The Accipiter - On The Park July 2005

On the Park - July 2005

The tasks that our 'flying' staff undertake are many and varied.

This month Falconer Gary Benton writes about one of our latest developments on the park - the introduction of an additional and different type of Activity Day for our visitors...

Activity Day (part deux) - by Gary Benton

At the Hawk Conservancy Trust we have recently introduced a new one day course called a Conservation Day. As most of you probably know we have been running Activity Days for a number of years now, which are incredibly popular with people from all walks of life. The Activity Day is classed as a bird of prey experience day, which, hopefully, enables people to have a fun, relaxed day flying and learning about a variety of different birds of prey. The new Conservation Day, on the other hand, is designed to focus a little more on rehabilitation and conservation. It is a course that would definitely appeal to people who are a little more interested in wildlife, rehabilitation and breeding programmes, just to mention a few things. I would say personally that anyone who is just after a fun, relaxed and yet informative day would also enjoy it (not that I’m on commission or anything!).

Anyway, now I have done a small introduction, I would like to tell you about the very eventful, yet important trial day that we ran a little earlier in the year, before we put it on the market, as you could say. The reason we had this trial day was obviously to gain feedback on the content and structure of the day in general, but more importantly so that we, ourselves, would know exactly what we were doing (if that is ever possible!) - and believe me, for us, a trial run before the first real day is good preparation! It was decided that, unlike the Activity Day where the guests have two hosts (a falconer plus a helper), the Conservation Day was to be spread between three or four of us, as we all excel in different aspects of our job. It also means that the guests don’t have to put up with the same face all day!

The people who were forced, sorry, asked to be guests on the trial run were Marion Paviour (Chairman of the Board of Trustees), Julian Rowe (Trustee), Graham James (our Accountant), Anya Rodgers (the Hawk Conservancy Trust’s Finance Manager), Jan Jacobs (a volunteer) and Jane Baugh (the Trust’s Secretary). The day started off with a brief introduction, then everyone moved to the hospital where Mike ran through the procedure of accepting a new patient into the hospital. This involves assessing the patient for injuries, and results in the action that should be taken to give the bird the best chance of survival.

I then spent a bit of time talking about artificial incubation which, in fact, we are all still learning about. Years ago, before we became a trust, incubating eggs was always done using broody chickens, but nowadays we have moved into the ever growing world of electronic incubators, which I have to say is a real eye opener.

Gary (assisted by Mike Riley)
demonstrates coping on a
Harris Hawk

They were also shown how to cope and imp birds by Ashley. Coping is the means of trimming the beaks if they overgrow. An art which is mainly used for captive birds as food tends to be off the bone, therefore the birds beaks will not naturally wear down. Occasionally it will be used for wild birds that have maybe been hit by a car and have chipped their beak, so a quick smoothing off on the edges will normally stop any further damage. Imping is a technique used to replace damaged feathers, usually in wild birds that have been caught in fencing, netting or something similar, so that they can be re-released in the best possible condition, but also occasionally for our own birds if they break vital flight feathers. The method involves finding a feather that matches as closely as possible (in both size and shape) the lost one and attaching it to the broken shaft by inserting a pared matchstick (or other lightweight wood) into the two hollow shafts, then securing them using epoxy adhesive, a bit like a grown up version of Blue Peter.

After all the hospital work was over everyone ventured outside (yes, even Jane and Anya who are normally chained to the office) to be taught the purpose of telemetry (finding birds by using a tracking system attached to the bird). Telemetry is a great way of locating birds that have been released into the wild so that you can monitor them for research, etc.

Sam Hunt giving guests a
telemetary demonstration

We also use telemetry at the Trust for some of our demo birds, for example the Peregrine Falcon who more often than not disappears half way through a display chasing pigeons! We set up a task for the guests to split into two teams, each with a receiver, and to track a bird that had telemetry attached to it. Might I add it was only a stuffed bird so it shouldn’t have been too hard a task, but it would give a good insight into how difficult it is to track a bird that is constantly on the move. The two teams set off to a flying start (no pun intended), but I think it was Anya’s team that found the bird first.

Once they had finished with the telemetry everyone went up to the meadow, where they all proceeded to learn a bit about training a bird to fly. On certain occasions birds have been brought into the hospital with maybe a damaged wing and have had to stay in the hospital for some time without any exercise, so will need to be brought back up to full fitness before they can be released back to the wild. By flying them as you would a bird of your own you can monitor any progress in an old injury and the bird will be building up valuable fitness at the same time. In the afternoon Sam talked them all through the Tawny owl release program that is going to be happening later in the year.

The final task for our guinea pigs was to be taught the basics of how to swing a lure to a falcon.

Lure swinging for beginners

This is a time honoured art that has been used for hundreds of years in order to keep falcons fit. Obviously we could not let anyone loose on flying a falcon after only an hour or so of practice, but just by going through the motions you hopefully appreciate the timing and accuracy that is needed. They were all issued with a lure and we all went into an arena, might I add out of sight off everyone else! Ashley ran through all the different passes that you can use to test the falcon's agility in the air. I have to say that it made Ashley and me laugh as we stood back and watched six people who are all incredibly influential in the future running of the Trust, concentrating so hard on trying to get the lure to just swing around in a circle! However, Julian and Anya in particular were very natural at it. Ashley and I both said at the end of the day that with a little more practice they could each have faced a falcon and managed quite well. On the other hand Marion wasn’t quite so accomplished. Not that I am trying to pick on her but she almost took me out with the lure at one point as I was trying to give her a few pointers. I was actually in two minds whether it was intentional or not!

The first real Conservation Day

To finish off the day we all went out into the flying grounds where I flew a falcon with the guests standing behind me, so that they could get the effect of the falcon stooping straight at them. I have to say it really puts a pigeon’s life into perspective when you are in that sort of position yourself.

All in all I think the day was very successful and the feedback from all six of the guests was very useful and positive. Since that day we have held our first real day, which went very well indeed. I think that these Conservation Days are going to be very popular in the future as more and more people visit us and become more intrigued about the work that we do. From a visitors point of view this is a great opportunity, because time and time again I have had people who have done an Activity Day but would love to go further. This gives them the chance to come back and do just that. From a staff point of view I think that it is very interesting too; it is a bit of a change for us. As a final thought I have to say I think it is a brilliant way forward for the Hawk Conservancy Trust, so if you are looking for a present for a relative, friend or loved one this could be just the thing! (again, I’m not on commission).

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