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. 

Sanda Lanner Falcon

 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.

Uist Lugger Falcon

 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.

Gigha the Peregrine

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.

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