INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR BIRDS OF PREY EARDISLAND HEREFORDSHIRE HR6 9AS
ICBP THERE AND BACK AGAIN The last newsletter I was able to write was as owner and Director of the National Birds of Prey Centre. How much fun it is to be doing one again, particularly with all the exciting happenings about to occur. In 2004 I sold NBPC to its current owner as a going concern, leaving my staff, about 120 birds and all the goodwill of many years to continue the work started. And continue it does as I write. So with the core collection of 189 birds, six Labradors, all my furniture, books, music, pictures and life, I moved to South Carolina in the US. The plan being to merge, and I use that word advisedly, as that is what was promised from the South Carolina Center for Birds of THREE OF THE BANNED VOLUNTEERS, A DOCTOR, A MUSIC TEACHER AND A PROFESSOR OF ORNITHOLOGY, WITH THREE BARN OWLS
NEWSLETTER NO 1 AUTUMN 2007 Edited by Jemima Parry-Jones MBE
brought her home) a terrier, all my furniture, and belongings, still packed, and what was left of my life, which was not much at this point, are back in the UK. To move such a collection of livestock across to another continent is a huge task, to do it twice is a monumental one, and one I can’t recommend, not that I thought in my wildest dreams (or nightmares) that I would have to return to the UK. Without going into the sordid details, (which will come out in a book one of these days) the merger never happened, and so eventually after 18 months of struggle, I gave up and did as a good friend of mine taught me, cut my losses, which were by this time substantial. Not only were the financial losses huge and ever increasing, but it was a dream lost, in fact more than a dream, a life and home lost. However being British and extremely tenacious,
LOADING THE TRUCK, WITH FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES
Prey. We were to form a new and special Center of excellence, dealing with all aspects of birds of prey. Three years on the core collection, some what diminished, five Labradors (well six, Lupin died and I was blowed if I was going to leave her there, so I dug her up, had her cremated and
never one to give up, and with the added responsibility of 167 birds of prey, ranging from Stellers Sea Eagles, Griffon Vultures and Falcons, through Kites, Buteos and Eagles down to the smallest family member—a 70 gram Ferruginous Pygmy
Owl, and six dogs, all of whom mean the world to me, I decided to try and start again from nothing.
birds fluids orally, checking paperwork, boxing and loading the international collection.
With that in mind, and having no home or place to go back to, either for the birds or myself, I undertook six trips to the UK in 2006. I searched various counties for a potential site to resuscitate the dream of the International Centre for Birds of Prey, bring it back to a reality, get some sort of a
We caught up 167 birds, emptying 57 out of the 82 public aviaries, and all 24 off show aviaries. So out of a total of 106 aviaries 81 were vacant as we left. Not that the site ever got open to the public in the nearly three years I was there.
SOME OF THE 38 VOLUTEERS WHO HELPED LOAD THE INTERNATIONAL COLLECTION TO LEAVE THE US
life back, and build the birds and dogs a first class home, which they had sadly lacked in the US. It took over a year to get the paperwork to export the birds and that in itself is a story. I finally found and bought, with help from my agent, a 21 acre fruit farm, farm shop and cafĂŠ just outside Eardisland. The land is lovely, the village incredibly picturesque and the local people that I have met, very supportive. However there is no house and nothing but two barns and an awful lot of apple trees!
The task went like clockwork, it was amazing to see. The teams worked superbly and I will never be able to thank all those people from South Carolina who helped, supported and encouraged me over that last dreadful year and a bit. They were amazing and gave up so much because they felt strongly about it. I hope that by starting again and succeeding I will repay their faith. I certainly will do my best, with a little help from my friends. The boxes were all packed onto a temperature controlled truck 70 feet long and after a tearful goodbye in a melee of people and dogs, we drove off to Atlanta, Georgia. There was the truck and the driver, who was great, one of the Board members who had left the Board in disgust, who drove me and the dogs, and two good friends from the National Aviary at Pittsburgh who had the last of the cargo of my life, piled up in their truck.
