is on birds of prey. The medieval talk is not 1 that I do that often so it is a nice change and I will be taking Bob with me. This will be his first school visit so hopefully he will be on his best behaviour.

Bob

Thursdays school visit is also on birds of prey and is a school in the local area and they book me every year which is great. Tomorrows school visit will be the first time I have been at this school.

The weekend is fully booked so it will not be case of getting a bit restless as I have no bookings things will be back to normal.

300