Last summer we were excited to welcome a five-month-old Bald Eagle to our team. We named him Wallace (after naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace) and teamed him up with Simon Christer from our Bird Team to work with. We’ve caught up with Simon to find out how the past year has been for the pair:
“A day at the Hawk Conservancy Trust is always inspiring. Spending time wandering the beautiful grounds here is relaxing, especially when the trees are in full leaf and the sun shines through their branches. Time spent exploring the birds that live here as they rest is a joy – many will sit for hours just preening their feathers in the sunshine and others, if you time it right, may reward you with a glimpse of their precious chick in the nest. But ask anyone what the highlight of a day with us is and they’ll say the flying displays. The opportunity to be inches from an owl’s wing as they glide silently across the woodland or far beneath a Peregrine Falcon as he tucks his wings and stoops at speed towards a reward over Reg’s Wildflower Meadow is surely unforgettable in anyone’s book. Our aim in these displays is to educate, of course; we want visitors to go away knowing more about the species we are privileged enough to share the planet with. But imparting knowledge about the birds will only go so far in supporting our mission to conserve birds of prey.
Flo, our Crested Caracara, is a beautiful and intelligent bird who continues to grow in confidence. As a usual member of our winter displays team, due to a longer closed period due to COVID-19 lockdown, Flo hasn’t seen many guests in her most recent flying season so we caught up with Katy Barnes who is currently working with her to find out more about what they’ve been up to: (more…)
Whilst we look forward to being open again and welcoming you back, we have taken a moment to look back on the past months when we’ve been flying our winter season team of birds and whom many of you won’t have had a chance to see in action this season. Saxon, our stunning Golden Eagle, has been working with Matt Williams from our Bird Team this winter so we’ve caught up with him to find out how her flying season has gone:
“I have been so fortunate to be the main person working with Saxon this winter, as one of my all-time favourite birds! She usually flies each year during our winter programme, as part of our British Bird Encounter. Some of you may have been lucky enough to see her fly during this winter season during the brief periods when we were able to open. However, we have continued to fly her for the whole season.
Saxon joined our team at the Trust when she was already over 20 years of age, which can make learning new things a little trickier. She’s a wonderful bird to work with and whilst she saunters around Reg’s Wildflower Meadow showing off the majesty of her species, Saxon is sure to keep her aerial antics fairly close to home.
This year has been no different and when a strong gust of wind or a moment of inspiration take her into neighbouring fields, she musters the energy to battle the elements and get back to the meadow as a priority. Of course, she wears GPS telemetry which tells me her exact location at any given moment but still, I have every confidence in her that she has no desire to wander. We have had good numbers of Red Kites visiting the meadow this winter and they often like to make their presence known to our larger birds. Fortunately for Saxon, she is undeterred and always has the option to return closer to home if they start to become tiresome.
She will soon move into an aviary to rest for the summer, as she does each year and I will miss seeing her on the wing but I know that she benefits from the opportunity to moult and re-grow feathers and she will be ready to go again when the colder weather returns. Until then we can all stop by her aviary to say hello and marvel at one of our most beautiful native species, while she casts her eye over us.”
Matt Williams
Bird Team
Last year we were delighted to welcome two young Black Kites to our team, Attenborough and Irwin. Training young birds is always a highlight for members of our Bird Team so being assigned this role is quite a privilege. Ben Cox was given the job of working with Irwin, so we’ve caught up with him to find out more about how the past nine months with Irwin have been:
Anyone who has visited us will know that we really love vultures, and many of our regular visitors will know that Kat Ralph from our Bird Team has a particular favourite in Burdock, one of our resident Turkey Vultures. During the summer months, you can often see Kat flying him as a pre-show act to our 2pm display in Reg’s Wildflower Meadow. We’ve caught up with Kat to find out more about the delightful Burdock:
We’re often asked about the different types of equipment that we use with our birds at the Trust. Mike Riley from our Bird Team makes a lot of these items and has shared with us here an insight to the different items.
We’re ecstatic to welcome to our team a five month old Bald Eagle who we have named Wallace. Our naming theme for this year is naturalists so he’s been named after Alfred Russell Wallace, the British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. We’ve teamed him up for training with Simon Christer from our Bird Team and we’ll keep you up to date with his progress over the next few months. (more…)
