Another one of Dan and Buzz

The Birds (Part 2.2)

After having brought the 1st birds back to the centre and had our cup of tea, we wandered back down to the field to meet the final 3 birds.
First out was this beauty - now I can't remember the breed exactly - but I do recall that in the US they called it a hawk, and in the UK a buzzard. Anyway this one had an amazing feat of circling very very high up on the thermals, and the at a point, just tucking its wings in and coming in like a bullet! The 1st time it happened, we all took a step back! I'm sure I heard that "bomb-whine" sound effect in the background! As you can see, she had the most beautiful colouring. Snowy white chest feathers and then tawny highlights on back, legs and wings.

Next on the list was one of my favourites, the harris hawk. Super intelligent birds - they hunt in packs (the only bids to do so). Not only intelligent but absolutely beautiful; the dark brown colouring and little white tips to the tail - they're incredibly elegant in flight - the big tail allows great manoeverability - she was weaving in and out of the group of us as we were standing round waiting for our turn. The falconry centre offer an afternoon session after our morning 'meet the birds' (we didn't do it but I'd love to) and that's when you take out a pack of harris hawks and see if they can bring you home a rabbit for your stew pot!

So, finally, last on the list was the Centre's piece-de-resistance - an eagle! Not many places fly eagles to glove - I think it's something to do with the fact that they'd crush all the bones in your wrist with one squeeze of a talon, but they have a few that have been hand reared and therefore are in that 'thinking they're human' mode! Last time I was there, we flew the big sea eagle - it's a bit like having an alsatian flying towards you! Most impressive! This time we got the Bataleur Eagle - which was like having Professor Yaffle coming at ya....but scarier! This bird was a full stone - weighed loads compared with even the bigger hawk/buzzards (remember them who chase labradors!) and we had to have the chainmail glove, to protect from the talons, and we only got one go with him as he was a BIG bird and they find it hard to fly alot (unlike the harris hawk and the eagle owl who just kept bombing back and forth from their perch for the food). As you can see from the pic, he kept wandering around on the ground and walked like a little old man. He did have the most amazing colouring. Looked like someone had painted him in big blocks of brown, white and black. His main prey are snakes, so he's well-hard!

Anyway, that was our bidy experience - we had a really superb day - we both adore the birds, they're gorgeous - and we took far more piccies than have been shown here so if you want to see the rest then head on over to Picassa using this link, and peruse all the rest of em!

Walking back to the Centre

As we got ready to go back up to the centre for a coffee to thaw us out (it was sleeting by this time) and to get the next set of birds, the keeper (who had been picking on Dan a bit - all funny banter) said 'As you've been my whipping boy, you can carry Buzz back up to his cage!
Well Mum and I were GREEN with envy; I've done the 'meet the birds' twice, and Mum, 3 times, and we've NEVER seen them do that before!
So here is a pic of Dan and Buz, and below I'm attaching a little video of him sauntering up with a buzzard on his arm - like as though he does that sort of thing every day!

Doesn't he look at home??? I'm just waiting for him to say he's looking forward to hearing the patter of tiny feet - a baby buzzard!

The Birds (Part 2.1)

It's been a very Avian weekend, what with the little hens up in Scotland and then this, the main bird event: a 'Meet the Birds' experience from the Cheshire Falconry Centre.
We arrived over in Northwich the night before and stayed at the travel lodge just up the road from the falconry centre. It was a good idea, mainly because we thought the idea of getting round the M60 on a Maunday Thursday morning (to arrive by 9am) was going to be a bit hassley. This way, we were already there!!!! So off we trotted to the bird place, met up with Mum and Dad who had come along to watch, and then in we went.
First of all we were led to the enclosure where they put the birds out on display sitting on low perches - this is so you can get an idea of the birds you're about to meet! The guide gives you a (full on) explanation about each bird, flying styles, hunting styles and falconry in general.
You then are taken down to the flying field, to meet the first 4 birds.

Bungle, the Bengal eagle owl. So beautiful! Look at the toffee coloured plumage and the colour of his eyes - orange eyes means he's a diurnal hunter.




Next was Buzz the Buzzard! He was Dan's special friend (as you'll see shortly from some of the later pictures!!!) He was very quick and friendly - stayed on everyone's glove for ages to take pictures - clearly a character.





After Buz came a nice bird - a Ferruginous hawk called Nemesis! This one had a tendency to go after small mammals and had had more than a few incidents with dragging dogs around the car park. Dogs have been banned from the centre now, not because they scare the birds, it's because Nemesis likes them....a little too much!
NB Ferruginous means 'rusty coloured' as you can see from the fabulous red tips to the chest feathers and in fact his back and wings are all a lovely rusty brown.

Finally for the first session came the grogeous little kestrel called (damn can't remember) So small compared with the other birds, and quick as a flash. However this one was feeling a bit lazy by the time it came to Dan's go - in the end, after 10 minutes of cajoling, he just wasn't going to fly over to the glove, and the keeper went to get him. As the keeper approached him, he started squauking really loudly - He thinks I'm his mum - said the keeper! Awwwww! So, he picks up the kestrel and walks towards Dan, doing 'take off' motions. The bird was having none of it.
Finally, their 2 gloves were about 6 inches apart and the bird just reached over and nicked the chicken out of Dan's glove!!! Clever little thing.

