HawkTalk Issue 94 Summer 2023

A message from our Chief Executive Penny Smout CEO

In this issue

What’s new at the Trust?

04

Sunset at the Trust 05 A tribute to Marion Paviour 06 Meet our Masters of the Sky 08 Owen climbs for 10 conservation Hot off the press! 11 Raptor Nest Box Project 12 A year in review Bravo Cedric! 14 Sunset at the Trust , Selected dates throughout summer International Vulture Awareness Day , Saturday 2 September Evening Owls , Selected dates throughout autumn Wildebeest in the Potting Shed , Friday 6 October Owl-O-Ween , Friday 27 and Saturday 28 October November closed period , Monday 13 November - Friday 1 December Members’ Working Day , Sunday 26 November Dates for your diary

It was fantastic to see so many of you at the Members’ Night on 3 June. It is always a treat to spend time with our friends and have a bit of fun together. I was so pleased to have Steve Egerton-Reed from Forestry England share his insights into the White-tailed Eagle project on the Isle of Wight. Still haven’t seen one of their birds myself yet. Must try harder! It has been a bit of a relief that the seemingly incessant rain of April has given way to a lot more sunshine, but we do need some rain for our meadow to flourish and provide the best backdrop for Masters of the Sky. The birds are really getting used to this now and creating some stunning displays. As you’ll know, no two days are ever the same. One special piece of news to share with you all is that we have become property owners. With Ashley living in Scotland and his sons moving out of their home in the park, we had the chance to purchase the main residence in the park. Don’t worry, it doesn’t mean that Ashley is gone permanently, he will still be here as often as before. We’re currently working on some upgrades so that we can apply for change of use and use the main part of the property as office space, which is desperately needed for our staffing plans. With all the recent developments and achievements, I am sad that we are no longer able to share our news with Marion Paviour. She was our inaugural chairman and passed away at the end of March. As a driving force behind our success, we certainly wouldn’t be where we are without her. I am eternally grateful to her for all she did and, personally, for recruiting me into my role. Rest well Marion. We have had another superstar performance on the team with Cedric’s amazing London Marathon completed in just 3 hours and 39 minutes. He was hampered by the congestion at the start, so would have been even faster otherwise. He has raised over £6,000, 50 percent more than his target – congratulations Cedric and thank you all for your support. He’s a hard act to follow, but Owen is going to give it a go with his Three Peaks Challenge in August. I know he’s going to put heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears into it. Please join me in supporting him – you’ve got this, Owen! Have you had a chance yet to try out our new Tree Trail? I love that it highlights the habitat created by Reg and Hilary Smith and includes both familiar and some less familiar tree species. Trees are important for many species of birds of prey and we are pleased to be working with the Hampshire Forest Partnership’s mission to plant 1 million trees by 2050. We’ve also got some new super Top Trumps cards for the Top Trumps trail, so look out for those for the summer holiday. With so much happening on the park, we are finding it challenging to keep up with regular maintenance and small projects. We’re fortunate to have some lovely volunteers helping but would be delighted to have some new members join the team. Ideally it would be great to have people join in on a regular basis, but it might be that we do a call out for an ad hoc gathering of volunteers to tackle a key project for a day. Would you be interested in either option? If you are, please contact Andy Hinton via andy@hawkconservancy.org – and thank you! We hope to see you regularly over the coming months, and that you get to relax and enjoy the displays and share our appreciation of trees!

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