I have been asked to write a few words about some of my activities as a volunteer at the Trust over the last year. It has been a very interesting and varied time.

Last March I was at last invited to speak to a class at my own children’s primary school in Ramsbury, Wiltshire. I say ‘at last’ because I had been offering to go and talk for the last four years, and to take a bird along with me. Fortunately, the new Year 1 teacher loves nature, and birds of prey in particular, and had brought the class to visit the Trust.  In return, I was invited to speak to the class at the school accompanied by Rhea, the Kestrel.  Hopefully, this may become an annual event for this class.

In April I was asked to accompany falconer Sam Hunt to an open day at the Strathmore Clinic of our Vet, John Chitty in Andover. There we showed Tolkien, the Milky Eagle Owl, and Morgana, the Harris Hawk, to the visitors, and even managed some limited flying to the fist in the small garden.

June is usually a busy month when some of the schools find spare time in their programmes and make visits to the Trust and also ask for classroom talks. I remember one very hot day, sitting in the shade of a large tree with a very well behaved Chestnut, the Tawny Owl, whilst talking to an entire private school, in several groups, for two or three hours. There were also visits to other schools and to a Brownie pack.

Receiving Volunteer of the Year Award in June 2006

The highlight of the year for me was at the first members’ night when, having been asked to help a little behind the scenes, I was suddenly singled out and presented with the ‘Volunteer of the Year’ award.  This was a complete surprise and I was very honoured to have been selected for this prize.

Towards the end of the summer we were asked by Hampshire Cricket Club, whose team is called the Hampshire Hawks, if we would take a bird along to an evening Pro 40 game at the Rosebowl.  The club was keen to establish a relationship with the Trust and if we could take along a live mascot in the form of a hawk it would provide us with some very good exposure.  So, Morgana and I set off for Southampton on a rather wet afternoon.  Sadly, there was no play at all that day, but Morgana behaved impeccably and was the centre of attention in the bar area where there was a large throughput of visitors, so the Trust did get some good publicity.  The visit was repeated a few weeks later, and this time there was cricket played and Morgana was featured live on Sky TV as the club mascot.

During the winter, we were asked to go to the Rosebowl again for a promotion day for the Junior Hawks.  The youngsters met Morgana, and the England player Kevin Pietersen presented them with a voucher for free entry to the Trust for a year.  There was a very large Press and TV presence, so once again the Trust gained valuable coverage.

In January, I was asked, for a second year, to take two birds to the ‘Mad Hatter’s Christmas party’ in Portsmouth.  This is an annual event, run entirely by volunteers, to provide a memorable party for sick and terminally ill children in the area. It is a fantastic event and we are privileged to be able to help.  It is so rewarding to see the faces of these unfortunate children when they get to hold a bird on their fists.  Everyone is so interested in the birds and the work of the Trust.  I hope that we can continue helping at this event for many years to come.

Jon commentating at a members' evening

Recently, I attended the Wiltshire Heritage Museum, which was holding an educational day about the Tudor times.  I took along Rhea, a Kestrel, and talked to the children about birds of prey and how they were used in falconry in those times.  Hopefully, the Trust will pick up lots of new visitors this summer as a result.

In April I will be taking an Owl to be filmed for the new Cbeebies Springwatch series.

I have been asked to do many other outside visits over the last year, and I have also had a wide variety of tasks to do during my days on the park.  Apart from the day to day jobs like feeding birds, cleaning aviaries etc, I have been doing commentaries on the flying displays and the vulture restaurant talks.  I have also been assisting with Activity Days and have been a guide and commentator on Owls By Torchlight evenings.  During the winter months I have been helping with the rebuilding works. (But I have managed to avoid the heavy lifting owing to my ‘bad back’!)

As you can see, life as a volunteer can be fairly busy, but also very varied and extremely interesting.  I am privileged to have two of the Trust’s retired birds at home with me which I fly on most days.

I will be forever indebted to Ashley and the Trust for giving me the chance to help out with the work here and also to the other staff members for putting up with me, and my inevitable mistakes.  I hope to be helping out where I can for many years to come.

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