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MARCH 2012
NEWSLETTER Number 13
Note from the Director Thank goodness the forecast long cold winter never materialised, and we were very relieved, the only seriously cold day we had was February 11th, on our Valentines Owl Evening when it was bitterly cold, it made for a magical evening, but went down to -9 C which caused us a few problems. We had new heaters in the Hawk Walk and each compartment was fully insulated including the floor which was quite an undertaking, but still we got two cases of wing tip oedema. We think both birds will pull through with their wing tips, but we are going to rethink the heating. I did what I usually do - stand and look at the problem physically, and I think the mistake I made was to design the heating round the perches, and in fact it should have been the other way round. This time we are going to design the perches round the heating and I think it will work. Otherwise the winter went and Spring is here with us. The wild Daffodils are out, the wood looks amazing, it has been cleared, we are in the throws of raking the whole thing now, the trees have been thinned out so the remaining ones will do better. The hedge has been laid, and we cut down the huge hedge at the bottom of the field, I was going to have it laid as well, but it was too old, so we felled it and it will re grow and then be laid in a few years, when it will look stunning, and give us the more open view that we have now. The breeding season is upon us with its usual ups and downs, breeding birds is not fun whatever anyone says, you get all excited because you have eggs and then desperately disappointed because they fail, you get all excited because they hatch and then miserable because the chicks do not survive, its a roller coaster and not fun at all while it is happening, Its OK afterwards though! We are up to six dogs again, although the newest two were not really planned, but very much loved and very welcome, and I have a new horse who is perfect, although he is probably better than I need, but I think he is great. We are open again, the birds are flying well, the place is looking great and it is our 45th anniversary year! We have a Royal Visit on May 15th when we will be closed for the day, so don’t come then! Plus other special events, see inside for these.
Autumn came and went and was beautiful. The forecast bitter Winter, never came
DANNY’S WOOD The wood to the right hand side of the field was planted many years ago and has desperately needed thinning for some time now, so David Kenworthy and his brother started to come in and cut and clear, he is having the timber for doing it, and there is a bit of it. The wood is now almost clear, just a few trees to sort out in the hedge, and a couple of Willow’s that have to be pollarded, but it has made a huge difference and the remaining trees will do very much better now. This was the only snow we had this winter!
NEW WALK IN FREEZER A while ago our very old freezer died, so for the last two years we have coped with chest freezers, and it did not work. They take up a huge amount of room and do not hold enough food for us to have a back up. So I went to one of the very good friends of the Centre, we have some very special ones, and asked him if he could help us. And he did, Bless him! So work started, after the last five day course in December we moved all the freezers out into various places still running and took down all bar the roof of the freezer shed, and replaced the external walls, insulated the whole thing, lined the inside and painted, Richard did the electrics and the freezer arrived, it was in in a day and although we had a couple of blips just before Christmas, it has been a joy to have a walk in freezer again. It also meant that had the dreadful winter arrived, we would have a backup supply of food for the birds, which is crucial. We kept two of the chest freezers and sold the other four and put the money in the new Bird Hospital Fund which we have started and which we are planning to have raised £45,000 by the end of the year!
At about the same time and to improve the view from the flying ground, and open up the field which was beginning to feel a little hemmed in, Nathan’s Dad, Dave laid the hedge between the wood and Green Farm, and Richard who wanted the timber cut down most of the trees in the bottom hedge between us and Boulsdon Croft. I wanted to lay it, but it was too big, so we cut most of it down, it will sprout at the bottom and in a few years we will lay it and it will look stunning because the one Dave did in the wood does!
NEW BIRDS ARRIVE AND SPRING IS HERE
We were lucky enough after some effort with the King Vulture Stud book to find a mate for our lonely seemed pleased to have company again, as indeed was out Turkey Vulture who now has a new wife. I d I wish I could find a mate for our Lappet-faced Vulture, that would be wonderful. However we also have her by the end of the year, and she has laid eggs before, so that would be great. Of course the breeding reared by the African Fish Eagles who did lay a fertile egg, but we lost it, however knowing they will rea Golden Eagle belonging to a friend of ours, as it is good for her to have young before she gets her new babies which they are rearing, which is wonderful. Various falcons have eggs, we have one Griffon Vultu Savigny’s Eagle Owl, with lots more babies still to come, including we hope the Tawny Owls as it would b
King vulture, he arrived along with two young White-tailed Sea-eagles in December. Our King vulture don’t like the birds that can have mates to be alone, so it is nice to know they are both paired up again. e a new arrival on loan in the form of a Eurasian Black Vulture female and I think I can get a mate for g season is here and we are delighted that so far we have three baby Indian Tawny Eagles, one being ar is a huge bonus. The other two will be reared probably by the Steppe Eagles and the Steppes by a mate. The Steller’s have two babies and the pair of Grey Buzzard Eagles, also on loan to us have two ure egg, and so the breeding season goes on apace. The owls are also breeding and we have one be lovely to have one to fly here again since Mugwort died three years ago.
I-ZONE! Our education room was done 20 years ago, and actually has held up really well and the information is still relevant today, however the time has come………..! So with the able design ideas and talents of Angie Davis (whom I have known since she was a child!) who runs Pinkfrog Creative, and Robin and Michele the plans started. Mark and Robin have just about finished working on the ceiling, which we have altered and covered, and it looks much nicer. All the old stuff has been taken down apart from our migration map, and the walls have been painted, guess what - Magnolia!!! The outside has be tidies up and the timber restained so it is starting to look good. Next Robin is going to build the various cases, we have all been involved in choosing the banners and Robin has done the text for each of the new information zones. We aim to have it all finished by May 15th when we ARE CLOSED for our Royal celebration for our 45th anniversary! As well as the IZONE, a few other jobs have been done. Adam did a great job on a major refurbish of the Pavillon so now if you want any information on courses etc, or you want to know about the Art courses that he runs, or see a couple of his paintings, there is the place to go and look.
We took out the twisted hazels at the top of the Hawk Walk, they had got too big and people could see nothing past them, and extended the two middle lawns, one with sand to stop the kites from ruining the lawns and the other with grass, it is looking good already. We changed the angle of the roof on the old stables so that we could get all the machinery inside. Holly did a wonderful fund raising board for the new hospital for wild injured birds and we already have over £6000 towards the £45000 that we are aiming for. She also went to a zoo conference and saw a sponsorship tree - and we now have one! We also have some life sized silhouettes on the outside of Mozart’s aviary which people are very much enjoying. I sometimes wonder how we get done all we achieve, bearing in mind that we are also dealing with our visitors, courses, experience and photography days, training and flying birds, keeping the aviaries clean, dealing with paperwork, government consultations, endless emails wanting this and that, the breeding season, dogs, horses, and still staying sane - just about!