The school summer holidays have well and truly kicked off now and we're noticing more visitors to the 11:30 am show which is good... mostly. I'm not sure what it is about some visitors (albeit very few as most of our audiences have been wonderful) but they do like to try my patience. Just this week one parent decided it was a good idea to have children running across benches and shouting out questions at the top of their lungs whilst Cavalli was flying. This is of course after the health and safety briefing at the start of the demonstration stating that everyone needs to sit still else they may well get a bird collide with them - not good! In any case I did have to stop the show until the children were under control which they (eventually) were by the end. It makes me so grateful for the birds we are working with. They are pretty much bombproof meaning that no matter what happens the vast majority of them don't bat and eyelid and continue with the display. 

We moved the benches on the flying grounds back a little last week too which does give a better view and helps keep the meadow as preserved as possible but it does mean that the birds have had to adjust to new perches or audience in a different place. I think Mulberry the Barn Owl has found this change the hardest as her routine is pre-set targets but she's getting there. She has also frequently 'found' Stuart, Emma or I inside the speaker this week - so much so that we've had to turn the PA off a couple of times to get her attention back. That's what happens when you work with some of nature's best set of ears I suppose.

The new mews has become our default weathering for the falcons and just needs painting up now. Dawn, Eve, Carol-Anne and Terry have been getting to grips with this for us -where would we be without volunteers? Coincidentally, if you are interested in volunteering with us we now have a form we send out for people who want to join us - you even get a free cuppa out of it and I'm sure I or one of the other bird staff will buy you a slice of cake for good behavior! We're building a really nice, friendly team here which has taken the pressure away from bird staff just a little.

Flying displays have been going very well and we're improving them everyday when we can - just yesterday we trialed flying Nutmeg to music and I think it was successful even if he did spend half of his flight soaring above the trees behind the audience where nobody could see him. We are thinking of giving Diego a few weeks off, which is a shame as she's such a star and we're entering the busiest period of the year more or less but her tail is a bit of a mess. 

She had one or two broken ones when she arrived here at Muncaster after a long trip from HCT. She has since broken a couple more and we are going to rethink her perching and box style for when she has moulted. It might give us time to find an understudy for 'Frank' the rubber snake whom Diego kills every day during her display. 

My trip down to Hampshire was successful and I came away with the newest member of our team here at Muncaster - Ash, the Great Grey Owl. He's a little over five weeks old now and is not yet on display, of course, but will be as soon as we can let him. He's going to be such a fantastic bird to fly in our winter demonstrations later this year - I'm hoping we can get him going well for the Halloween celebrations which gives us three months to get him bang on. At the moment he's still coming home with us - a role which we're sharing and Stu and Emma have agreed to take on when I am away from the centre next week. 

It may sound like a fantastic thing to do, babysitting for a baby owl, and it is. 

Except from all the things they want to destroy - or poo on! He's a lovely little character and I have high hopes for his success here in displays. 

Emma has assumed the role of our lead in the conservation field from the Hawk and Owl centre. She went ringing songbirds this weekend and hopes to do more, specifically with raptors if possible, in the very near future. This type of experience  is invaluable to the work we want to be doing. We are making plans to launch the projects we want to work on on site at Muncaster (in addition to supporting the work done by the Hawk Conservancy Trust) in September and hope to hold a special event for 'Friends of Muncaster'. This will be an exclusive event for 'Friends' only and is likely to include a never-before-seen demonstration on the meadow and a talk in the Old Laundry Room outlining the conservation work the Hawk and Owl Centre is working towards. Refreshments will be included too, of course! Details of this event will be sent out very soon but if you're not a friend then sign up now. Not only does it give you access to events like this, which we hope to make regular, but it also allows you entrance to Muncaster as many times as you like for a year - bargain, especially if you are local.