National Birds of Prey Centre
NEWSLETTER 50p
August 2000, Number 8
NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR It has been a difficult year for us here, but also exciting and very busy, although not always with customers. We have had some staff come and go for various reasons. Martyn Paterson who joined us in March has been head hunted back to his old employer, Dr nick Fox, where he breeds falcons for the Arab market. He was offered a deal that was wonderful and one that we could not hope to match. He did great work with the breeding and gave me my first year off from having to worry about eggs and babies since the mid- seventies, it was a real pleasure for me. I am pleased to say that he and Nick have agreed to have Gary Dyer over to the Falcon Breeding Centre in Wales next April to give him some intensive experience in hatching eggs. Hopefully Gary will come back able to take over for me. John and Ben left for Japan in April and the contract has been going well, all the birds survived the winter in Japan with no problems, and John and Ben have been getting the aviary area where the birds live looking very smart with new signs and planting. Apart from a short period of nice weather in July it really has been most depressing and April was a joke in terms of weather. Usually we can rely on good weather if Easter is late, but not this year. I wish someone would make a fixed date for Easter, after all if Christ has had his birthday fixed, why can’t we fix the other end of his life, it certainly would make ours easier! My trip to South Carolina in March went well, it was nice to see the birds and find out how they had been doing. The only trouble with the shorter trips to the US is that there is always such a lot to get done, not enough time to do it in and much in the way of sleep deprivation as I never seem to catch up on Jet Lag. While I was there Arthur was too, so we had the chance to work the birds together, as both of us had been flying them in the training stage. Jim was getting the hang of flying them although on occasion it was a question of who was flying who! I appear to have spent an awful lot of time travelling to various meetings in the UK in the last few months. What with zoo stuff, Hawk Board stuff and heaven knows what else, I have used the train system extensively this summer and almost never got anywhere on time. The worst trip was to a British Zoological Veterinary Society meeting which happened to be on the day of the bomb scares – It took ten hours to get 220 miles – I probably could have cycled it a damn sight quicker and certainly with less frustration. The books are not as far advanced as I had hoped by this time of the year – just too much to do and not enough time to do it in, I need a 36 hour day! I am hoping to concentrate on the David and Charles book over the winter – it is hard to do in the summer months. Jemima Parry-Jones MBE
*RED KITE SUCCESS * DIARY DATES * TRUST UPDATE * MAY VISIT TO SC * INTERNATIONAL NEWS * STAFF PROFILE * CHILDREN’S BIRTHDAY VISITS
TICKETS FOR “TWILIGHT EVENING” ON SALE NOW… (0870 990 1992 Money raised from the sale of this Newsletter (50p) will be donated to the National Birds of Prey Trust (Charity No. 1079323)
THE SUMMER ! Flying demo at the Falconers Fair. Jan Stringer has been here for 10 years! The first captive bred Red Kite hatched. Lots of “Behind the Scenes” Evenings in June. Local flying demo at Picklenash School, Newent. Young Owls at Gloucester Medieval Fayre. Land Rover in for repairs, three times! Jemima at the Royal Show in July. Flying demo at Calcot Manor Polo Day. Eagle Evening Sponsored by 107.3 The Eagle Radio. Congratulations to Rachel & Rob, now Mr & Mrs Wiggins. JPJ “guest appearance” at The Game Fair. Gary travelled to Japan John’s home for the Summer!
