---

August 2008

The holidays have now kicked in, and we are all keeping our fingers crossed for good weather so that our visitor numbers can continue to look healthy for the rest of the season. ‘Extras’ such as ferret racing and tractor rides round the meadow are now part of the daily routine and the new amphitheatre seating arrangement is pretty full each day at the Valley of the Eagles flying display, an even better and more popular event than ever.

This is proving a very busy year for babies and the hospital staff are pushed at times to prepare and serve all the various meals required by all the youngsters. However the various chicks are growing up very fast and changes can be seen in them from one day to the next. The first two yellow-billed kites are almost fully feathered now and are being handled regularly and getting used to their daily routines that include being weighed. Some of the younger birds that are not fledged yet are spending time supervised on the lawn outside the hospital in order to get them used to the environment and people. Some of the juvenile birds naturally spend quite a lot of time lying down to rest and Tom Ford (our yearling Gymnogene) can sometimes be seen neatly laid along the perch that goes across the corner of his aviary.

Experience days are busy as ever, and photographic days have been particularly well attended this year. Photographers are able to get up close to many of our birds, some of the shots they can take are of birds flying, others are static and occasionally the falconer running the photographic day will take the opportunity to have a bit of a rest into the bargain!

Research is ongoing around the grounds once more, with students conducting studies into such areas as feeding live insects as enrichment for some of our species plus of course our annual tawny owl release project.

We hope you all have a happy and warm holiday and that you will be able to visit us this summer.

Lou Richie, Editor

Click here for previous Leader articles