I have to say that I am not impressed with the people who make adverts, we have some of the best in the world in the UK, but for example, the new Pringle advert where they blow up food to show how exciting the taste is, is nothing short of disgraceful. There are millions of people needing food and these idiots blow up food to advertise a produce that will add to the even fatter people in the UK, it’s just not right. I feel the same about the Cocoa Cola advert around Christmas time where obviously cutting down on using electricity does not feature with all the lights that they use!! Advert people you need to get seriously greener.

Its been a lovely day today, cold, but a fair bit of sunshine, and what a difference that makes. All the birds flew really well, John’s White-tailed Sea-eagle was excellent, although I have discovered that I really need a video camera with an eye piece as you can’t follow a flying bird by using the screen of a camera. I hope they still do them, not that I could buy one right now anyway! The two baby owls did brilliantly, the falcons were first class and the kites to die for, as was Hare.

All the staff were more cheerful  -  it has been a miserable time lately I have to say. We got three flower beds weeded and some of the new plants in, which was great, only another seven to go!!!! Nathan and his son have been working on the grass, Mark and Holly have been doing paths, and John and Matt were painting aviaries so they look a bit smarter. The café was reasonably busy and Jan was more upbeat with nice visitors. I would say long may it last, but the forecast for tomorrow is pretty dire.

The oldest Tawny Eagle chick is fledged and looking wonderful, I hope to start training it in July, when it will be well mature. The five baby Lanners are back with parents and the other chicks are doing fine. We have three wild baby Tawny Owls in, and probably more to come I suspect.

Not only was Badminton Horse Trials cancelled, but many other shows including the Falconers Fair, so instead of having to drive to Althorpe, we were home today, and I have to say it was a bit of a relief. It’s hard to get the birds ready for really good demonstrations this early in the season. It is now going to be mid-July, so we should have the birds really going well by them.

The website stuff is going really well, and I hope will be finished and up by the end of next week if all goes well, there will be stuff to add over time, but the basics will be up and running which will be a relief I have to say. Changing websites is very stressful! Now I know how Linda feels, but Adam has been a tower of strength.

Rain rain and more rain, apparently this has been the wettest April on record, well hooray for that!! My field is soggy, the ponds all three (one you don’t normally see!) are bursting and over flowing, on Sunday we had a very pretty Dutch Elm disease resistance Elm snapped in two, I had planted it probably 30 years ago and we had exposed it in taking down the hedge. It had a large split in it and I was debating what to do about it, I don’t have that problem now, but it was such a nice tree and having bought and planted it, it was personal as it were, now it will be firewood, when the field is dry enough for me to get down there with a trailer to move it.

It was not only raining solidly through Sunday but it was cold as well, I guess we have been spoilt over the last two years with very dry springs, I have to say I prefer them!! At least I don’t have to water any new trees planted and the hose pipe ban does not affect us in that way anymore.

I went with Anabelle to the local garden centre yesterday and spend the vouchers I had from my staff and my sister, I have a nice lot of plants to put in, however the ground will have to dry out a little after last night when the rain was torrential, the courtyard flooded so there is some cleaning up there to do, but the rest of the place seems OK so far and our barrier for the weighing room worked well – it was not flooded.

Art’s shoe is back on – just – the problem with them pulling off a shoe is that they damage the hoof, it’s a shame we can’t glue it back on, but I am told that it does not work well and it is very expensive!! Won’t bother with that then. Sorrel might be pregnant, she was mated over a week ago to a handsome boy, whom, come to think of I don’t even know his name!! We all think she is in pup, but time will tell I guess. Leaf and Shasta are teething, so nothing is safe, beware anyone who is staying next month, put your stuff away and shut the doors, or it will get chewed!

It’s the Falconer’s Fair this coming weekend (the Sunday and Monday) I hope I can get into the arena with the Landrover and trailer, if the ground is as wet as it is here it will be interesting, here is hoping for a beautiful weekend, we could do with the visitors here – I know, anyone who was going to Badminton Horse Trials, come and see us instead, you will enjoy it!!

The building of the new website is slowly moving on, I am learning stuff that I thought I never would (not sure I want to, but needs must etc.) I think it will be good and it will be more available to all those people who are constantly looking at their damn Iphones or similar. It never fails to amaze me how much people are on the phone now. How did we all manage to live without talking to someone on the phone, whom we were going to see later than day, I just can’t imagine. My JCB phone stays firmly in a drawer unless I am actually leaving the premises to go somewhere for a day, or to look for a lost bird.

