The Kites are back!

We open in less than a week's time! It's really very exciting after a long wet and cold winter to be finally within touching distance of the main season. We've also been really lucky with the weather recently - I've had a few days that Ive been wishing I hadn't opted for wellies. A lot has been happening - we had a visit from Ash and Penny from HCT which was very helpful. It was really good to see the look of pleasant surprise on Ash's face particularly when he saw the changes we've made to the Old Rose Garden, which by the way is very nearly almost finished and looks lovely. Once summer comes around and everything starts to leaf up a bit it'll look even better. We've started flying in that area now to get the owls used to it and their doing brilliantly. 

Our new freezer unit arrived this week which sounds like a really boring thing to say but when our food has been stored in 3 or 4 emergency freezers around the site it means we really appreciate having it all in one place! The old one gave up the ghost at the back end of last year and had really seen better days. The new one is al digital and high tech. We're very lucky. On that point we'll be having an enormous food delivery this week which should last us the season so the new unit arrived just in time! The roof on our weighing room and equipment shed is being replaced this week too so long as the weather holds. With all the rain the quick fix which was applied last September really isn't up to the job so hopefully this attempt will last a little longer. 

 

Peter flies Diego

All the birds who fly on the meadow are flying well too. Nutmeg even made an attempt to thermal yesterday and ended up being in the air for 25 minutes or so only to come back over at tree height. We're going to make a conscious effort to only fly him in displays when the weather is right for him. Last year when it wasn't he got in a habit of sitting in trees - not exactly dynamic and exciting to watch for any of us. Herriot will need to undergo some heavy imping (mending his feathers by using old mounted ones) as he's looking a bit rough. This eagle does not appear to have moulted anything but a few head feathers since he was a baby.  He is however training up well again and I'm hoping to get him flying free this week. There's going to be a really stark difference between the two displays this year and the most obvious is the amount of space the Falcons, vultures, kites and eagles use by comparison to the Owls we fly in the morning. 

The screen to protect the birds goes up

 

Before we know it we'll be in the midst of the main season again with more audience than we know what to do with. The sun is shining for now and the dog is enjoying it as I write this which makes life here that bit sweeter.