“BEHIND THE SCENES & EAGLE EVENING” To try and add to what we do here at the Centre, and following on from the very popular Owl Evenings, late spring and early summer we held four ‘Behind the Scenes Evenings’. We find that many people are interested in what goes on behind the public face here. We divided the attendees into groups and each had one of the staff to show them round, and did we show them round – we covered everything, from the feeding regimes, including the walk in freezer where all the various species of food is kept and prepared. Inside the barns in the service corridors to show how we feed and clean the aviaries, upstairs in the barns to see the nest ledges and some of the babies being reared by parents. We covered the clinic, incubation and the rearing, showing some of the newly hatched young that are not normally on view. Probably one of the most used rooms at the Centre is the weighing room so we even took visitors in there. Gurney’s Butchers in Newent put on their usual excellent hog roast, and Sarah and Martyn made a very good Sangria which went down very well. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and it gave everyone a better understanding of the workings of the Centre. The Eagle Evening was a one off held in July. Supported by 107.3 The Eagle Radio, who sent many of their staff and a surprise support by Walls Ice-cream who attended and offered a free ice-cream to all at the end which was very nice. We saved all the Eagles normally flown in the day, plus a special appearance by the Golden Eagle “Cinnabar”. All the birds flew very well and it was interesting to see all the different Eagles in one demonstration. We are not well situated for flying Eagles and unless the weather is absolutely right, they find it a little hard to fly in our small field. Nevertheless they all did well. “Cinnabar” was a little taken aback by a big audience and really she is a very big girl for our area, but she managed to show a little of the power of a Golden Eagle. We then all ate our fill and my new baby Tawny Eagle sat on my fist during the Barbecue. The audience then did a quiz on eagles round the centre and many of them got it right I have to say! We ended up with a late substitution in the form of a spectacled owl instead of the Eagle Owl flying, but no one minded and all had a good evening. We would like to thank Eagle Radio and Walls Ice-cream for coming and being so kind to us. Which is more than I would like to say to the people who stole our three female Harris Hawks later that night!
Editor / Director: Jemima Parry-Jones MBE The National Birds of Prey Centre, Newent, Gloucestershire, England GL18 1JJ. Tel: +44 (0)1531 820286 / Fax: +44 (0)1531 821389 Email: jpj@nbpc.demon.co.uk Website: www.nbpc.co.uk
“Lambe”, “Bell” and “Common Blue” - Harris Hawks stolen from the Hawk Walk
MRS TIMMS Mr and Mrs Timms, our very elderly pair of Tawny Eagles, called so after the man they came from originally, have done it again! They are a pair of Indian Tawny Eagles, they came here in the mid-seventies and first bred in 1979. Although they have not bred every year, they have nevertheless bred pretty consistently, and this year they have produced another two young for us. They are looking their age I have to admit and Mrs Timms can no longer get to the nest ledge so she has a bungalow nest on the ground! Not only did they breed again, but they are parents without par and we are able to ask them to rear almost anything. This year they have helped to rear Bald Eagles, Verreaux Eagles and their Grand daughter who is still with them. They are the parents of Hard Tackle, our very good and very high flying Eagle whom some of you will have seen soaring here on hot days, also the parents of our young breeding pair. I am training their young son (front page) this year, the other one has gone to Belgium where he is being paired up with a young unrelated female. We are hoping to have a partially unrelated young one back from there in the future. Long may Mr and Mrs Timms go on – we think they are about 47 years old now, they have certainly done us proud here and we all salute them.
THE BREEDING SEASON… RED KITE SUCCESS… HOW MANY SPECIES? We have had a really good breeding season, with few disasters. Starting with African Fish Eagles and Indian Eagle Owls in December and January, all the birds did well and with the help of the chickens and Martyn. We increased our total of species bred in captivity by five species, putting us at a total of 60 species bred here, which is pretty impressive. A number of the Owls came on line, with Collared Scops Owls, Brown Wood Owls, Hawk Owls and Rufous thighed Owls all being bred and all new to us here at the Centre. Our Luggers finally produced fertile eggs after a long wait, not a new species to us, but an important one as they are a red list species. Probably the most exciting success was the Red Kites. They laid eggs last year but they were not fertile. However, this year one in the first clutch of three eggs was fertile and Martyn managed to hatch it with no problems. The baby was very strong and very good-looking (as baby raptors go!). Most exciting for me was Martyn’s technique for getting babies back with the parents. He got a fresh goose egg, cut off the side of it and emptied the contents, then he placed the baby in the goose egg at about six days old. The egg was much larger than the Kites real eggs so the young one fitted in nicely. This was put under the parent birds who sat on it. The young one underneath starts to call which happens in the egg naturally, close to hatching, the parents get all excited and then eventually the baby pushes the goose egg over and “hey presto” the parents think they have hatched it. Not only did this work for the Kites making them successful parents, but Martyn managed to get the Verreaux Eagles to rear for the first time and also our young pair of Tawny Eagles. To have the birds breed and then rear is just wonderful to me and we were all delighted. The Red Kites laid a second clutch of eggs prior to getting their first child back and two of those were fertile, so we actually have three new Red Kites – a British first which is very nice. As I write the baby Red Kite is now full grown, we have taken it out of the aviary and it is being trained, so if you visit in the next few weeks you should see him or her being flown. The long term plan is to pair up two of the three young with two other unrelated Red Kites that we have here, try to breed from three pairs and then start a release programme in Gloucestershire, which I would love to do. But until they are old enough to breed, the three young Red Kites will be on demonstration for the first year or so. Don’t miss them!
