If you hadn’t heard the news, last year we welcomed a beautiful new Barn Owl to the Hawk Conservancy Trust! Willow has been spending her time getting to know Bird Team member, Registrar and resident owl-whisperer Ryan Stephens, and they are really beginning to grow close. We caught up with Ryan to find out how she’s getting on, and her next steps towards taking part in flying displays.

“Willow arrived at the Trust in April last year and is a spritely three years old. If you have heard the commentaries given by our expert Bird Team members, you will know we usually begin to get to know our owls from their early days as owlets. Willow, however, has come to live with us a little later in her life after being an ambassador for Barn Owls at a wildlife rescue centre.

After she had spent a few months settling into her new home here and meeting all of our Bird Team, Willow and I began working together to begin the initial stages of her training to join our displays last summer.

Barn Owls have a graceful flying style called ‘quartering’, where they will glide over wide open spaces such as fields and meadows and use their extraordinary hearing for listening intently for their prey. When they have found something to hunt, they will silently hover in the air above before pouncing. This unique style of flight is what Willow and I are working towards.

Our work together began in our Meet the Burrowers VIP Encounter space, where Willow was able to get to know me a little better outside of her aviary. She progressed into flying in our Woodland Arena, where we focused mainly on flights back and forth between myself and another member of the Bird Team, helping to build her fitness. It didn’t take very long to see she was comfortable doing this, so we are now working in the wider space of our Savannah Arena together, where her flights are getting longer and she is gradually demonstrating her quartering and hovering skills.

Building the trust between myself and Willow takes time and patience, and I always feel a sense of excitement when I begin working with a newer member of the team. In recent years, I have formed a very close bond with Ravenclaw, our White-headed Vulture who wowed our guests over the summer in our new Masters of the Sky flying display. Now Ravenclaw is soaring high, I have been able to focus on really getting to know Willow over the last year. With my other commitments as the Trust’s Registrar that can be quite desk-based, so spending that little bit of time with Willow is one of my favourite parts of the day.

She is already fantastic in flight, and it will be amazing to see her develop over time and our bond grows. She is a real superstar in the making, and hopefully you may start to see Willow making special appearances in our daily timetable in 2024, and maybe even some of our evening events too! We are taking things slowly, all at Willow’s pace. All I will say is ‘watch this space’ – I am very excited for Willow to shine!”

As the summer is behind us, our winter timetable returns. This means our summer flying team of birds begin their winter rest period.  When weather conditions change which may not suit their natural flying style as well as at other times of the year, they get the opportunity for a period of rest.  Some of these birds will moult through a new set of feathers during this time, while they are resting and relaxing.  Wild Birds don’t have the same luxury as our birds, they will moult a new set without the chance for a winter rest.

While they take a break from flying displays, it’s a great opportunity to reflect on the season gone by and begin planning for the next year. We work hard to make sure our birds are healthy and active during both our displays, as well as their day-to-day life in their aviaries, and the winter is a great period to look at new ways of working with some of our birds who could benefit from learning something new, keeping them mentally and physically active.

This winter, I’m looking forward to working alongside one of our most iconic birds to introduce a new training routine – our Secretary Bird, Angola!

Angola has one of the biggest personalities here at the Trust – as well as being widely known for his incredible snake-stamping skills, he’s also one of the most enthusiastic birds one could wish to meet. Each morning, members of the Bird Team greet Angola with a daily weigh-in. While this may not be everyone’s favourite start to the day, Angola seems to absolutely adore this, and can become very excited when he sees us approaching his aviary with weighing scales in hand.

While we love seeing his excitement, the Bird Team also have to be very aware of those powerful long legs – we’ve seen many decimated rubber snakes to know the damage they could cause! Angola can get so excited for his weigh in, he sometimes follows the Bird Team member around his aviary, and will let us know when he thinks we’re being too slow! Therefore, we’re starting a new routine with him this winter, where we hope he will learn to stay in a certain spot in his aviary whilst the team set up his morning weigh-in. This will be a good test of Angola’s patience, but also an important wellbeing and safety element to his daily routine that will benefit both him and us.

