Members Newsletter August 2006

The Editors Notes

Welcome to the summer edition of the Raptor Foundation Newsletter.

As ever things are very hectic up at the Centre, as can be evidenced by Liz being pulled in all directions as usual. It's not only the day to day running of the Centre as a visitor attraction, especially at this time of year, but the numerous other calls on her time. Everything from doing school and educational visits, keeping all the personnel - staff, volunteers, Junior Raptors - organised, to the numerous and diverse queries that come in, including injured birds, and the continuous and ongoing improvements to the facilities and fabric of the Centre itself - see Liz's comments in 'Centre News'. Sometimes she even gets to do her first love - looking after and flying the birds!!!

The 'school summer fair and village fete' season is now in full swing and so our birds, mainly the owl brigade, are also having a busy time of it putting in an appearance at the various shows. To be fair Liz does try and share round their fundraising activities, but you do get the feeling sometimes as you put their kit on in the morning ready to go out that they are looking at you and thinking - here we go again, where to today!!!

Back to the contents of this Newsletter, and special thanks must go to Gary Evans and Helen Kerr who have both written articles for inclusion in this edition based on their experience at the Foundation. Hopefully you can get a real feel of just what it is like to be involved in the workings of the Centre.

If you would like to become more involved in any aspect of the Foundation, even if you can only spare a couple of days a month, please contact Liz or anyone at the Centre for more details of the valuable contribution that you could make. It has been known for people who just came along to help out with the gardening or to do some of the required odd jobs around the place to end up (eventually) involved in handling the birds and helping out on the fundraising side.

Welcomes

Firstly we have Aimee who works with the birds and has, in her words, thrown herself in at the deep end! Although she has an Animal Husbandry background (and really knows her stuff) it is the first time she has seriously encountered Birds of Prey and Owls. The learning curve has been steep, but I believe she is thoroughly enjoying herself. Hopefully she can be persuaded to tell us a little bit more about herself in a future issue of this Newsletter.

Also, and just as important, we have the arrival of Pauline and Veronica who have responsibilities in the Gift Shop and general administration duties. One of them is likely to be the first person you see if you pay us a visit, or to talk to if you telephone the Centre, so please take the opportunity to introduce yourselves.

Centre News

Since the last newsletter I do not know where the time has gone, so much has happened. We have had 3 new births at the centre, Sheba the Siberian became a dad, yes we got the sex wrong again. The off spring is now 9 weeks old and is called Quiditch, it will soon be joining the flying team. The other is a 5-week-old Harris Hawk called Sid, that's because of its funky hair. The other is a baby little owl, which is 2 weeks old, and we are hand rearing it only because its mum and dad are now fostering 8 wild little owls that we would like to get back into the wild shortly. Over the last month there has been little disorder at the centre as we have had a new treatment works installed to take care of the ever-increasing load of public coming through our doors. You will also notice that we have lights on the car park. We have to thank The Friends of the Raptor Foundation for their contribution towards this.

Six weeks from now we will be celebrating our 10th birthday of being on the present site. Anyone wishing to contribute ideas or helping us on the weekend, please contact the centre.

Have you visited the centre lately or our website, you might have noticed that we are now flying a owl that is 6 inches tall and another bird that has a wing span of close to 8 feet, can you guess what they are, yes you've got it a Little owl and the Vulture!

There are various shows we shall be attending from school fetes to RAF Waddington Air Show, if you are at the show pop round to our stall and make yourself know to those there. If you would like a list of the shows with a view to helping out ring the centre and leave your name address, we are always looking for another set of hands to help out.

What else can happen this year, watch this space!

Liz McQuillan (Chief Executive)

Hospital News

So far during 2006 we have had 14 injured birds brought into the hospital.

Five Days Weren't Enough

I first became interested in birds of prey several years ago and for quite a while now have had the ambition of owning my own Harris Hawk. With this in mind I have collected quite a number of books on Harris's and on falconry in general, however I decided that there is only so much a book can teach you, they can never be a substitute for real “hands on” experience and so I began to look on the Internet to see if there were any courses available that would give me more experience in handling and working with raptors.

