Friday, 27 April 2012

Inspection

Ok lets start with the big news.

Today was an important day. If you like VERY IMPORTANT

This afternoon I had my Zoo Licence inspection. I have mentioned in the past when I have had inspections and I have 3 a year - 2 from Alistair Lawrie the vet who I use if the birds are unwell or get injured checks over the centre and the birds every 6 months and once a year the council vet does an inspection. This year is slightly different. I have a 4th inspection from the government vet due to the fact that my Zoo Licence is due to expire in the coming months. This is what was happening this afternoon.

I am happy to say that the inspection went well and the government vet plus 1 person from Stirlingshire Council Environmental Health who issue my Zoo Licence were very happy with centre, the systems I have in place for the upkeep of the birds and their needs.

I always feel quietly confident when it comes to inspections of the centre. Strathblane Falconry has never had any problems with inspections in past and the centre has always passed any inspection first time. This is something that I am very proud of. I always want to show not only my birds but the sport of Falconry in the best possible light.

So what has been happening. As per usual - quite a lot.

I was talking in my last entry that I was going to go and get food for the birds. Getting the food is always a big deal for me. I am always looking for new things to feed the birds so when I go and speak to the guy who supplies me with food I am always asking if he has anything new. This time time the answer was no so it was just the norm - 26 boxes (250 chicks to a box) of day old cockerel chicks, 40 quail, 2 kg mice, 3 kg rats and I am not sure why but I decided to buy 10kg of duck necks. I suspect it was the bulk discount that won me over. I normally only buy 2kg. Needless to say I am using a lot of duck to feed the birds and they seem to be loving it. I always feel it is important to give the birds a good variety of food where possible. The cheap and easy option is to feed the birds chicks every day and some people do but when I see 1 of my falcons working hard eating a duck neck pulling at it working it's neck muscles to get it's food or an eagle owls reaction when I give it a rat to eat I know I am doing something right for my birds. It is not only the nutritional requirements that I am trying to meet but also environmental and behavioural requirements that I am trying to enrich.

I also had the first big display of the year - Glasgow Vet School Rodeo. This was my third year doing it and it all went well. I have received some good feed back from various people who watched my flying displays. The birds all behaved  and flew well. The Rodeo is a well run event with a great static area which more than meets my requirements when the birds are sitting out  in between flying displays. The sun shone as well so there was a big crowd. It is also a chance to catch up and say hello to some of the vet students who come out on EMS placement to the centre. I have to admit it is 1 of my favourite events as I always a good time at it. Out of the birds there was 2 stand out moments. Bob (Gyr x Saker) caught me out  in the 2nd flying display and struck the lure. Thankfully I was getting ready to finish up with him. I was going to do 2 more passes to the lure and then finish but he struck the lure so I had to finish there and then with him. The other was Artemis (Steppe Eagle). I have never flown her at a event like this but I decided to set up a line which she was attached to and see if she would fly which she did. I didn't put her in the demo but as I had such a large static area at the Rodeo for the birds to sit out in there is more than enough space to try a few things out. As it was I had a huge crowd while Artemis was flying from T perch to T perch. I may look at putting her in a few demonstrations later in the summer. A big thank you to Alix who helped me on the day and also to Gail who was attending the Rodeo who also gave me a help at 1 point.

That wasn't he only large event I have done in the last few weeks. We are in Corporate Event Season. This is the time of the year when corporate work tends to happen. It can happen at any time of the year but in the spring / early summer this is when enquires and events tend to be most common. The following Saturday after the Rodeo I was at Kirknewton House to do an event. Brel (Harris Hawk) was the stand out bird swooping out of trees onto the clients glove as we were in the gardens of the big house which were very impressive. It is funny. The weekend before was a large event with 2 flying demonstrations where I was flying Brel, there was lots of people watching but no crowd participation and he was perfect - as soon as I called him he was on the glove. The following weekend it was rotational event where Brel needed to fly to people and once again he was perfect except he wouldn't fly to me until he had landed a guests glove first. If I called him in he wouldn't do it even if I offered him food. If I asked a guest to put the glove on, put their arm up even if there was no food Brel was straight to them and then he would fly to me. It's like he knows what is expected. He is a fantastic bird to work with. He maybe grumpy and bad tempered at times but he doesn't seem to be scared of anything and just gets on with it where ever I ask him to fly.

I mentioned in my last blog entry how Cooper the young Harris Hawk who I got in Sept last year was looking like he was going to catch something. Well it happened. I said it was on the cards. Last week he caught a rabbit at Cameron House. I had done a few hawk walks over there in quick succession and I could see he was flying with a bit of purpose and intent. Lets just say he wasn't just going through the motions. There had been a few close calls and a confidence to his flying. He had taken a shot a a goose that gave had  given him some grief when he was sitting on the ground - he just took off and as he flew past the goose and he hit it. The goose didn't look that impressed. I was about 2/3 of the way through the hawk walk approaching some woods. Cooper was flying about with as I said intent and I knew I needed to keep an eye on him and then I saw him fly down into the woods and I knew he had seen something and I was off and running. I had seen him fly like this a couple of times recently and just stood and watched but this time though I just knew he was going to catch something. Sure enough as I made I made my way to him in the middle of a large patch of brambles I could tell he had caught a rabbit. His first and with the way he is flying I know it won't be his last. I would like to point out that I have never encouraged or trained Cooper to hunt. He saw an opportunity and took it. All birds of prey have the instinct to hunt and they will if they see an opportunity that they think they can take.

The coming weeks are looking busy with a good variety of events from the activity days in the centre to photo work and a good selection of work out on the road either at Cameron House or at other venues. Hopefully I will remember to take a camera so  I have some pictures to show what myself and the birds have been up to and where we have been.

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