Another bird I’ll be beginning a new pattern with this winter is one I already work very closely with – Flo the Crested Caracara! We have a really strong bond that we’ve built over many years of working together, and it has been so amazing to see Flo shining in our new Masters of the Sky summer flying display this year. Watching her display her nest-building skills is a special treat for us all, and next year we’re hoping to continue developing her routine so it’s even more refined!

As you may have seen if you’ve watched this new flying display, Flo currently uses a short piece of hosepipe instead of a stick to build her nest. This is for a couple of reasons – firstly, Flo seemed to prefer this object to the others when given the choice and secondly as Crested Caracaras are highly intelligent, and Flo in particular has a cheeky streak, we could have ended up with quite a collection of sticks if she decided to collect each and every stick in her aviary!! She is settled in her flying display routine now, so we’re looking to switch this material up with a stick of bamboo – still different enough to other sticks in her aviary, but much closer to what wild Caracaras would use to build nests.

We’re also hoping now she’s familiar with her routine, she’ll grow in confidence to display this behaviour without a member of the Bird Team giving her this stick. Instead, we’ll be working together to create platforms where Flo can find the stick herself and bring it to the nest. This means Flo will be showing off the unique foraging style these inquisitive birds have that they use when searching for food and nesting materials.  All of this is great to keep Flo’s very clever mind active.

It will be a busy winter for us behind-the-scenes, so keep an eye out for updates on all of our amazing birds as their training comes to fruition in the next year!

Bird Team member and Events Coordinator Ben Cox has been working closely with Azura, our Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle for a few years now. Azura is an absolutely beautiful bird to watch in flight, but is a very reserved and sensitive girl. Carry on reading to find out more about this pair’s special bond, and how Azura’s flight training is coming along ahead of her joining our brand new flying display: Masters of the Sky!

“Azura is a 10 year old Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle, who came to live with us in 2013 from a collection in Spain when she was 3 months old. This species are South American, and can be found in countries like Argentina, Chile and Peru.

She has had quite the journey, the early stage of her flying career took place at Longleat Safari Park, when she starred in a Hawk Conservancy Trust display that used to take place there called Hunters of the Sky. Azura took part in this demonstration for a few years, before coming back to live with us onsite here at the Trust.

I was lucky enough to start working with Azura a couple of years ago, alongside our National Bird of Prey Hospital Manager^TM, Cedric Robert. We decided to see how she would feel about flying on the Behind-the-scenes Winter Experiences we run during our closed period in January. I was so excited about this opportunity because she is, not only, a beautiful bird of prey, she is also well known for being very particular about who she chooses to work with. I felt so privileged when we started working together and our relationship grew stronger. I earned her trust and respect, and she began letting me handle her with care and attentiveness.

After working with Azura closely and really getting to know her, we soon decided that meeting guests on these experience days might not be best for her. She is a very sensitive bird, and she felt quite unsure about flying to people she didn’t know. However, this was a good stepping stone in her training and allowed us to learn more about her and this gave us confidence in her next steps.

Azura’s chance to really shine came around earlier this year, with the creation of our brand new flying display, Masters of the Sky. In anticipation of her featuring in this new display, we started to work on a new training program together to help her feel confident flying over Reg’s Wildflower Meadow in this new demonstration for 2023.

At first, she was still unsure about flying to new people, even within the Bird Team, as well as flying in front of people she didn’t know. We worked together to overcome this, and with time, patience and trust she has grown in confidence. I am very pleased to say she is now a regular star in our Masters of the Sky demonstration that takes place every day during the summer months. If you haven’t seen it yet then I urge you to – it’s a fantastic show with lots of excitement, new birds, new routines and new music. Even if you have seen our shows before, you haven’t seen anything yet as we show off the beauty of our birds in flight in a way we have never done before.