We got to Atlanta International Airport in good time and British Airways were wonderful. The dogs had a huge room to themselves and at no time until they were finally crated were they left alone. The So at 7.00am on the birds were morning of June unloaded onto 13th 2007 38 volpallets and unteers, friends and netted in, and colleagues, most of placed to one whom were banned side to await from visiting the the plane, the site in South Carocargo was xlina, even though rayed and many of them had packed onto a given 1000’s of FIVE PALLETS LOADED WITH THE pallet. BA hours of their time INTERNATIONAL COLLECTION must have in the past, arrived RETURNING TO THE UK wondered at the rapidly diswhat the hell I solving center for birds of prey in the US. They worked on the catch- was thinking of, because not only were there ing up, processing, which included giving all the things like my two bicycles, and feed buckets, but
I forgot that we had a bag of shredded paper to put in the kennels for the dogs, so that made the trip as well for no apparent reason!
have to pee on it to make it work! We also learnt that you don’t use the paddles on the life raft to paddle, but you can sharply strike a shark on the nose to deter it!!
SOME OF THE 26 VOLUNTEERS WHO HELPED THROUGH THE NIGHT TO UNLOAD THE RETURNING BIRDS
The plane arrived and a Jumbo Jet looks absolutely enormous when it is a cargo plane and parked up right over the top of you. I have to go back here a little. To travel with the birds and dogs, I had to go on a course at Heathrow, because there are two pilots and you, so if there is a problem you are on your own as it were, because the pilots are somewhat busy! So I went, and learnt how to open the emergency doors, how to go into a smoke filled cabin and rescue a body—very useful that, how to lift the unconscious pilot off the controls, put his seat belt on and give him oxygen, what happens if both are unconscious I am not sure, but it keeps you busy. How to go down the slides, thank god they did not make us go down a slide from the upper deck of the Jumbo, the three slides I did were bad enough and I went flat on my face on the first and lowest one, laughing myself silly at the time. We also learnt how to manage the life raft, and to take the position locator with us out of the plane. Once this thing hits sea water it starts to transmit a satellite signal, however if you are on land and not sea you
Back to the flight. The cargo was loaded, mine and all the rest, bearing in mind that I had paid for only about one third or less of the plane, so lots of other stuff went on first, lastly the birds and dogs were loaded and finally I climbed up into the top deck, ready to go. The BA team there were great. And Marjorie who had driven me
ONE OF THE URAL OWLS ABOUT TO BE PROCESSED
down there stayed to the absolute bitter end watching us take off and leave American soil.
We left I think about 4.30am, I am a little vague here because I had been up for well over 24 hours at this point, and the stress levels were pretty high. I was asked to come and take the third seat in the cockpit (I think it was so they could see where I was) and so literally watched as a pilot might, as we trundled down the runway and took off into the dawn, I was amazed at how incredibly graceful the lift off was, much more so from that position, and with such a huge plane. It was a special moment and better still, one that meant we really had made it and were going home to England again, with all the birds and the dogs. The dream was stirring again even though we had no real home, and it was very beautiful flying into the sunrise. We landed in the UK at 6.30pm, a little late, but the weather was very British, it was grey and raining. The pilots were great, and we flew round huge banks of dark clouds to make the ride smoother for the birds. I was greeted with enormous enthusiasm by Phil Knowles of James Cargo, it was so special to see him and feel we had made it back. He took over. The speed the birds were unloaded was unbelievable and soon the birds and dogs were off to the Animal Quarantine Station for processing, and my cargo was on its way to Hereford. After going through the quarantine station, the four lorries with all the birds started off for Hereford. A good friend of mine, Jim French and his wife, collected the five Labradors and took them to their house for the night and delivered them to me the following mid morning. Poor Rosie the terrier had to stay behind and go into quarantine in the Forest of Dean for two weeks, I think she has forgiven me. I got into my car which Jim French had driven up for me, and drove to Hereford. I suspect that I should not have driven at that point, I think I was on close to 35 hours vertical at the time. I beat the lorries and there at the quarantine quarters was another fantastic team of people, about 26 volunteers, friends and colleagues to help unload, some of whom had driven many miles to get there. We had four vets, Neil Forbes my consultant vet, Martin Flamank and his wife Kerry, Martin is the new Centre’s vet, as recommended by Neil, and two DEFRA Vets who were wonderful, to check the birds through and do the paperwork. We started to catch up the birds from the boxes and process them at 1.30 am. Each bird was caught up, checked, given fluids, a condition check and released into their quarantine aviaries. We had two deaths. My old male Burrowing Owl did not survive the trip and was dead in the box. He was seven which is not young for that species. One of my female Ural Owls went into shock and died. The following day we had a third death with the female Great Grey Owl. However Neil did a swift gross Post Morton on all three birds and all had heart problems waiting to happen, which made me feel slightly better about it. We finished in four hours flat, which was amazing, much better than the 10 hours it took to do when arriving in SC. Once we had finished, slowly everyone left as daylight had dawned. Annie MilBeginning to settle lar who had come to help, and Charlie Heap, who is an old down and enjoy life friend both came with me to Eardisland. We left the birds quiet and did not feed until later. We got to what is now called Little Orchard Farm, had a cup of tea, unloaded the cargo which Charlie had transported down, and had a walk round the property. Charlie left and Annie—she will never know how much it helped me—stayed the day and that night and did not leave until the following lunch time.