Last March I was lucky enough to have attended one of the five-day courses that are available here at the Raptor Foundation. Having only ever visited the Foundation once previously, last October, and though being very impressed with what I'd seen, I hadn't really much idea of what to expect by way of course content. So driving down from Leeds one Sunday morning to say I was feeling a little apprehensive could well have been the understatement of the year! However I need not have worried. From the moment I stepped through the door and was given a cup of tea as Dave outlined the course I knew then that the next five days were going to be enjoyable ones.

Dave had explained that the course was going to be very hands on looking at aviary design, equipment making, dietary requirements and would include a days hunting. Also we would be looking at training a bird taking it through the early stages of manning through to flying on a creance to eventually flying free and so was just what I was looking for, however I was a little perturbed when he said that I would be working with a young Harris Hawk called “Grumpy” and yes you've guessed it I did ask the question Why is she called Grumpy? Though I bet you've probably already guessed the answer to that one!

The whole course is designed to get a relative novice to the stage where they are able and confident enough to own a bird and to take it through it's early training in a safe and controlled way without injuring it or in the worse case scenario actually killing it. Unfortunately it is relatively easy to go out and buy a bird without having the faintest idea as to the basics such as what does it eat? How do I train it? Or even what sort of an aviary is best for the bird?

Don't get the impression though that the course isn't fun, I believe that people learn far more if they are relaxed, comfortable and enjoy what they are doing and that was certainly the way that I felt throughout the five days, even to being allowed to take part in the flying displays which was a bit nerve racking as that was something I had never done before.

For anyone considering owning their own bird or for people who have an interest in raptors I can't recommend the five-day course highly enough, the only problem was that I enjoyed it so much it wasn't long enough!

Thanks to all the staff and volunteers for making it so enjoyable.

Oh and for those of you who were wondering about “Grumpy” she's not quite so grumpy anymore!

Gary Evans

Many thanks to Gary for that article and I think we (by which I mean Liz and Dave) must have created quite an impression on him as he now regularly travels down the A1 from Leeds to help out as weekend volunteer. It has also given him the chance to renew his acquaintance with Grumpy and to get to know her even better.

As you are aware, there is a little band of us who regularly give up at least part of our weekends (and weekdays where work commitments allow - I have been known to take a weeks holiday and to spend all 5 days at the Centre, plus the weekends either side on top of that!) to help out with the running of the Foundation.

The following piece has been kindly contributed by Helen, who has been helping out as a volunteer now since the beginning of 2005. I hope it gives just a little bit of a flavour why some of us are quite happy to spend so long outdoors in the middle of Cambridgeshire, where is it is too hot in the Summer and too cold (and windy!!) in Winter.

A Volunteer's Day

08:50 Arrive at the Raptor Foundation and make sure I take falconry glove with me, greet the rest of the volunteers and the junior raptors. Sign in (for health and safety reasons) and wait for job assignment for the morning. Today I'm on hospital cleaning duties but other days I may be either cleaning aviaries or weatherings.

09:10 Check all the birds in the hospital and read any notes left by Madeleine or Liz to see if I have to administer any antibiotics or hand-feed any invalid birds. Weather's good, so take out the birds that sleep in the hospital overnight and put them in their aviaries.

09:40 Clean all the vacant, dirty boxes and replace newspaper lining.

10:00 Breakfast with the rest of the volunteers and staff and catch up with the news.

10:30 Put remaining birds into clean boxes. Clean the rest of the boxes and line them with clean newspaper, reading interesting titbits to any birds interested enough.

11:30 Sweep and mop the floor.