ZOO FORUM SYMPOSIUM Once the New Zoo Standards were launched in April, the Zoo Forum felt that it would be a good idea to have a symposium for Zoo Inspectors, Zoo Operators and the Local Councils who implement the Zoo Act, to make sure that everyone understood the standards and could comment and ask questions. The symposium was organised for the Zoo Forum by the Federation of Zoos and kindly hosted by London Zoo. There were about 160 people attending which was pleasing for us to see. The audience showed an impressive array of faces from the zoo world. The morning was taken up with short papers on differing aspects of the new Standards, all the speakers gave excellent presentations, the computers all worked and everyone kept to time, which made my job as Chair much easier. We then adjourned into the Zoo for Lunch which was very pleasant (no alcohol though – sadly!) and gave everyone time to have a talk, meet people and generally relax a little. The afternoon was an open session of questions. The Zoo Forum all sat on the stage and the floor fired questions and opinions at them. Generally there was consensus on the standards. Most people realised that the standards are not actually new, but updated. They have been in force since the Zoo Licensing Act came in in 1981. The Zoo Forum felt that the day was a success and the Federation is going to be producing proceedings in the near future. For anyone who is interested in what the Zoo Forum does, there is an open meeting of the Forum on Sept 6th again at London Zoo. Should you wish to attend, apply for tickets to Tom Adams, DETR, Tollgate House, Bristol, BS2 9DJ
STAFF: NEW EDUCATION OFFICER We have had many staff changes this year. Some away in Japan, some coming for a short term, some new altogether, and some leaving for pastures new. After Gary left to go and take over from John in Japan, we had a bit of a problem, Martyn had left to spend some time training Falcons in the US which had all been planned. Rachel our newest member of staff had already arranged to get married and have a honey moon so she was away, and John had a very well earned break before coming home. That left us at four bird staff outside, including me and Ian. It was then I realised that four bird staff is not enough, if you have external work, plus the occasional problem like a bird going missing. It was a hard three weeks I have to say, for all of us…I should say here that if Arthur Middleton had not been here as a volunteer, stepping into the breach, we could not have managed. Thanks Arthur. So I looked at the various CV’s and people I knew that might be interested in coming here to replace Martyn. And by sheer chance a friend (also Martin) and his wife had been down to visit recently and had mentioned that he would be interested in
working here. So I emailed him! The upshot of it was that Martin and Helen Foulds came down again to see me and have a chat. All of which went very well, Martin talked to the other staff and between us we decided that he would come down for three months to see how we liked him and he liked us and the work here. Martin is designated as our new Education Officer and will be working on the new Schools Pack this winter, as well as redesigning the guided tours that we are doing with the parties that visit. We also hope to get him out doing some lecturing at schools during the quieter periods – and a million other tasks!
GUIDED TOUR EVERYDAY DURING THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS (at 12.30pm)
RAIN, RAIN AND MORE RAIN… We really have had abysmal luck with the weather this year. The early part of the year was not too bad, although its usual depressing grey, cold and damp. However April, which is usually a good month here was dire. I think it probably rained pretty nearly everyday. The overflow car park was a swamp! We could put a very few cars in the top side, but most of it you could have lost a caravan in quite easily! The wettest April for 200 years – how do they know that for heavens sake – and a quarter of the years total rainfall in one month – except that you can bet your bottom dollar that it isn’t really, and we sure haven’t been short of rain since. We had a nice spell in June and then after three days of warmth, I made the huge mistake of getting the shade netting out to give the trained birds somewhere cool to sit – not a good move, the sun disappeared for another three weeks! Its very difficult to keep up with what we are going to get on a daily basis, it was hot, pretty hot yesterday, the birds flew brilliantly! Today I am sitting in the office wearing a jersey aaaaaahh!!
