The Accipiter - Monthly Diary April 2005

Monthly Diary - April 2005

A monthly overview of events and comings and goings at the park by Sales and Marketing Manager, Tracey Smith.

Although this page will always be retrospective, we shall seek to provide important breaking news by news flash on the front cover of the magazine.

1st April	The Trust was visited by a group of children from Belarus, on a group trip with the Chernobyl Childrens Life Line.
6th April	Jane Robertson attended a course at Sparsholt College on the ARKS data records used by animal collections around the world
11th April	First of the invitations for the June art exhibition were sent out, along with the Spring edition of Hawktalk.
12th April	Visit from keepers at Longleat to discuss caring for vultures in captivity, in relation to a new exhibit planned with African Vultures at Longleat.
13th April	Tracey Smith attended a course run by Test Valley Tourism, on welcoming walkers and cyclists.
16th April	MP Sir George Young arrived at the Trust for a photo shoot in connection with the general election campaign.
19th April	Andy Hinton gave a talk to the Salisbury Poultry Club about the Trust and its work.
20th April	Mike Riley and volunteer Jan Jacobs travelled to Heathrow airport to collect a White-tailed Sea Eagle newly arrived from Liberec Zoo, in the Ceczh republic. After a few days in quarantine to have health checks he joins our disabled bird in the open-top aviary at the top of the grounds.
27th April	A Milky Eagle Owl chick was taken from its parents and placed in incubator in the hospital. The bird is to be hand reared by Hilary Smith and volunteer Brenda Harris before becoming a display bird in the future. The first of this season’s Tawny Owl chicks were placed with foster parents including Woodfords, Malay Wood, Ural, Rufus Thighed and Great Grey Owls.
28th April	Sparsholt College held a training day with some of their students at the Trust.
29th April	A planning meeting was held with the editorial team of the new Trust monthly online magazine to be launched on 1st June. The magazine is to be called “The Accipiter”.
30th April	Raphael, Thierry and Herve, falconers from “ Le Grand Parc” Puy Du Fou, France and a Spanish Falconry centre visited the Trust on their way to the Falconers Fair. Fine weather meant the start of a busy bank holiday weekend at the Trust. An added attraction this weekend was the Sir William Gasgoine Fellowship, a medieval re-enactment society who set up their tented village at the Trust. They demonstrated the lives of normal people in medieval times, and their displays of archery, herbalism, spinning and cooking proved to be a great success with all the visitors.