Quick up date

I thought I would make a quick entry on my blog as it has been almost 3 weeks since my last entry.

One thing I should of mentioned in my last entry was that 2012 is a special year for Strathblane Falconry. This is the 10th year in business. I guess it is a time to reflect a little bit. 

I will say 1 thing. It doesn't feel like 10 years. The time has flown by (no pun intended). There have been highs and there have been lows. There have tears of joy and tears of sadness. There has been alot of laughter and a few tantrums over the years and 1 near death moment when I came under fire but it has all been a great experience. Would I change any of it - yes there are bits I would change but over all there is not much that I would change. One thing I would say is that I have no regrets. Yes I work a 7 day week but I love the life style I have. I get to work with and fly birds of prey all day. just being around them is a privilege.

One of the great things that after almost 10 years I am still learning things about the birds and myself. Even though times are hard for everyone I look to the future and feel confident that Strathblane Falconry should be here for another 10 years.

Right back to the present and what has been happening. Not a lot if I am being honest. For starters it is January so things tend to be a bit quiet and secondly the weather has been awful so it has been difficult to do anything. There hasn't been much chance to go out and fly the birds for myself. It has rained most days. Saying that it was dry yesterday and today and it is meant to continue for the the next few days.

I did get out with Pele (Harris Hawk) on Friday last week with Gail who used to help me in the centre alot. Pele flew well and chased a few pheasants. He did get hold of 1 but we couldn't get to him quick enough so the pheasant escaped with out most of it's tail. I am going to go out tomorrow with Gail again and fly Pele so hopefully we will have better luck.

On the booking front things have been quiet with not much happening but things are looking good for the coming year with a few interesting bookings coming up. For example in February I am giving a talk to the Edinburgh Veterinary Zoological Society on bird of prey husbandry and then doing a 2 flying demonstrations in the afternoon. We have also been asked back to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery to do a demonstration and at the moment I am waiting to hear if we are going to get a contract to provide several demonstrations for a company over the summer but I don't want to say too much about that until I know if we have been successful. On the whole things are looking good.

The birds are all doing ok with several birds now on a diet as we get ready to change some of the team. Duffy (Bengal Eagle Owl) is on a diet at the moment and jumped to the glove for a piece of food.So I am hopeful that he will be flying in the next few week and Lobey (Turkmanian Eagle Owl) will be allowed to have a moult. Kyle (Buzzard) is also on a diet as I am going to fly him a bit and get him doing some work. He is a challenge as he refuses to fly to anyone apart from me or Gail. In the coming weeks we will start to look at changing the team about and more birds will flying as we get closer to the spring.

There is not much more to tell so i will finish up there.

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