Hector, the Lanner who was a stunning flying bird on demonstration, his chicks went back to him and mum yesterday and we are really looking forward to flying some of the young later in the year. The Tawny Eagles are looking well as are the Grey Buzzard Eagles, it will be tempting to get them out and train them, but I really want to give them time to mature mentally before we do, it makes for a much nicer bird in the long run.

Pictures to cheer us up, with colour and sun......ah well back to the website and the rain………………………

One of my absolute pet hates in life, apart that is from the weathermen/women, who never get it right, and SatNav’s which also never get it right – are television remote controls. Firstly what was wrong with getting up and turning over to a new channel, we are an over- weight population and getting up and turning over the channels on the TV would actually probably be good for us, IF we could do it. However apparently we can’t – I am sure there are buttons on my TV so I can do the whole operation manually, but I have no idea where they are. Sadly at the moment, I am also unable to get the remote to do anything on my TV. Now admittedly the puppies did have hold of it, but I don’t see any major damage on it, I have changed the batteries, but can I get it to do anything, like turn up the sound, which is on silent at the moment, change the channel, even turn the damn thing off – no, it’s as dead as the proverbial door nail. So I am not watching TV in my sitting room I am writing this instead, and trying to buy a Chest of Drawer, but failing about as dismally on that as the TV remote control – update, it was the puppies, one tooth mark had made the sound button stick down – fixed by Robin.

We did our first away from home show last weekend, I was so pleased with the birds, Dawn Run was excellent, and I was a bit worried about her as she had spent several minutes yesterday seriously chasing a pigeon – we all watched with glee, but it got away. I took Bush Master, one of the young Yellow-billed Kites and it was his first trip away, and he was brilliant, and it was not an easy place to fly and the wind was fairly strong, but he managed a treat. The Merlin was not happy about the strange surrounding, but did come to the lure twice, and so we move forward on that one. Hare was OK, not brilliant, but again the wind did not help and Karis was fine, good and reliable. So apart from the PA which did not work well, it all went very well.

Art has been going really well, I am so pleased with him, he is such a nice horse and seems to be happily settled in now. He was shod last week and behaved beautifully. I went to watch some dressage at Hartpury which was lovely to see, we are going to aim for a competition in July!!

I have to admit we are all a little low at the moment, the weather has been miserable. Actually the really bad days have only amounted to three, and the weather forecast in terms of rain has as usual been wrong, but we are well down on visitor numbers, and it is just so cold and grey, enough to make anyone feel low.

However, ever onwards and upwards, and hopefully things will improve, even though Art lost a shoe yesterday – he was pratting about in the overflow carpark and left holes all over it and his hind shoe, the holes have been stamped on and the shoe found.

The pond is very full and the blanket weed is looking a little better, David came and sprayed it the other day, he then checked it and said it was looking unwell, blanket weed always looks unwell, its horrid stuff. Everything is greening up well and my tree peony is out, but what a difference between the last two springs and this one, it looks very bedraggled in comparison to previous years.

The last Verreaux’s Eagle egg was clear however we took a risk and gave them a fertile Steppe Eagle egg and they have hatched it and are rearing it, which is wonderful, we now have four pairs of eagles that will rear – hooray!

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind"

Our website over the years has been done quite brilliantly and selflessly by Linda Wright, it is her work that has made it so good, it is her beautiful photos that have adorned it, and her months of sitting in front of her computer, often on lovely days, that put it together and keep it up to date.

However the time has come to stop relying on her, she needs to get out and take photos again and we miss seeing her around here laden with camera's, plus she needs to do some bird handling again! Adam Bloch also is a computer buff and he, on his own bat, sat down, grabbed all the photos, and much of the work that Linda has done and put it all in a format that is understandable (OK that is a huge overstatement!!) to us less computer minded people so that we can build, change and update the website without having to constantly have to email or phone Linda to sort it out. We none of us really understand what we are doing, but we are getting there and we hope to do the changeover soon so that we can free up Linda and she can forget about some of the stuff that she has been doing. Although having said that, we are not going to let her go completely on the website, she has to still help us out, and come up with ideas, backgrounds, photos and her usual amazing energy – if she will!!

 

Robin is doing the education pages and the metadata and meta tags (impressive that I know this eh!!) Mark and Holly have been coming up with ideas on how the ‘new look’ should be, Adam B has been putting it all together and coming up with all the stuff that we can’t do, and I have been bombarding him with text!!