The brand new towers that were constructed October in 2022 in Reg’s Wildflower Meadow, were a big part of introducing Azura to more of our visitors.  They are 8m tall and their height gave her the confidence to fly high above a crowd. Hearing the ‘ooo’s’ and the ‘ahhh’s’ she gets from our guests as she flies over them is very special. This has been one of the proudest moments in my career so far, and seeing Azura’s progress to feel comfortable and confident flying above crowds has been extremely special for me. I’m very lucky to have been given the opportunity to work with this magnificent bird.

Our training together continues and it’s now time to introduce her to some other members of the Bird Team so that it isn’t only me working with her.

I adore Azura, and the species in general, and I can’t wait for thousands of people to see her fly over the summer months. She makes me proud every single time that she takes to the wing, a sensational bird who will, no doubt, continue to be a star of our Masters of the Sky demonstration in years to come.”

After joining the Bird Team last summer, Ronnie Hunter has been getting to know the amazing birds of prey that live here at the Trust. During her time so far, Ronnie has grown very fond of our older pair of Striated Caracaras, Darwin and Lafonia, and their adorable antics. We caught up with Ronnie to hear all about this pair of intelligent birds.

“For the past few months I have spent a lot of time working on the Hospital section of the grounds. As part of working on this section, one of our duties includes taking care of our elderly pair of Striated Caracaras: Darwin and Lafonia. Visiting this pair of birds very has quickly become one of my favourite parts of my day here at the Hawk Conservancy Trust – they have the most wonderful personalities and take such care looking after each other.

“Darwin and Lafonia are recorded as being 42 years old, and have been together their whole lives. This species is known to have a long life expectancy in collections – most records suggesting over 30 years, which our pair have far surpassed. The expected lifespan in the wild isn’t known, but is usually around half that of those living in collections. When they arrived here in 1981, the site where the Trust stands today was still known as Weyhill Zoo; it’s amazing to think of the variety of animals that they once shared the site with. If you look around their current aviary today, you can still see a sliding door which is the remnant of a previous carnivore enclosure!

“Parents’ to 16 chicks, the first hatching in 1990, they are the parents to our very own Sirius! Sirius hatched out in 2003, and takes part in our flying demonstrations and experience days. He’s an extremely cheeky character and loves nothing more than causing chaos, all while still remaining his incredibly charming self. His charming side definitely comes from his dad, Darwin. As the years have passed Darwin has perfected the art of looking after Lafonia, and it is one of the many reasons I enjoy spending time in their company.

“These days, Darwin and Lafonia occasionally take time off from their retirement and take part in Brilliant Bird Brains within their aviary. It’s a chance for our visitors to see just how intelligent this species is, whilst also keeping them on their toes with new activities.

“They are both very gentle birds, and will take food from the hands of people they trust, with Darwin being the more confident of the two. I’ve noticed recently that Darwin will always approach first to take a piece of food. If Lafonia is feeling a little more reserved, Darwin will take his piece of food straight over to her to make sure that she doesn’t miss out. He’ll then run back over to get another piece for himself – a small act that I find incredibly sweet. This is usually followed by elaborate vocalisations involving loud caws and throwing their heads back to add a physical element to their communication.

“Another behaviour I love to watch is when they ‘stash’ food around the aviary for later. They are not always the most graceful when doing this, and it’s not uncommon to see them run headfirst into a tuft of long grass to hide the food inside in a hurry.

“Whether they’re taking part in an activity on our daily timetable or just relaxing in their aviary, this incredible pair are definitely worth a visit during your next stop at the Trust!

Patrick King is one of the newest members of our Bird Team, joining us last summer after spending time volunteering a few years ago. Since joining the Hawk Conservancy Trust, Patrick has been getting to know all of our birds. Carry on reading to hear from Patrick about working with one special bird – Sarabi the Lugger Falcon.

“Some of you may not recognise me as an overly familiar face, but I’m also not brand new anymore! It’s been a wonderful nine months that I’ve  spent with the Hawk Conservancy Trust so far and I’ve loved every minute of it; whether that be helping out on displays, running experience day sessions or simply helping out with all sorts of tasks that need attention from the day. And, of course, I definitely mustn’t forget about working closely with our cheeky Burrowing Owls!

