Hawk Conservancy Trust Newsletter Spring 2021 Issue 87

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HAWKTALK SPRING2021 ISSUE 87

A message from our Chief Executive Penny Smout CEO

In this issue

Things to look out for in 2021 On Friday 12 March, we were delighted to spot a small chick on the nest camera (right) that watches Angus and Satara, our White-headed 1

Chicks at Changa Manga!

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Spotlight on Tawny Owls

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2020 Hospital Report

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We are so happy to be back open again. We have really missed all of our lovely members. I was worried that the gorgeous spring flowers would be long gone before we could share them with you, but we reopened just in time.

Farewell to Jane, Matt and Ria 2020 Photographic Competition Results Tribute to Scarlett

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Vultures. This pair are renowned superstar parents and this is their fifth youngster! Last year, we received a generous donation to improve our nest camera setup and now the nest camera screen is accessible for all to see. So, next time you visit, make sure you stop at their aviary at the top of the grounds to see how this wonderful little (Critically Endangered!) youngster is getting on. Not one but two! We have a second chick at the Trust and we are over the moon. An African White-backed Vulture hatched in our large Vulture Restaurant aviary on Sunday 11 April and is a sibling to Simba. Keep an eye on Owl Message and our social media for updates. We are thrilled to breed this Critically Endangered species again! Last summer, we welcomed a young Bald Eagle to our team. We named him Wallace and paired him with Simon Christer from our Bird Team for training. Over the winter, the pair have been working hard and we’re overjoyed at how quickly they’ve progressed. Wallace flies superbly and, during lockdown, has been showing off with some really impressive flights over our meadow and out into the East Cholderton Valley. appearances in displays or where we’ve shared their training. However, it is with much excitement that we can now share with you that the time is right for them to join our display team full-time. Previously, Angus and Satara flew in our displays and they were wonderful to watch but for the past five years they’ve been busy raising a family (including Mamba herself). The youngsters will have big boots to fill but we have full faith that you’ll love seeing Mamba and Ravenclaw take to the Hampshire skies. They will take turns to be part of displays initially and won’t be in them every day, but in time we’re hopeful that we may be able to fly them together! 2 4 3 Our White-headed Vultures, Mamba and Ravenclaw , have been in training for a number of years now with Miriam Nicholls and Ryan Stephens. Some of you may have been lucky enough to have already seen them in action as they make odd

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If you have already visited, you will have seen that we have been busy during the latest lockdowns, and have accomplished some significant achievements despite many people being on partial furlough and a frugal approach to the projects. So that we can accommodate more visitors safely, we have expanded our arenas. These changes are exciting and bring new angles to view a display from. We are still completing the work in the Savannah Arena as we are going to install a second watering hole for those magical fishing moments. We have also expanded and refurbished aviaries. Snowy Owl Sweeney Todd’s aviary in particular has been transformed. You might not notice the hedges that have been tamed, but they were getting rather unruly. Rather like some of the team’s hairstyles. You won’t have missed that we have started work on our new hospital annex. This will enable us to completely separate the care of wild birds from the care of our resident birds. This will mean we have more capacity to care for wild birds and that the biosecurity risk to our birds will be greatly reduced. We are really grateful to Animal Friends, the pet insurance company, and to Rita and Graham Morgan, Life Members, for their support of this project. The conservation team have also barely missed a stride, although the work in South Africa is still off limits for the UK-based team at the moment. It is good that we have the collaborations with the Endangered Wildlife Trust (South Africa) and WWF (Pakistan) to keep it all ticking over. We have been busy looking for alternative funding streams for this work too, and of course to support our ambitions for how we can increase our impact for birds of prey and their extensive habitats. Some really exciting ideas. There have been some team changes in the last few months. We were sorry to lose both Matt Williams and Ria May from the Bird Team to new careers, but we are delighted to be welcoming two new members to the team in late May: James Knight (not the same James Knight from before however) and Owen Lincoln. We have also combined the Catering and Retail Teams under the excellent leadership of Jemma Benton. On the topic of bringing in new members of the team, we are also looking for one or two new members of our Board of Directors. Our board have been brilliant throughout the last 14 months, providing guidance and support and even pitching in to help with the extra COVID tasks. As things begin to calm down a little, we’d be interested in expanding the roster. If you would be interested or have any questions, please contact Scott Jones, our Chairman, via scott@hawkconservancy.org. While we are all letting our hopes rise with the changes in the restrictions, we have taken quite a hit to our reserves and it will take us several years to fully recover (fingers crossed that we don’t have another setback). We need to get to almost double our current capacity to be able to break even, so a plea from us: please get vaccinated and be cautious as the regulations are relaxed, social distancing is still important. But, on a more fun note, please also help us by visiting, attending our events and planning to hold any celebrations or business events with us. Weddings are back! I’d like to close by thanking you all for your support through this time. It has meant so much to us to know you are behind us and that we will come through this. We are excited to see you at the Members’ Evening and to things being more “normal” whatever that might be. Thank you

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In review

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Dates for your diary

For Fawkes, our young Wahlberg’s Eagle , this year has marked a significant change. He was trained from the start by Jane Robertson who has, after 27 years with us at the Trust, now moved to Scotland. In preparation for this move, Jane worked closely with Ben Cox to hand over the reins. In 2020, Fawkes often featured in our pre-show slot for Wings of Africa, and we’re hoping that this year he may progress to flying in the main display team, though we’re not sure yet whether it will be Wings of Africa or Valley of the Eagles where he will be best suited, so you may even see him in both! In October 2020, we were very kindly gifted three White Storks by close friend of the Trust Mike Simmons at A World of Wings. Chalky, Daisy and Tiny are a fabulous addition to our team and our plan is that they will fly alongside Brandy and Blossom, our other two storks, in Wings of Africa. In addition to this incredible spectacle, this year our Northern Bald Ibis, Timon and Rafiki, have begun to fly alongside the storks in the finale of this display. The pair are teamed up with Kat Ralph and Gary Benton for training and are already proving to be a hit in their first displays! 5 6 Galaxy, our Spectacled Owl , is a relaxed and easy-going member of our team who usually opts for the more laid-back approach to life wherever possible! He is such a visually striking bird and usually chooses to show off his good looks in preference to his flying. However, over the past year, Ria May has been working very closely with Galaxy to encourage his naturally agile flight in the hope that he can join the Woodland Owls team later this year. He is so friendly and sociable, and we can’t wait for you to see him more regularly. Many of you will be big fans of Tolkien our Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl and so will be overjoyed to hear that his sister, Cavalli (left), has now returned to join our team having flown for a number of other collections for the past few years. They will be sharing duties and Cavalli is already taking part in Wings of Africa, so if you haven’t seen her in action yet, get ready for some characteristic, super low flying! 8 7

Sky Hunters at Sunset , Saturday 12 June and 17 September Exclusive Members’ Event , Saturday 5 June BioBlitz , Saturday 26 June African Sunset Safari , Saturday 10 and 24 July International Vulture Awareness Day , Saturday 4 September Wildebeest in the Potting Shed: Evening Talk with Ashley Smith , selected weekends during autumn Owl-O-Ween , Friday 29 October Tickets for above events all on sale at www.hawk-conservancy.org/events or call us on 01264 773 850. Thursday 30 September Owls by Moonlight ,

Hawk Conservancy Trust Visitor Centre, Sarson Lane, Weyhill, Andover, Hampshire, SP11 8DY T: 01264 773 850 E: info@hawkconservancy.org www.hawkconservancy.org

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