 

It has been a difficult time financially, and I am reading a great deal late at night, which is usually a sure sign I am worried about stuff, but hopefully as the spring moves into summer and our website grabs people’s attention, we will increase our visitor numbers again. The place is looking lovely, the leaves are shooting out on the trees and the gardens really are starting to be alive again, I could wish the rabbits that live here would move out, but you can’t have everything, oh and the swallows are back, late, but here!

 

My merlin does an interesting demonstration, he takes one look at the lure and flies in the opposite direction, which is a little disconcerting I have to say, but he does fly well. Bay Middleton chased the wagtail that lives on the flying ground, although it did not seem that concerned about it, and Dawn Run has been trying to catch the Jackdaws who are far too canny for her. We have not seen the wild Peregrines again recently, which we are not sorry about as they chase Fortina and she is not happy about it. Nor sadly have we seen any more Red Kites since the start of the year. I had hoped they would be around here more, but in time they will be.

 

The two baby Steller’s Sea Eagles are back with mum and dad, the three baby Tawny Eagles are doing well with their foster parents, as are the Grey Buzzard Eagles with their official parents and we are crossing everything because the Brahminy Kites have been seen mating, that would be wonderful as they are some of the suitcase birds.

The breeding season is hotting up, oh and finally Hector, a fantastic Lanner we used to fly has become a Dad! I hope his babies are as good as he used to be. Hard Tackle is building a nest and his new wife is completely ignoring it, but she is new! Other than that it is the usual wait and see of the breeding season.

Well Easter has not let us down so far, bloody awful weather and less people than we desperately need. We had glorious weather last week, why could it not just have held. I long for the day when I don’t have to worry about Easter weather, in fact I have come to the conclusion that I actually do not like Easter.

Add to that I ordered some clothes (cheap I should add) from Lands’ End, did they arrive no, have they lost them yes, were they dim enough to ask if I wanted them resent – was I likely to say ‘no don’t you worry, just keep my money as a donation’ Bloody idiots of course I want the damn things re sent and they have the nerve in the email to tell me that luckily they have more – lucky for them I would say – Hermes is their distribution firm. Then I had the invitations printed for the Royal do, they were ready on Tuesday and so were sent CityLink, they had to come eleven miles, are they here four days later, are they hell, they could have walked here and back numerous times in four days, so that is Hermes and City Link that I would advise not using. However our own beloved Royal Mail is as bad, they are putting up the post by God knows what and I suspect the service will be just as appalling as it has been for the last year. Pull yourselves together distribution companies, because we are not impressed.

Despite the weather we have had lovely customers, very appreciative and nice to have around, the birds have been amazing and flying really well and the puppies are learning not to run in when a falcon is on the lure, which is pretty good as they are still very young. Mark’s Merlin is flying loose and going very well, Lady Isabel is just stunning at the moment, I could do with Karis stopping flying into me, he got me in my left kidney today, and it is definitely his fault. The White-tailed Sea-eagle has a name Fer de Lance, which means yes, she is flying loose, and is lovely to watch. Her brother is coming on slowly as well.

Adam is bike riding a marathon tomorrow all off road, I hope the weather is better than today for him, although I think he is nuts!! But then some people think I am nuts to start riding again at my advanced age. I had a lovely ride yesterday, but did not go out in the rain today – flipping fair weather rider!!

Other than that, not much news to impart so I am going to muck out Art and feed him and then see if I am brave enough to do more stuff on the new website.

According to the weather forecast, the beautiful weather we have been having is about to change and some people are going to get snow, I bloody hope we don’t, winter is over as far as I am concerned, its spring!! Weather – just pull yourself together please!!

Have you ever thought about supermarket trolley’s I have because it always annoys me that I can’t take a dog into a supermarket, when I know that mine would behave. It’s all in the cause of clenliness, but just think about that trolley. If you have one of the large ones with the bit for the human child – you know the one I mean – which means you could have had a child in a very dirty nappy sitting where you are putting your food!!! Does anyone clean them, I don’t think so!! So I rest my case, who is grubbier, my dog or the dirty nappy! This has all come about because someone has complained about the dogs in our café. Now they are not allowed where the food is prepared, but they are allowed in the rest of the café. They are well behaved, better I might add than some of the children, and they clear up the floor which is good conservation as far as I am concerned. So if you read my weblog and enjoy coming to the Centre, please go onto Trip Advisor on the internet, and tell everyone that you have had a good time (if of course you have) and that it has a great family atmosphere, partly because of the staff and the dogs. And I might add, it is a scientific fact that children brought up in a house with dogs and cats are healthier and less likely to have allergies than those without.