Crowing

Took this little vid of one of the cockerels crowing in the chicken coop!

They all seemed very contented, scratching around their massive enclosure. I'm sure Hugh Fernley Wittinstall would be delighted!!!

The Birds (Part 1)

We've been up in Glendoik (Perthshire) at Dan's parents' for the weekend. The'yve recently moved from Errol (about 4 miles away) and this was the first time we'd been to see them in the new place. It's a lovely old farmhouse - a bit draughty, but loads of character, with an aga, a creamery, 4000 cubic feet of cupboard space (well if Michelle is to be believed anyway!!!) but lovely big bright rooms (many of them have dual aspect) and 4 bedrooms. It's much more of a "house" - their last place was a cottage. A cosy cottage, but definitely cottagy. This is completely different. It's lovely. Big, spacious, roomy, and they've made it really homley already since they've moved in which was only just before Christmas.
On Saturday morning, we were sitting down for brekkie and Michelle said would I like a boiled egg - oooh definitely - I thought. I love a nice boiled egg. She then went into one of the many cavernous cupboards and came out with a large egg box. She opened it with a flourish (I'm sure a heard a 'taaaa daaaa' in the background!) They were all shapes and sizes, brown, blue, white and creamy coloured. They looked like someone had already been at them for the Easter parade. But no, in fact, they were all 'natural' and had just come from all sorts of different hens. It turns out that Conrad and Michelle have a neighbour who keeps a small flock of chickens, and he provides them with a dozen or so mixed eggs every Friday! How lovely - you don't get much more farm fresh than that! And talking about 'carbon miles' the neighbour walks accross the field on a Friday to deliver them!
That afternoon, we went for a wander to have a look at these generous birds. We got to the 'run' only to discover that it was more of a forest than a run, and these birds must have about 150 or so square foot EACH to roam around in. It's a nice chunk of land for a dozen chooks! There are about 10 hens and 2 cockrels - I think there are a couple of the breeds had 2 birds, but mostly they were singles - all different. Fabulous colours. So for example I was able to identify the hen who laid my breakkie small blue egg (the Araucana) and the larger dark brown egg (Rhode Island Red). So a first for me - meeting the ACTUAL bird who laid my brekkie egg!!!!

Hey little hen, when when when will you lay me an egg for my tea....?

So there you have it - we had a lovely relaxing break up there and took a few piccies on our stroll which are all up HERE on Picassa for you to look at. Check out the cockrell with the golden ruff - he's just like Foghorn Leghorn!

Rainbow (it's made my day)

Mum always says 'I've seen a rainbow, it's made my day!' This one we saw from the office window a few weeks ago had us all reaching for our cameras. The sky was so black as well, it looked great against the 'Republic' office building over the way!

Thai Meal

A couple of weeks ago, we went out with the 'gang' (the lads Dan was at school with + wives). The lads play poker quite often together, over at Mark's restaurant, but as couples, we rarely meet other than at Christmas and weddings! The new year's resolution is to get together a bit more often so to that end we went out for a Thai Meal at Baan Thai in Morley. It was HILLARIOUS. I don't know what was going on with everyone, but we laughed all night. After the meal, we wernt back and SAT OUTSIDE Cucina, as Mark has heaters set up on the patio. It was raining. It was March. It was Yorkshire. But we sat out anyway. The pictures will probably show our mental state anyway - I don't think any of us could feel the cold!!!!

Liza's Birthday

No, you haven't set your calendars wrong, but it has taken Eithne and I until now to get a date together for us to go out for dinner for my birthday last year! The fact that it's actually closer to the next one didn't deter us! Since last year we've started a 'tradition' of going to Mark's restaurant; Cucina, in Morley. We did it last year for Eithne's and I daresay we'll do it again this year for both. It's so nice and as you can see from the pictures, we're rather partial to their deserts! The champagne and the Sancerre go down quite well too! Thanks Eithne xxx

Liza in Dublin

I think I did blog a little from the hotel while I was waiting for my cab - but fully intended to come back and fill in the gaps. I was in Dublin to hand-hold the first store which was going live with our new integrated POS software for authorising card transactions through the POS instead of through a separate device as they do at the moment. It all went remarkably smoothly - the store were happy and I ended up having quite a chilled out day. (Mostly at the airport!)
One of the highlights was staying at the Castleknock Country Club outside of Dublin, and the lovely meal I had (room service) with a little glass of wine! It was especially nice because Dad was 'home alone' too and I'd brought my webcam, and we chatted for about an hour whilst we 'had our tea together'! It's what the internet is for! Just coz I'm sad, I took a few pics of the hotel room coz it was very nice, and I've posted them up here. I know, I know, I'm an international jet setter - but it WAS very nice. Hopefully will be staying there again soon once the rollout commences after Easter, and once I've tested the pinpads.

We've been busy

Doing a whole load of things, which is why we've not put a post up on the blog for a few weeks. I've been away in Dublin - we've been up to Scotland to see Conrad and Michelle, we've been out and about on social visits. The next few posts will fill in all the gaps!