Since starting, I’ve been given the amazing opportunity to work alongside Sarabi, our beautiful Lugger Falcon. I’ve been working closely with her over the last few months on her fitness and confidence-building with the overall aim for her to fly in front of a potentially large crowd, hopefully joining the ranks of the birds we fly here at the Trust during our ‘Meadow Encounter’ and ‘Brilliant Bird Brains’ sessions.

Lugger Falcons (or sometimes called the Laggar Falcon) aren’t necessarily as familiar to most people as the world-famous Peregrine Falcon, for example, or the Lanner Falcon.  Lugger Falcons are primarily found across parts of Asia, notably India, Bangladesh, Nepal & Pakistan. They are a truly beautiful species and deserve just as much love and attention. Especially because they are a declining species in the wild. This is due to the over-intensive use of pesticides in the region and a direct result of illegal trapping.

Sarabi is definitely a wildcard. Don’t get me wrong, she is a lovely bird, but her temperament can change like the wind. One day, she will be right as rain, then the following day she can be as mad as a box of frogs with seemingly no rhyme or reason. Learning all of her nuances whilst earning and maintaining her trust are at the core of our work together, alongside building her fitness and confidence.

Not only does this give her the opportunity to take to the wing and build her fitness on a regular basis, this also gives me a regular opportunity to enhance and refine my lure-swinging skills. It is a rather tricky thing to master, which in the long run can take many years to perfect. If you have visited before, you may very well have seen other members of the Bird Team flying our falcons over the years and quite simply put; it looks easy when it is done well. I can assure you, it definitely isn’t!

There have been times – especially in my early days before working here at the Trust when I was learning this skill – when I have looked utterly ridiculous trying to learn. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve hit myself in the head with the lurepad or gotten myself all tangled up in the lure line! I do not profess to be a great lure-swinger, but the more Sarabi and I work together, the better I will inevitably become. Regular practice and developing the muscle memory have been key to developing this skill for sure.

She is progressing well and is very nearly at the point where she will be confident flying in front of a crowd, but, it is all at her pace. Hopefully, with more flying sessions and initial exposure to very small groups of people, she will have the confidence to stoop to the lure and wow you with her aerobatic dexterity that falcons are very much renowned for. Hopefully she and I with both be better off as a result of this process!”

If you’ve been lucky enough to join us on an experience day, you’ll know the breathtaking feeling of a silent owl or majestic Bald Eagle landing on your fist – there’s nothing quite like it! Our Bird Team work closely with our amazing birds to build strong and trusting relationships. We caught up with Bird Team Apprentice Jennie, who has been working alongside Foxtrot the Black Kite over recent months, getting her ready to meet our visitors on experience days this year.

“Last year, as part of my apprenticeship, I was set the task to create a training plan for a bird here at the Trust. With guidance from fellow Bird Team member Katy we created a plan for Echo, one of our Black Kites, to re-join the flying team after a rest period.

Working on this plan helped me gain confidence working closely with a bird and training using positive reinforcement, as Echo has now successfully re-joined the rest of the Black Kite team in flying displays.

Since working with Echo, I have now had the chance to work closely with another Black Kite called Foxtrot. I am currently working with Ben from the Bird Team to ready Foxtrot for joining in with experience days in 2023.

To begin earning her trust, I started out by being the Bird Team member to feed her every day. I then slowly built the relationship up to going outside her aviary and giving her the chance to hop from a post to my glove for some food. We then worked with her to do some longer, circuiting flights before coming back to my glove for her dinner. Once she was confident doing this, we started introducing strangers in to the mix (i.e our lovely volunteers).

Every day she would have the opportunity to meet someone new and fly to their glove in Reg’s Wildflower Meadow.  Our aim at the Trust is to inspire those visiting and taking part in experiences to care about and support our mission to conserve birds of prey, and providing an opportunity for people to be close to our birds is an excellent way to do this.  We  began flying her with groups of volunteers at a time. She is now a pro at this!

