HI all

I must firstly apologise for my recent drought of blogging - i shouldnt complain as things have really taken off for us this summer (excuse the pun)!

Since my last blog we have seen the arrival of several new birds, the first of which was Juna our little Barn Owl who has just been nothing but a character from his arrival here at seven days old.  He has since spent the summer wowing the crowds at local shows, school visits and even his first wedding ring delivery! What never ceases to amaze me with him is his ability to make everyone fall head over heels with him, mainly due to his cheeky antics - a favourite of his is landing on camera lenses during photography days!

We then saw the arrival of Oscar our Peregrine/Lanner Falcon who has been giving both David and I a run for our money, i have nicknamed him the pocket rocket and for those of you who have had the pleasure of seeing him in action i am sure this will come as no surprise! after flying him for ten mins we both feel the need to sit down!

After Oscar saw the arrival of Cisco - the most spectacular falcon i have yet to lay eyes on, he is a nine year old white Gyr/Saker Falcon who is an extremely experienced display bird and is an absolute joy to fly (always a relief after Oscar).

We then took in a rather sorry looking Peregrine/Gyr Falcon named Meg who due to no fault of her own has been so badly kept and trained we have had to start from scratch with her - it always amazes me how someone can ruin a bird within the first few months of its life! On her arrival she didnt have one single wing tip or tail tip left and when flying will fly one pass and then lands next to you expecting to be fed the lure. We have spent the last month long luring her between us to try and build her fitness and keep her in the air and i am pleased to say she has in the last few days been flying fantastically for each of us and is now up to about six passes before she starts to tire, the next challenge is to get her to moult out perfectly and i am then fairly confident we will have a super bird for next year.

After the above bunch (as if it wasnt enough) we bought Tiny Tim the Little Owl who came all the way from Wales and is settling in nicely, he has been extremely popular on school visists and photography days, even being used by RSPB Wildlife Photographer Ray Kennedy for some amazing shots.

Last but certainly not least came Big Red, this years young, a Harris Hawk with some serious attitude!! I have been training her for hunting and i have to say i am extremely pleased with her, she is a pleasure to work with, seems to have an affinity with the dogs and ferrets which always makes life easier and takes rabbits on piece - so an exciting prospect for the on coming season!

Well thats enough twaddle from me for now, i shall endeavour to keep more posts coming in the oncoming weeks.

Tori

A bit late I know but nevertheless here is a video of Ronnie our male Goshawk feeding as a two day old chick!

Sorry guys it’s been an age since I blogged, I have been flat out getting the business marketed for spring and summer and also trying to keep the birds as fit as possible. I took a hard earned week off with the family to go and visit my little brother in Val D’isere, a great week skiing and we were really lucky with the weather, unfortunately it all came to a crashing end when mum snapped all three ligaments in her knee!

This time of year sees orders being placed for new birds to join the team, we have ordered a barn owl chick and he should be arriving in the next week or so, I am also currently looking for a falcon and have the choice of an 11 year old female lanner and a 3 year old gyr/saker so I will have to make some decisions fairly soon. We have also just acquired a nine year old female Harris Hawk who was in such a sorry state we weren’t sure she would make it through the first day. I am pleased to say having been fed up on some of our finest pheasant and plenty of peace and quiet she seems to be pulling through, through pure ignorance from an unamed indvidual this bird was so poorly cared for, she had been kept in a open fronted chicken mesh aviary, where she had damaged all her talons and smashed her face, sear and head up, losing most of the feathers from around her face and not one of her wing or tail feathers were complete. I hope to get er back to full health and if she is up to it I will maybe use her for Hawk Walks or keep her to hunt myself but it may take up til next year to get her to back to good health. In keeping with the Grandma named theme, we have named her Greta after David’s grandma.

On my return from skiing David and I went down to Thorp Perrow for a walk and to catch up with David’s friend Tommi Graham who runs the fantastic Falcons of Thorp Perrow, after a delicious hot chocholate and a catch up with Tommi I found myself having agreed to two weeks work for them to cover some staff absence and gain as much experience as possible from their amazing Head Faconer John Sygrove, well I am nearly at the end of the fortnight and apart from the fact that i am shattered (leaving at 7.30am and getting home at 7.00pm without doing any of my own animals or jobs is really taking it’s toll) the days have been full of fun, and plenty of interesting different birds and members of the public!!!

Well that’s enough drivel for now, keep in touch.

Tori

Wow!

What a fantastic day, today has seen Ozzy, Frankie and I entertaining twenty children around the age of nine for a birthday party, recipe for disaster I hear you say, I myself had been thinking that all morning but I cannot tell you how wrong we are. The birds flew their wings off and performed every task I asked of them and the kids simply loved it. It was so rewarding to see twenty smiling faces, beaming as Ozzy wowed them with his acrobatics and Frankie posing twenty times to have her picture taken while I stood anxiously praying for everything to go right!

With a few hours spare this afternoon I have taken Taid out and spent some time on the blind retrieve with him and a walk throughout own to finish a good training session, he is growing into such an excellent strong dog, I think I will find it hard to pick a new pup without expecting the same standard!

Tonight I am off out for dinner at the Hovmeister’s (Sue and Richard Hovington to the rest of the world) with some excellent company and no doubt Richard will be sporting his sexy shorts! God knows I will feel like crap now for at least a week after this evening - the hangovers certainly get worse with age!

Well I shall give Ozzy and Frankie a well earned day off tomorrow and fly Connie in the afternoon, not long now till the Goshawks start breeding again so fingers crossed for a successful clutch!

Speak soon

Tori

emmyers:

Beautiful Animal Photography by Eric | Smashing Picture

What an amazing few weeks i have been having! its very easy sometimes to get wrapped up in just advertising the business and forget about the everyday tasks such as actually enjoying it! 

The last few weeks has seen me be interviewed by North East Life, Living Magazine, The Darlington & Stockton Times, The Northern Farmer and The Northern Echo - Phew!  Within all this i have still been cracking on with business as usual and with the weather starting to fair up alittle (apart from the snow yesterday) the Hawk Walk bookings are rolling in thick and fast.

All the birds have been flying well and it has been nice to see Ozzy getting fitter as all my hard work pays off, Owls can be notoriously awkward if they are not hungry enough and repetition is also at the forefront of making sure he puts on a good display.

On a rare quiet moment i managed to take Taid into Barnard Castle and walked him off the lead, to heel right through the town (an exercise i have been wanting to do for some time to socialise him), he was, i have to say exceptional and the benefits of living in a small town your entire life means everyone stops you in the street to talk - a great way to socialise your 11 month lab pup! Our next stop was to see Dennis and the boys in the local gun shop where everyone was amazed at his steadiness for his age. I was even approached about training the local grocers young Lab pup (wish i had the time).

I have also had time to spend with Tilly this week and managed to get the little squirt broken to the lead, next step will be trying to master the sit and then maybe i might be able to stop her piling in on the Owls while they are sleeping!!!!

Tomorrow sees me having a rare day without any other jobs to do than fly the birds so fingers crossed for ok weather (the forecast is crap) and some keen birds!

Speak soon

Tori