The dogs minus Rosie arrived at about midday and were pretty stressed, but settled quickly. It was a nice day weather wise. Finally Annie and I managed a short sleep in the afternoon, by which time I had been up for God knows how long. Later that day we drove back to Hereford to feed all the birds and check them. They were all fine, and looking calm and settled. Finally we got back to the barn and the five dogs, and crashed. I hope never to have to do such a trip again. ________________________________________
QUARANTINE AND AFTERWARDS The birds are housed either in pairs, groups, such as the various kites and vultures, or singles if they are imprints. They each have an aviary of a reasonable size. For example the Black Kites have an aviary 16 x 10, the African Griffons 14 x 20, the Stellers pair, the same 14 x 20, the kestrels and other small birds 8 x 10’ so although not as large as I would like or as large as their final home will be, they are comfortable, warm and secure. All they lack is a good view. They are doing very well. Apart from one very recent death, which was caused by continuing problems from the US, all the birds have coped well, moulted extremely well and even laid eggs and had babies!!
eye that he had no vision from it, and the retina on his right eye had deteriorated because of his age (the word senile was used—but I could not have that said of Mozart!) Because of his poor sight and the massive change, again, in his life, he did not do very well and so the decision to operate on his left eye was taken. The eye in birds can’t be treated in the same way as mammals, and so the only way to isolate the movement of the eye and keep it still so that it can be lasered, is to give the bird the modern equivalent of curare, which not only paralyses the eye, but also the birds ability to breath for itself. As this is a somewhat necessary function the bird is tubed into one of the air cells and manually breathed for, it is a tricky and stressful operation for all concerned, and the person waiting outside for the outcome I have to say. However Mozart pulled through and three very relieved vets and a couple of nurses accompanied him out of the operating theatre. We are very lucky to have Paul Evans an animal eye spe-
Mozart in the barn enjoying my bicycle and the new basket for Rosie, after my old Bike and basket ’disappeared’!
Neil Forbes as consultant vet and Martin Flamank as the collection vet have had a few problems to deal with, all again ones that had not been dealt with in the US. The Aplomado Falcon male had a nasty cut on his chest which was constantly reopening. Neil had him over to Martin’s surgery within four days of our arrival, operated on, and healed properly within three weeks. The Chanting Goshawk who had been blind in one eye since arriving with me, had major deterioration of the eye, and so it was removed and she looks much more comfortable. Sole the Albino Kestrel had a lump on one wing which had been operated on in the US, but had come back and had needed doing again for some time. That was successfully removed, although we did hear some choice veterinary terms during the operation such as ‘ bloody hell and Oh bugger!’ But despite that she did fine and looks great now, with not a feather broken. The toughest one was Mozart my now 34 year old Eurasian Eagle Owl, who had over the nearly three years in the US got such a bad cataract on his left
cialist very close by. Mozart’s ordeal was not over however. He managed to get an ulcer on his eye and then a yeast infection. There is no treatment for yeast infections in the eye, so Neil had to invent one. We
put in drops of F10 at a 1000 to 1 dilution for ten days—and it worked. He went back into his aviary in quarantine, did fine for a while and then slipped back. After a thorough examination, where there were a few things not right, all of which could be put down to his age and the stay in South Carolina, Neil put down as the prognosis—’guarded’. We were having to hand feed him and he was not a happy bunny. But, while I was away recently in India, Nick Hocking who was looking after birds and dogs, moved Mozart to the Barn where we all hang out for the time being. We now have a changed owl, he is happy, flies around the barn, sits on the refrigerated display unit, and now when he is hungry he flies down to my bike, and waits to be put in the kennel over night with his food! It’s a good job the floor in the barn is concrete. The birds have to stay in the warehouse until the temporary housing is ready at Eardisland, but quite frankly after the frost we had here this morning, they are warmer in there than they will be here, until I get the heated perches or as a friend called them, under-claw heating!!