If we ever manage to build the new shop and café I am going to fence off an area for people to sit who don’t like dogs, it will be very fenced!!

Leaf went for her first swim today, I don’t think she enjoyed it, but did her best to get on Rush’s back in a vain attempt to get back without swimming, however she does swim quite well. Lady Isabel did an amazing demonstration, but it lasted about 20 minutes, she was a long way up and according to the one remaining visitor and my staff, did a stunning stoop, however I did not see it, but was very glad to have her back!

The White-tailed Sea-Eagle is very relaxed and happy, and probably ready for us to try her loose again, and the male is out and feeding and starting to respond. Two of the Merlins are out and getting going again, and Adam is going to be working on getting Eager (the Long-ear Owl) back on duty. Otherwise Easter is on the horizon and we are praying that this crap with the fuel crisis sorts itself out before Easter arrives.

Spot the eagle - we were all exhausted yesterday! On Sunday we decided that it was time for the new White-tailed Sea-eagle to fly free, well we were wrong, she flew free beautifully, she is buoyant, strong and wonderful to watch, but going in the wrong direction!! So off went a team of people and followed her until dark, she was not interested in coming down for food. She spent the night in Newent woods, high in a tree, Monday, the weather being wonderful she had a pleasant day moving gently around the area, with John and various others trundling along behind tracking her with the telemetry (thank God for telemetry and Marshall’s), this time she spent the night in a tree with a rookery – not sure how pleased the rooks were, but it was on land with people we knew and they were lovely about it. Her flying was improving, although she was chased a great deal by crows and buzzards, at one point I was in the Landrover, telling a friend that we had an eagle missing and were out tracking it, and he looked up from his car and said – you mean that one!!! As she gracefully flew over our heads! Tuesday dawned crisp and clear, the weather has been just the most wonderful March weather I can remember, so off went the team, John and Simon started out, Ben and Natasha joined in when Simon came back. John came back for a break at about lunch time and Adam went out after lunch. Then we all decided enough was enough and we would all go out after work and get her somehow and we did – at midnight! We marked her down in a tree, put various people with powerful torches in various fields (thank you farmers for being so nice about it and not chasing us off the land!) and once it was dark we went up to see what her position was in the tree – a very difficult one, so we flushed her, well off she went flying high!! Over about three fields and into another tree, although how she found them in the dark I have no idea, we flushed her again and off we all went (I was the back runner I have to say) she moved and this time was on the ground but moved when we caught up, several flushes, crossing the main road, diving through thickets, woods, ditches, fences (I may be slower than all the rest of this youthful bunch, but I am best at finding the best place to cross even in the dark!). Found her again in a very high tree, Adam climbed up and managed to flush her, by this time she did not want to go, which was good news. Off again, Simon nearly got her on the ground once but missed and off she went into her final tree. She was not going to flush this time!! So Holly and I had run back and got Adam’s ropes from his car and brought the vehicles closer, and up Adam went, he roped himself in and using Mark’s Grandfather’s fishing rod, with Mark’s patented hook and creance, Adam managed to hook her jess and pull her off the branch, but she slipped and then managed to climb onto the branch he was on!! He said it was a bit daunting to have her climb up almost next to him. Rod was abandoned (although Adam had to climb up again to rescue it!) and he grabbed hold of her, and the rest of the team – there were eight in all, watched and wished for camera’s as Adam was lowered down the tree on his rope with eagle in hand!! We all finally got home, had tea toast beer and wine, Holly, John and Ben stayed the night and all happily went to bed, as did I. The eagle was weighed, fed, and put to bed as well. She was pleased to be home we reckon!

The delicious weather still holds which is great and just such a pleasure to work in, getting a sun tan in March is good for the soul! I have to admit to being concerned and very pissed off about the tanker driver’s strike. I was told they get £45k!! That is three times what some of my staff get and they all turned out all evening until after midnight having worked the day as well, to get the eagle. These bloody people have no idea what real work is about and they are putting the whole tourist industry at risk because we all rely on a decent Easter to pay the bills. I personally would like to feed the Union people who are instigating this to my vultures, it would do the whole country a favour!! Bloody unions!!!

My Puppies have decided that bringing things into my office, which is also my sitting room is the thing to do. So yesterday it was the loo brush, the holder for the loo brush and the loo cleaner as well!! This morning Shasta came trotting in with the bread knife.

Have a look at this, it is very special..............

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Hzgzim5m7oU&vq=medium