Life at the Barn Owl Centre has been very hectic leaving hardly anytime to continue on with where we had finished on here. Fingers crossed we will try & keep the blog updated on a regular basis.
During the course of 2011 to now, we have been very busy on rescue work, developing the Centre & most important increasing the level of conservation work which involves helping Barn Owls, Little Owls, Tawny Owls & Kestrels. In addition training new volunteers who have kindly offered so much help to our charity. The birds we support at the Centre have been excellent as always & have been very busy working with our visitors who book into our flying experiences or photography days. The year has flown by with loads of things in the pipeline for 2012 for which we are looking to deliver to those who connect with our charity.
Let us start by introducing you to one of our new voluntary bird handlers called Pat (Seen here with a Harris Hawk in training).Pat at present is going through a lot of training with us in hope of becoming a member of our bird team. His passion for birds of prey & falconry is second to non, he now joins up with our other bird handlers who are Juliette, Carl & Vince.
On a conservation note & during 2011/2012, our conservation team have placed within the countryside a huge number of nest boxes to support future nesting sites for Barn Owls, Little Owls, Tawny Owls & Kestrels. One of our voluntary team members called Kev (Picture here with a Little Owl Nest Box) is becoming a key member of the team & is showing excellent leading skills as well as having a keen eye of knowing the best locations to position boxes. Also we have been down to Lands End to delivery & to install one of our specially designed Barn Owl Manors. The location was awesome & set in prime Barn Owl territory. In time & fingers crossed, we should have some Barn Owls moving in.
Below are some images taken whilst at Lands End, these images show the scale of the Owl Manor against our new conservation vehicle, this vehicle was acquired by us to get around farmland to position & to monitor nest boxes. The perfect vehicle for the job,also it comes as a tipper which is suitable for work at the Centre!
Reversing the Barn Owl Manor into position
Preparing to unload the Barn Owl Manor
Barn Owl Manor neatly positioned & secured to cope with all weather conditions
Task completed & now available for Barn Owls needing a place to roost & nest
We left Gloucester at 4am, arrival time 9am (after a cooked breakfast in Lands End). We left Lands End for the journey back at midday to arrive back at the Centre in Gloucester for 5pm. Not bad for a good days work!!
As well as the Owl Manor we have been very busy making a vast amount of Owl & Kestrel Boxes, also installing our standard sized Owl Boxes such as the Barn Owl Nest Box below, this one was positioned recently on a farm in the South Gloucestershire area, please note the number - Box number 3022, yes that is how many nest boxes we now have positioned throughtout the whole of the UK.
During February 2012, we were asked if we can bring one of Barn Owls to assist with a news story that was taking place on a Farm in the Cotswolds. We agreed & Luna the Barn Owl travelled with us to meet everyone. The star guest in the news story was Professor David Bellamy OBE, what a pleasure it was to meet such an enthusiastic & conservation minded person, he even got to hold our star (Luna). Images below.
Luna with David Bellamy talking to Mark Tufnall the Landowner
Luna with David Bellamy, a real gentleman!!
Luna with David Bellamy, a real gentleman!!
Please come back soon to grab some more updates on our blog
