Hawk Conservancy Trust newsletter Winter 20 Issue 86

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HAWKTALK WINTER 2020 ISSUE 86

HAWKTALK WINTER 2020 ISSUE 86

Plan your next visit this winter

A star of the summer: Orion This summer we had to adjust in so many ways, and in some areas, this gave us a real opportunity to do things we don’t otherwise get a chance to do. When we re-opened for visitors, we decided to give Orion our Bald Eagle a go in our World of Birds of Prey display. Whilst Danebury and Cheyenne have, for many years, shone in our afternoon display and won themselves many adoring fans, it was time for Orion to step up and share some of the limelight.

Orion is a very gentle and intelligent bird who is better known for making appearances in our experiences team where he flies for guests, as well as taking part in some corporate events and weddings. He’s also very charismatic and chatty which means he is often a highlight of these experiences! For many years, Orion has been the youngster of our Bald Eagle team, accompanied by veterans Danebury and Cheyenne. He is, however, 19 years old which is about middle-aged for an eagle. Because of his age, we knew that asking Orion to start flying in a completely different way was never going to be straightforward. So we teamed him up with Tom Morath from our Bird Team who is especially patient and measured in his approach. He has previously trained a Bald Eagle named Nina with great success at a collection he used to work at, so we knew this would be a good match. The pair began with simply extending the flying distance and, with this mastered, Tom then really started to encourage Orion to fly in beautiful circuits around the meadow.

It made for some dramatic flying displays as he swooped low over the audience in Reg’s Wildflower Meadow. For those who witnessed it, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did! “I’ve really been enjoying my work with Orion so far and we’ve still got more work to do. It’s been a change of routine for him to encourage him to gain height and fly circuits above our heads. He is an experienced and intelligent eagle and so working with Orion has been an education for me as much as I hope it has been for him. Fingers crossed we’ll see this awesome eagle soaring in the skies above the Trust in displays in the not too distant future – so long as the wind is in the right direction!” Unfortunately, Orion suffered from some ill health in the summer that put pause to our grand plans. However, next year, Tom’s hope is to continue this training so that Orion will learn to circuit long enough to find natural lift (breeze or thermal uplift) so that he can soar high above the meadow. When the wind is in the right direction, he can already do some very impressive flying high over the trees. Watch this space!

As the nights get longer and the days get colder, it’s so important for our well-being that we continue to get outside and make time for nature in our lives. We invite you to join us this winter, now we’re open again, for a day embracing the glorious outdoors whilst watching our birds soar across the Hampshire skies. We have lots of safety measures in place for COVID-19 and have received wonderful feedback from visitors during the summer on TripAdvisor. Our timetable is slightly reduced as we continue to follow COVID-19 precautions, but we are delighted to be able to still offer three displays each day for you. As ever, they all take place outside in the fresh open air and we seat everyone with plenty of space for social distancing. Woodland Owls 11:30am in our Woodland Arena We begin each day in the winter with our most popular group of birds, the owls! From the small to the large, we’ll showcase the incredible silent flight of these elusive birds as they glide through our beautiful Woodland Arena and maybe even land next to you. Heading up the team this year we have Walter and Ennis our Great Grey Owls, and Charlie, Delta and Elder our Barn Owls. You may also see appearances from Sage or Troy our Tawny Owls, Wispa our Boobook Owl and either Cinnamon our Siberian Eagle-Owl or Molly our Eurasian Eagle-Owl. Sweeney Todd, our adorable Snowy Owl, is back to delight once again. See her sweep across the arena with some dramatic low flying. She prefers to fly on cold, crisp days with very little wind and, on a nice day, there’s nothing quite like watching her float through the arena with her brilliant white plumage against blue skies. In a showcase of South American species, we have our team of caracaras and vultures: Flo the Crested Caracara, Sirius the Striated Caracara, Pike and Chips our Black Vultures, and Tebenwick our Turkey Vulture. These are all intelligent birds, so we like to showcase this for you in our display. World of Birds of Prey 2pm in our Savannah Arena

As we travel the world through species of birds of prey in this display, it would be remiss of us to leave out the most numerous and widespread bird of prey in the world, the Black Kite. This species is found on four continents: Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe. Our team of kites will delight with their amazing aerial acrobatics. British Bird Encounter 3:15pm in Reg’s Wildflower Meadow This is your opportunity to see some of our British birds of prey up close and in action. Each day we will fly one of our British bird species, which may include Saxon our Golden Eagle, Lester our Merlin, Raj or Farah one of our Peregrine Falcons, or Scout our Kestrel. The encounter will be an informal and relaxed end to a winter’s day, and there’ll be an opportunity for you to chat with the member of our Bird Team running the session about the species we’re flying as well as the local wildlife. At this time of day in winter, we are sometimes fortunate enough to spot wild birds overhead and we’ll be sure to point these out to you. We’ll also fly either a second British bird of prey or you may be lucky enough to see some training with one of our younger birds, such as Mamba or Ravenclaw our White-headed Vultures. And don’t forget… • For children, we have our Top Trumps activity trail with six Super Top Trumps cards to collect! • Feathers Restaurant will be serving a tempting range of hot lunches and speciality hot drinks. If you visit in December, you can even book in for a Christmas lunch (see page 14)

ACTIVITY TRAIL