NEW Children’s Birthday Visits
The Centre can be used as a venue to celebrate a Birthday or as a special holiday treat for children under 16 years old. The cost is £6.50 each for Children and Adults, and includes: Entrance to the Centre, Guided Tour, a photograph with a Bird of Prey or Owl for the Birthday Girl or Boy and an “OWL” Birthday Cake… For more information, please telephone: 0870 990 1992 or pick up a leaflet next time you visit.
NEW VIDEO: “Masters of the Sky” You may remember a couple of years ago we helped to produce, and train all the birds for a film on British Birds of Prey. Well, it finally was shown on TV, although I never saw it – and had still not seen the finished article. We contacted the production company to ask if we could sell it here, after some wheeling and dealing with the TV company, we got permission to produce it as a video, and to make it a little more personal we re-voiced it, with my voice to give all the information on the birds shown. It is a nice film and it’s good to see the birds flying in the wild. It is interesting to see how many people can tell which are the trained NBPC birds and which are real wild shots. If you want to know more about British Birds of Prey and see some lovely flight stuff – we are going to be selling it here soon.
MAY VISIT AND FLYING DEMONSTRATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA I went back to South Carolina in May to help with a big fundraising event that The South Carolina Center for Birds of Prey was putting on. A large outdoor concert at a beautiful old plantation house was the event and we planned to give a demonstration with the team of birds that we had sent out earlier. I went about eight days prior to the concert to get the birds used to me again and make sure that they were flying well. The weather was glorious and very warm, the insects were slightly less glorious, but I managed even if I did get very bitten – insect spray and gin and tonic seemed to be the best result! It was hard work to the run up, getting everything ready to have many of the educational birds out on perches, plus the flying team and all in heat that I am not really used to. Not that I am complaining – I loved the weather in May and you certainly could not hold an event like that here and almost guarantee sunshine. The birds all managed well in the heat and Chance, the eagle did us very proud on the day the TV news crew came out – she got the idea of soaring that very day and the film looked wonderful. The day dawned well. All was ready, the marquees and whole set up looked lovely. All the birds were there from about 11.30 until the concert started and then while Jim and I were doing the flying demonstration, all the educational birds were taken back to the Centre so they were not worried by the music. We flew the birds in an old polo field and I have to say that I was delighted. The audience was superb, they really seemed to appreciate what we were doing. The PA system worked well which is one of my perennial nightmares as they so often let me down. Chance was a little wayward, but it was her first external demonstration, and she is very young for an eagle. The others all behaved well and we ended up the demonstration with Grace Gasper who is in charge of the Clinic, explaining to everyone the history of the wild Red tail that we released to finish off. She did a great job and the Red tail behaved impeccably and flew off strongly. I enjoyed doing the demonstration, Jim is good to work with as he usually clicks in with what is happening very quickly and it was nice to see the birds all going well. We have put them down to rest of moult for the summer and I will be assisting with the re-training of some of them for SCCBP in August.
UPDATE FROM JAPAN… JOHN BACK Gary arrived safely in Japan and from the news I am getting, he is settled, the birds are flying well for him and Ben and all is quiet on the eastern front. We have just renegotiated the completion of this years contract, and hoping that all will be well for another year next year. John did what he normally likes to do and had a few days off on holiday on his way home, he is pretty keen on Australia and now has some good friends there which is really nice. He stayed about eight days and got back to work on July 19th and very relieved we were to see him. He got seriously thrown in at the deep end as his first day back there was only him and Rachel. I had a meeting in London and Annie and Mark were taking a Falconry Experience Day. By the end of two days, he had no voice! “Pandora” was pleased to see him, as were the dogs. Many of our regular customers too mentioned how nice it is to have him back here. It is hard to come back after being away for an extended period, I know it is for me, and I think John finds it the same, especially as things change here so rapidly. Still he manages and the Centre benefits from his being here again.
