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September 2007

Despite the sometimes inclement weather, August has been the usual busy time for all at the Trust. The new owls born on the park this year are currently in training, as well as the three young Black Kites and the Crested Caracara that came from another collection in June. Watch out for all these new birds in our flying teams in the future.

This year as usual we have welcomed several groups of visiting children from Belarus, whose health is affected by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear explosion and who come to the UK for recuperative holidays. One such group, being hosted by families in Micheldever, came to visit us in July and despite the showers, they all had a good day out and especially enjoyed getting up close to the ‘holding birds’ after the 12.00 display. One of the girls, Masha, celebrated her birthday the day they came to the Trust.

Clive Chester has taken on his new dual role, meeting and greeting visitors outside the front entrance and telling them about Gift Aid in the mornings, while in the afternoons he can be found in the information shelter at the bottom of the grounds, chatting about membership and Owls by Torchlight, and giving general information, directions etc. Meanwhile, up in the new 3.30pm Woodland Owls and Hawks flying arena a catering facility is now open in the afternoons, selling such items as cool drinks and ice creams.

Our ongoing Tawny Owl research project, now in its third year and once again headed up by Amy, is in mid-flow with the 13 birds selected for the project this year having been released in local woodlands on 8th August. The research group, also including Laura, Ludovic, Tracey and Jenny, are currently spending their mornings and evenings out in the woods tracking the owls. In the afternoons they are in the study centre where visiting children can try their hand at dissecting owl pellets to discover the variety of creatures they prey on.

In this month’s issue of The Accipiter you can read about one volunteer’s working holidays at the Trust in Helping Hands. Monica Johnson’s Meadow Muses page delves into the minutiae of the plants that grow in the seating area for the Valley of the Eagles flying display. If, like me, you’ve never really considered that there is a whole tiny world going on under your feet while you are looking up at the kites and eagles, then next time you are advised to duck while Macawber the Griffon vulture is flying low over your head, how about carrying out a quick study of what is on the ground below your chair to see if you can identify some of those little species?

Lou Richie, Editor

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