The Accipiter - Online magazine from The Hawk Conservancy Trust

May 2006

Well this is issue no.12 of The Accipiter which, by my calculations (and I never was particularly good at maths) means that we have been running for a whole year...

However, this year marks another, much larger, anniversary, namely that the Hawk Conservancy has now been running as a visitor attraction for 40 years!

The park was started by Reg Smith, initially as a zoo for all kinds of European species of animal, before eventually specialising in raptors. Ashley Smith has written a fitting tribute to his father in this month’s Behind the Scenes article.

Other articles this month include a run down by Andy Hinton, the park’s Curator, of all the latest additions to our collection along with news of the training that is currently being undertaken and our exciting flying demonstrations, in our On the Park feature.

Reg’s wildflower meadow is currently a sea of yellow, smothered with cowslips, and making our daily Valley of the Eagles flying display look even more spectacular. So it is worth taking the time to read Monica Johnson’s latest update in Meadow Muses, especially if you are unable to come and see the meadow itself. Michael Wallis’ Hospital Update and Tracey Smith’s Monthly Diary complete the picture for this month.

Meanwhile, the weather is now at last feeling spring-like and the park has been buzzing with activity. Easter weekend was busy, especially on bank holiday Monday with 674 visitors. We had a falconry theme to the weekend, with visitors getting a chance to try their hand at skills such as lure swinging, tracking with telemetry and tying falconry knots.

With two more bank holiday weekends fast approaching, we have more fun themed days coming up, the first one being a medieval theme with the Sir William Gascoigne Fellowship once more coming to join us with their medieval tented village. So we are all keeping our fingers crossed that the weather is set fair from now on.

Click here for previous Leader articles