FLYING DEMONSTRATIONS AWAY FROM HOME… Falconers Fair, Royal Show, CLA Game Fair For my sins, I give flying demonstrations away from home and have done so since 1968 (no wonder I hate doing them now!). I still have some favourites that I enjoy doing, probably Chatsworth in Derbyshire at the beginning of September is one of them and I have done that one since 1981. However, this year I was asked to go and fly in the main ring of the Royal Show, which was very nice. It is a huge show held at the National Agriculture Centre at Stoneliegh and the main ring is wonderful. I gave one demonstration a day and Arthur and I drove up each day. We were very lucky with the traffic as you can hit the most horrendous queues if you are not careful, but the gods were with us on that one. The weather was not that good and I did think that perhaps I should have been flying ducks on the first day – did that one in the rain! But the birds were great, the absolutely wonderful thing about my birds is that they are so good at pulling top class demonstrations out of the bag when I really need them too. And as usual they did not let me down. We did four days there, the weather improved daily and the audiences were wonderful. “Kilbreck” gave us a couple of really good stoops from about 200 feet and was much appreciated. “Lambe” and “Common Blue” the Harris Hawks, both behaved impeccably (both were stolen on July 15/16th). “Shanny” the Lanner was her normal good and reliable self and “Chalky" the African Tawny Eagle showed off by sitting on the grandstand before chasing the rabbit. It may seem odd, but even after all these years I still get very nervous about flying at shows, particularly large ones or ones where I am expected to be very good. The weather plays such a big part in flying birds and it is difficult to be brilliant if the weather is poor. I was also asked to do guest appearances at both the Falconers Fair and the CLA Game Fair, which is nice (but you don’t get paid!). I took a couple of Falcons to the Falconers Fair and they were good, but not brilliant as it was cool and grey. However, I did the first demonstration each morning at the Game Fair, and there the weather was kinder. The first day the birds were good and flew well, one very good stoop from “Laertes”, but nothing to write home about. The second day I took “Kilbreck”, all the birds did well and I put him on last. He went off quickly behind some trees and immediately found a thermal, then went straight up to about 700 feet and came over and stooped in vertically – JPJ had a big grin on her face – he is such a star. The last day he decided to surpass himself. All went very well and as last bird off he went again. This time taking a little longer to get height, however this time he must have been up at about 1000 feet and I am a good judge of height I think, he came hurtling over and turned over and dropped like a stone into the arena – to a well deserved standing ovation. My grin lasted for at least two days!
WHO’S IN THE BOG? One thing the wet weather has done wonders with are the plants around the Centre, but some of the credit must go to Angie Hill, the full-time gardener of the place (and many things besides!). Angie joined the Centre in 1990, initially running the Coffee Shop. In fact one of her favourite moments was arranging a lunch for the Centre’s friend Nichola McAuliffe who brought the cast over from Cardiff Playhouse for a bit of brunch. This meant there was normal day plus assorted celebs and the press has to be catered for, the sausage rolls were dusted off and everything went well. Although Anton Rogers and Tricky Dicky were over shadowed somewhat by “Real” the Andean Condor playing to the cameras. Angie spent the next seven years down the café and amused herself harassing the rest of the staff, particularly anyone living in the flats above with many a pair of boxer shorts being stolen or rogue stories about engagements being plastered around the place. (This may have been due to John announcing that her plastic surgery was healing nicely on demonstration… JOKE!). Then there was a trip outside into the grounds and Angie’s touch is definitely apparent with all the beds and tubs looking good this year. She like the plants but don’t ask her too many names! Her day starts with her least favourite job, cleaning the loos which would certainly put most people off after a Bank Holiday onslaught. So, please behave yourselves in there! Angie also helps out when she can from cleaning aviaries to serving in the shop but can usually be found at the end of the day watching “Pandora” run circles around the bird staff. In fact, “Bacchus” the Striated Caracara was trained with her help, she hid the key rings for him. There are many things planned for the future, but the bog garden has certainly grabbed her attention (a bit like male motorcyclists in leather) and would like any spare plants that she could use there or elsewhere in the gardens. She has also asked me to ask for a greenhouse, benches, a nice comfy chair for her potting shed and lots of brandies (especially on New Year’s Eve, which is also her Birthday and she gets her free bus pass this time around!). And from all the staff—thanks for the help and keep up the good work—PS the gents are blocked again!!
