On the radio

Well it has been just over 3 weeks since my last entry so time to give an up date as to what has been going on.

First the bad news. We have had a few cancellations this month so far. Not something that we normally have. Ok we do get cancellations every so often but normally only 1 every 5 or 6 months. This month we have had 3. The other bad news is the weather is still very wet. We did get a few dry days last week which was great and the centre dried out a bit. This week we seem to be back to rain and everything is soaked again.

Anyway that's the bad news out the way. Now the good news and what has been happening. Truth be told - quite alot.

I suppose the most exciting thing has been that I was asked to go on the Fred MacAulay show on BBC Radio Scotland this week. They were doing something on the fact that Jon Hamm (an actor in Mad Men) has 4 eagles that he keeps as pets in his back garden over in the US. They asked if I was available to come into the studio to answer a few questions on and if birds of prey make good pets. The answer of course is NO. In the studio with me doing this piece was a guy who owned a exotic pet shop and he had brought along a tarantula and a reticulated python plus the 2 presenters. Susan Calman who was presenting instead of Fred MacAulay looked pretty worried by the tarantula. I was only in the studio for a short period but it was all good fun.

I have to admit I was a little bit nervous about going on and speaking on live radio but once I was in the studio with the headphones on it was ok and I actually felt quite calm. Slightly bemused that the 2 presenters were so worried about the tarantula and python.

The other big thing was we were asked by the Edinburgh Vet Zoological Society to give a lecture on bird of prey husbandry at a conference they were having at the Edinburgh Vet School. This was a booking I had been looking forward to. I need to say a big thank you to Jo for putting together a power point presentation for me. When it comes to computers I am rubbish.

Me giving my lecture on bird of prey husbandry

After the lecture I had to do 2 flying demonstrations in the grounds of the vet school. The birds did ok. Lobey (Turkmanian Eagle Owl) was a bit slow but he could see his reflection in the glass of the buildings and wasn't to impressed by that. Bella (Barn Owl) was in good form  and Cooper (Harris Hawk) kept up his good form as well. All in all it was a great day.

Cooper (Harris Hawk) during flying demonstration

This month so far we have been quite steady with bookings with quite a few bookings over at Cameron House, also quite a few bookings at the centre and 2 school to visit as well.

I always enjoy doing school visits. They can be a bit random at times depending on the age of the children and the questions they ask but they are always good fun. The 2 schools we visited recently were both repeat bookings which is great. When we visit schools we are asked to give talks on various topics/subjects the most common topic being owls. Saying that the 2 visits that we have just done 1 was on birds of prey and the other was on endangered species. We received another booking today for a school visit once again a school we have visited before this time it is on medieval falconry. I think there is now about 5 school visits in the diary over the next 2 months.

The phone has been ringing alot this week with enquiries for the coming summer which is great. It all really kicks off mid April with the first big event being the Glasgow Vet School Rodeo. This will be our 3rd year there. There is also a few possible corporate bookings in the diary as well for the end of April so we will just need to wait and see. The corporate work has been a bit quiet in recent years but hopefully we may now be turning the corner on that front and it will start to pick up.

We have also been booked by Historic Scotland to do 3 events for them this summer. We have done work in the past for Historic Scotland and their events are always well run and organised. There has been also a gala day booked in as well as another corporate event for later in the summer . The diary is starting to look really busy in places this early in the year which is great.

With all these booking and enquiries coming in more birds are now on a diet to get them ready for the coming summer. There are now 9 birds in the centre who are having their weights brought down. Some will be replacing birds who have been flying over the summer - Duffy (Bengal Eagle Owl) for example will be replacing Corrie (European Eagle Owl) who has been flying and doing events for the last year. Others though are being brought back for the summer flying season as we will need more birds flying as we have more bookings to cover - Brel (Harris Hawk) and Uist (Lugger Falcon).

I always love this time of year. the days are getting longer. When the sun does come out you can feel it getting a little bit warmer and it is time to start getting things ready for the coming summer. I start weighing the birds on a more regular basis looking at how much weight they need to loose to get them to fly to me and with some it is quite a bit this year. Mardy (Harris Hawk) is 1 that springs to mind. He need to loose somewhere in the region of 12oz - normally it is only 5 or 6oz. Serves me right for giving him squirrel and adult cockerel for most of the winter. I don't think he has ever been so heavy. As the weeks go by the flying team will increase in number to cover the increase in bookings. Last year at the height of the summer I think I had 16 birds flying out of 20 either preparing them or flying them in bookings. I supect this summer could be the same.

The only other thing that is worth mentioning is we have mice in the tack room of the centre at the moment. I thought we may of had 1 or 2 as there was a few signs that they were there but nothing obvious. It sometimes happens in the winter that the mice come in looking for shelter. Unless it becomes really obvious it tends not to be a problem. It has now become really obvious. I am not sure how 1 managed to do it but it got up onto the work counter and had been nibbling on the birds food. That was the final straw. Traps were put down. I only have 2 traps and on the first night I got 1, on the second night I got 1 and  the third  night I got 2. Also the food had been cleared off the traps so there is still at least 1 mouse running about. I will keep baiting the traps until we stop catching them. I didn't think there was that many. That's the most we have ever had. Not good. One thing they will not be used for is food for the birds. I won't use wild rats or mice when feeding the birds. I don't know what toxins, poisons or diseases they have been exposed to.

Anyway on that cheeful note I will finish up.

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