Midday First flying display. Go to hawk room and wait to see if I'm flying a bird in this display (I've been here for over a year now and am allowed to fly some of the birds). YIPPEE! I'm flying Moth, one of the Harris' Hawks. He will have been weighed earlier in the day so I know his flying weight is good. He's a super bird, very gentle and sociable, he makes friendly little crooning sounds when I pick him up off his perch and take him to the hawk room to prepare. Take off his leash, swivel and mews jesses and wait for our turn. We're on next! One of my colleagues comes back to the hawk room - they've finished flying for now. We go the flying area and there's a good number of the public here - Moth's raring to go and lands on a post just beside the public seating, his head's forward and he's watching me intently… as soon as I reach for the chick leg in my bag and turn to place it in my gloved hand, he's there! He's so quick! If I raise my hand though, he flies past me to a different perch and waits for me to call him to the glove again. The important part is talking to the public and telling them about the bird you're flying, I spend many hours watching displays by other people and reading about the birds to find out interesting facts to tell the visitors. After several passes he's finished his display and I take him back to the hawk room to put his kit back on, and another bird goes out to fly. With some of the birds, the visitors are allowed to call the bird to the glove and for me, this is sometimes a special moment… when you meet a person who is afraid of birds and they are brave enough to overcome their fear to catch a barn owl on their glove, it's a wonderful moment. They have managed to conquer their fear to the extent that they can touch and watch the bird at close quarters - priceless! I go out to watch the falcons flown by the experienced falconers for the sheer exhilaration of watching these beautiful falcons fly to the lure in the hands of an expert - poetry in motion and something to aspire to.

13:00 Lunch. We all meet up in Silent Wings for lunch and to discuss the day so far - it's looking good and the day is going well.

13:30 My turn to do 'Meet the birds'. Talk to the public about the kestrel that is sitting beautifully on my glove and answer their questions if I can - failing that, I ask someone with more knowledge than me and expand my own knowledge at the same time. The visitors encourage learning!

14:00 Time for the second flying display. It's a beautiful day, it's cool, breezy and sunny. The birds are keen to fly today and the view across the valley to Pidley is stunning. There's a wild buzzard circling overhead looking for prey in the fields and we draw the public's attention to it. Sometimes, it's the local wild kestrel hovering just the other side of the flying area. What a privilege to see these birds. I'm not flying anything in this display so I either help to prepare birds for the people who are going to be flying them or take the birds from them at the end of their display and 'dress' them again in their kit.

15:00 Flying display has ended and we can start feeding the birds that have no flying to do for the rest of the day. Empty any water baths so that the birds don't go down for the night wet and risking a chill. It's nice to take time out and chat to the visitors who are looking round and answer any questions I can. If I can't answer their question it's usually easy to find someone with the answer and relay it back to the person who asked.

16:00 Last flying display of the day. I'm flying another bird in this one - this time it's one of my favourite owls - WOO-HOO! Blessed twice over today! Just being allowed to be so close to the birds is privilege enough but actually being allowed to fly is an added bonus. It's a 'so-so' display - I need to gain more experience at this but that will come with time, thoroughly enjoyable though!

17:00 The visitors are starting to go home now and the unfed birds are looking anxious. We put away all the birds and feed them, do a last bit of tidying up ready for the morning and wash all the equipment. Other volunteers have prepared the food for the next day and the birds sit looking contented and well fed. Spend a last few minutes chatting to friends and go home. I'm tired but refreshed, after working in an air-conditioned office all week, this has been bliss. It's calmed and exhilarated me and I'm at peace with the world. Life doesn't get any better than this.

Helen Kerr

Sad News From Two Old Friends

To Everybody at the Raptor Foundation,

It is with deep sadness, and a profound sense of loss that Athena and I have to inform you of the death of Yossarian Brookes from renal failure.

He was eating normally, and aside from being a little less vocal on Saturday, appeared to be quite happy. On Sunday morning, he appeared to be behaving normally (which for him meant peeping out of his floor box at us when we went to talk to him), but in the late afternoon he had collapsed, and died shortly thereafter. He was post-mortemed on Tuesday, (although I took him in on Monday), and the result as renal failure. He was post-mortemed by the vet whom Jim and Helen recommended as an expert on raptors.

In the fifteen months we had Yossarian, I had come to love him very much, and I am terribly lost without him at the moment. Athena is eating normally, but she calls all night and I think we are both little and lost without him. Fred is very upset, and has buried his remains under the willow tree next to the owlery. He was truly one of Nature's characters, and I miss his pretty little face. I used to go out to them three or four times a day and speak to them, and it was always Yossarian who spoke back to me, something he didn't often do with Fred…he was almost certainly a mummy's boy, although they were loved equally by both of us.

Anne and Athena Brookes