Friends and Neighbours near and far. To find a place to move back to while still living in the US, to find and build the quarantine quarters. To be able to leave the dogs while looking, move the furniture—again and still unpacked. To fumigate the boxes for the birds, worm the birds, replace the astro turf on the floor of the boxes which had kindly and thoughtfully been removed, pack the birds up, take me and the dogs to the airport five hours away. Collect us all from the UK airport, unpack the birds, help me care for them, deal with emergencies, all under very difficult circumstances
and needless obstacles put in the way. Most of all to move forward, could not be done without friends and neighbours, and apparently I have some very special ones, whom I need to acknowledge and thank. In America people In memory of Dom those were Perignon and Dingy w h o Skipper who died banned as volneedlessly in the US, unteers worked we will miss them tirelessly to help when we open the me with care of new ICBP the dogs, enabled me to do 7 trips to the UK, some funding, legal work, getting everything ready, cleaning the eviction house so it could be inspected(!) and seeing me off. They did a fantastic job, I miss them greatly, they made a dreadful year liveable and looked after me throughout the whole period, even though
some of them had given years of their time, only to be kicked out unthanked. Over here in the UK, people helped me look for properties, had me to stay, lent or even rented cars for me, kept my spirits up. They found the quarantine warehouse, built the quarantine quarters. Helped me make the barn liveable in, got my email going, collected me, the birds and the dogs, unloaded, and saw the birds safely here. Some of them have helped me in cleaning and caring for the birds. And even been here in my only emergency so far when Rosie decided to open a sack of slug poison on the next door farm and eat her fill. So while I was at the vets, who saved her I must add, two people were doing the evening feeding and checking the other dogs for me. All of these people have been friends, some of them for a long time. On my arrival here in Eardisland I have been welcomed and helped by neighbours who have been great, and local people who have aided me and supported me throughout. There are too many to mention on either side of the Atlantic, but to all of you, and those who have written with support and encouragement, including my family, I am deeply touched and grateful.
to look longer at things. The first planning permission is through. That is for the Indoor Flying Arena and an extension to the shop and Café to give us an education room as well, these have permanent permission for the stated use, and 12 months permission as temporary holding aviaries. The site for them both has started and the first building arrives November 1st. We hope to have the internal aviaries built and the birds moved in by January. We also have planning permission for a mobile caravan which is coming on site on October 31st, so I will have a warm place to live for the foreseeable future. While all that happens the rest of the planning application goes in at the end of this month, we should know it’s through by the end of the year. Once that is done it is just a question of ordering the barns and starting building (sounds so simple doesn’t it!!) My only concern is finances, everything else we can do, or know a man who can! During that time I have to apply for a zoo licence, but apart from going through all that needs to be done, it should not be a problem. We have a landscape design, which is very exciting and funds allowing we will be buying, collecting and planting semi mature trees in February.
So what happens next…………..
As all the sites for the aviaries are completed, so will the paths and stand off barriers so that immediately each barn is completed, the birds will be able to move in and be undisturbed.