THE TRUSTEES MEETING… Thank you for the donations! As some of you may know, I have been trying to do something with a charity here at the Centre for many years. Finally after much trial and error and also, I have to say, a great deal of expense on my part, we have a charitable arm, The National Birds of Prey Trust, that had it’s first and second Trustees meetings in the past four months. Like any new body, the first meeting was really to see what we are about and how we are going to run. We had five Trustees, which after the second meeting increased to six. During the first meeting we discussed what the Trust was about and how I felt that it could easily take over much of the work that the Centre has been doing for years, but which is actually charitable, such as helping with the injured wild birds, some of the In situ programme work that we have been doing abroad and so on. At the first meeting we also discussed an official launch of the Charity as a big fund raiser. This was further discussed at the second meeting, with the newest Trustee Nicola McAuliffe putting forward some excellent ideas. However, I must say that it would have been hard if not impossible to get the Trust off the ground without the kind donations that many of you have sent in. I would like to thank you not only on the part of the Trust and the Trustees, but also on a personal basis from me. I think some of you know just how much I care about what I do, and when others can see that and help us financially, it makes all the hard work worthwhile – So, I thank you all.
NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Peregrines and Racing Pigeons
Vultures in India I suppose the biggest news internationally is the huge reduction in Vulture numbers in India. This problem is not going away and in fact looks like it is getting worse. The problem is looking more and more like a possible virus threat, maybe from chickens.
Peregrines have been blamed for decimating the racing pigeons and after a survey it has been discovered that the effect Peregrines have on racing pigeons is rather less than the pigeons fanciers would have us believe. Over the whole of the UK 3.5% of the 1.4 million racing pigeons lost each year are accounted for by peregrines and almost 75% of those had already gone feral before being killed.
There are many chicken factories in the Subcontinent and the far east. We know from experience here that birds of prey can be badly affected by viruses that chicken carry without detriment to themselves. There is a conference being held in Delhi late September to look at what the problem might be and how it could be resolved. Scientists from the world over will be going, with large input from the Bombay Natural History Society. I have been invited to attend and am going over to see what we might do to help. It will be interesting to see how things pan out and if there is anything that can be done, I hope so as vultures are in fact very important to the whole ecosystem.
Sparrowhawks were found to take 3.7% of the pigeons mostly round the pigeon lofts and Goshawks less than 0.5%
APPEAL Can you help? We need lots of Wild, Woodland, Bog and Pond Plants to create a new Conservation Area and “Wildlife Walk” at the Centre. NEXT TIME YOU VISIT, REMEMBER to bring a small plant or packet of seeds from your local garden centre, market or car boot sale or a cutting or plants from your garden… Anything will be gratefully received!
Sakers and Houbara NARC (National Avian Research Centre) has been using disarmed Saker Falcons to catch Houbara Bustards so that they can be fitted with radio transmitters to find out how far they travel to wintering grounds and where the grounds are exactly. The falcons have beads of plastic glued to their talons so they can’t inflict any damage to the Houbara’s and they wear a hood with the eye piece cut out and a shield over their beaks to stop any biting. Of the eight Houbara caught in this way five were tracked for twelve months giving a full picture of their yearly movements. Sakers and Luggers Sticking with Sakers, news has just come in that two of the largest trappers of Sakers from Pakistan have ceased trading because the Arab falconers are getting enough of the birds that they want from the Captive Breeders. This is excellent news for both the Saker Falcon and the Lugger Falcon. Now perhaps their numbers will start to recover. You can help… The Hawk and Owl Trust and the Mammal Society are coordinating a national survey of road casualties. The survey lasts from June 2000 – May 2001. Volunteers and interested people should contact either Lincoln Garland, Mammal Research Unit, School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Rd, Bristol BS8 1UG, OR Colin Shawyer on 01582 832182, email hawkandowltrust@aol.com As a matter of interest at least 10 million birds, 100,000 foxes and 50,000 badgers are killed on UK roads yearly.
TWILIGHT EVENING At the National Birds of Prey Centre Saturday 30th September 2000 at 6.30pm Illustrated Talk by Jemima Parry-Jones MBE Hog Roast & Refreshments Twilight Flying Demonstration Tickets on sale now: £12.00 for Adults / £6.00 for Children (including food & refreshments).
NEXT NEWSLETTER: DECEMBER 2000