The next step in her plan was to see how she felt flying to some members of the public, but she decided not to land with any of them – we can only assume that she prefers the dark green volunteer uniform!

We’re taking things at Foxtrot’s pace, so will see how she feels about meeting one member of the public at a time. If she is ok with this, we will then move on to introduce her to people wearing different clothes, hats and sunglasses as a new experience for her.  It is on her terms and if she decides this is something she is confident with, she may one day be a star of our experience days.

The Bird Team had a training day recently where we shared different ways of working with our birds. I wanted to put some of the new things I had learnt to good use and began learning how to use hand signals with Foxtrot as a way of communication. I wasn’t sure where to start, so Ben and I worked together to come up with a routine for us to begin that would incorporate this into our work together. This has been a learning process for both Foxtrot and I; it’s been a very enjoyable experience and helps me to create a positive relationship with Foxtrot. She and I are both learning a new skill too.

When I fly Foxtrot she almost constantly calls to me – this is called Contact Calling, and is her way of making sure I know she’s there and reminding me she wants her food! It is the call they would normally make to their parents when they are young.

Working with Foxtrot has been a very beneficial experience. I’ve enjoyed the learning process, especially working alongside Katy and Ben as they were previously apprentices so they have an insight into what I needed to learn and the best way to go about it, so a big thanks to them!”

“Day to day life as a member of the Bird team and Registrar at the Hawk Conservancy Trust means sometimes the year passes by before you even realise that Christmas is on the doorstep again! Ryan Stephens looks back over the last year.

There have been so many highlights throughout 2022, but I have to put completing my first ever marathon for the Trust right at the top. Running the London Marathon had been a personal dream for many years and it was such an honour to be able to do this whilst raising nearly £12,000 for the National Bird of Prey Hospital^TM.  I completed the run in just under 5 hours, and crossing that line was a memory I do not think I will ever forget. The support from the Trust team during the build-up and on the day itself was incredible, and definitely got me across the line. Few people knew that I was laid in bed just a week before the marathon unable to come to work with a back injury, so the mental challenge as well as the physical challenge took a great deal out of me. A special thanks to Alex at Strength Led Fitness in Amesbury for getting me through it all.

I think it is someone else’s turn next time!

Highlights of my work at the Trust, include working closely with Ravenclaw, one of our White-headed Vultures, who has now begun flying in demonstrations alongside one of our juvenile African White-backed Vultures, Simba. I have been working alongside Ravenclaw for a few years now and it is great to see him flying so beautifully.  To see the two vultures together coasting over our audiences’ heads is a very impressive sight. Next year Ravenclaw will ‘graduate’ as such, and start to work with other members of the Bird Team as well as myself. It is a bit like when you drop your kids off at school for the very first time! I am sure he will do fantastically.

Towards the end of the year, myself and fellow Bird Team members Ben Cox and Simon Christer have been working with a very special bird. Diego, our Blue-winged Kookaburra, is starting to make the occasional appearance in our Woodland Owls flying display! Having worked with this bird for many years, it is great to have her back in our shows over the winter. She is such a character and a crowd favourite. However, she is not a huge fan of the rain, so you are more likely to see her fly in our Woodland Arena on a fair weather day!

Working in this industry, you have so many positives but of course, there are the negatives you have to deal with as well. Sadly, in March, we said goodbye to our beloved Secretary Bird, Madeleine. Everyone at the Trust felt his passing, but having worked with this bird for so many years, I must admit it hit me pretty hard. At just over 30 years old, you can look back and see what a remarkable life he had and how much joy he bought to so many. I do not think he will ever be forgotten.

So, this is just a snapshot my year at the Trust. As always, it has been a busy year with lots going on behind the scenes. As we get a little quieter for the winter period it is always a good time to just step back and appreciate the year gone by. I hope to see you all next year and I wish you a Merry Christmas!”

Ryan Stephens, Registrar and Bird Team