All the planning has taken longer than I would have liked, however that has been no bad thing as it has meant I have been forced
The signage is in hand, as are the materials for the education building, with some very exciting close up photos of feathers
from Linda Wright. We have power point programmes ready to run, and lots of ideas. We have a new perch design to be made in steel, which should make for cleaner enclosure walls, and new feed drawer designs as well as nest box and ledge designs. Once we start on the raptor barns in, I hope, Jan/Feb, volunteer help will be welcome to build paths, plant trees, shrubs, perennials and bulbs, lawns, shrub beds, fences and internal fixtures and fittings, along with painting. So if you have time, do contact me and come and be involved. Skills such as brick laying, carpentry and so on will be welcomed, but just sheer hard work is just as useful. I suspect we will do some limited breeding next spring, we certainly hope so, and there may be young birds to care for as well. We will be trying to get some flying teams going as soon as possible. I would like as much movement of people around, as these birds have been away from the general public since October 2004 and some of them miss them greatly and others need to reacclimatise to visitors. The dogs would love to see people as well, they have missed our being open to the public. It will be hard work and not much in the way of facilities to start with, but well worth the effort and we are all fun to work with.
MEMBERSHIP OF ICBP We would very much like to start a membership of the International Centre for Birds of Prey as soon as we can. So if anyone is interested let me know. There will be various levels, I am not sure of the prices as yet, but if you look up membership on the website you will see what we are offering. The website will be great and tell you all you need to know and we will keep it up to date so that you know what is happening when it does. VOLUNTEERS With assistance from experienced volunteers and teachers in the US and the UK, we will run a much better volunteer scheme than previously. Anyone wishing to volunteer will be trained, giving tasks and responsibilities (although not full care of the birds) and we will have two one day meetings a year for extra training, and input from those volunteering. So again, contact me and we will keep you up to speed on where we are with that DONATIONS yes please, we need all the help we can get particularly in the start of the new Centre. It does not have to be funds. Tools, Wheelbarrows, good kitchen Units, outside benches, plants, timber, trees, computers, printers, laminators, anything you think might be needed to build a new Centre will be gratefully received.
THE CENTRE HAS STARTED!!!!!!!! With the planning permission through, it has taken a little longer to actually get going than I had anticipated. But then as I usually like to start about 15 seconds after the concept, it was not really surprising. Apart from wanting to have all the birds at Eardisland for their sake, it will also save me two nightmare drives a day through Hereford traffic, to care for them. And I now understand what the school run is!! Aggggggggggghhhhhhh.
jpj driving one of the dumpers
Breaking Ground
Stone arriving for the base, that little pile is 20 tons!
The base laid and nearly ready for building the indoor flying arena
We are now ready for the first building to arrive on November 1st, and just hope that any rain holds off until the stanchions are in and secure and the roof is on. Then we start on the inside, and build the temporary housing for about 3/4 of the collection.
A couple of bits of extra news We have just been loaned a pair of Snowy Owls and so as they have laid before we will be assisting in their breeding so that we can keep some of the young. Which will be great, I need a pair for breeding in the future and a young male to fly. I spent 10 days in India recently looking at the vulture programme and keeping the international work going. The project is going well and we hope for great things this coming breeding season.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST. All the dogs are well, Rosie frightened us all badly by eating the slug pellets, she so very nearly died. But she has recovered amazingly. However…………. She is now such a committed hunting dog that I am finding it very difficult with the time constraints and travel, to manage her. When we go for walks she is never there and frequently I have to wait for her to show up at the end of a walk, having yelled myself hoarse in the process. She makes a walk misery and upsets all the other dogs. A friend has a farm down on Dartmoor with other dogs and 85 acres and lots of hunting so Rosie is going down there this weekend for a trial to see if she is happy. If she is and they are, she will stay there. I hate to have her go, but I just can’t manage her here. Were I still at Newent, I could keep her, but here, mainly alone with dogs and birds for the time being, I just can’t. Here they all are on a forest path on a walk just before she disappeared as usual!! They all sleep in my ‘bedroom’ still and I long for the day when I have a home again, and a bedroom minus dogs. But until I do, there they stay!!
I thank you all for taking the time to read this and hope that you will see a successful new International Centre for Birds of Prey by next summer. JEMIMA PARRY-JONES MBE Autumn 2007