Loch Lomond Bird Of Prey Centre

My Grandson, Aiden, helping out with Smudge on a Jessops photography workshop today. Apart from Dink the Kestrel, the birds flew well. Inca the Harris' Hawk and Max the Red Kite absolutey nailed it.

The flying are is almost finished, at last. More and more birds are being trained, and the hard work is almost finished. Here are a few photographs to illustrate how much work has been done, and some of the problems we have encountered. The area is much cleaner, more environmentaly friendly, and much better for wildlife. We still have grass seed and wildflower seeds to sow, and bat/owl boxes to put up, but overall, the land and woodland are now being managed properly, not left as a wildlife desert. The improvements will allow the public to enjoy what was once an inaccessible and neglected area, full of hazards and waste. Watch this space, announcements on flying displays will be coming soon.

We had a few uninvited guests trying to squat in our drinks vending machine - WASPS. Fortunately, our friends at Eliminate rushed to our rescue today and "eliminated" the problem. It's a little unnerving wen customers put £1 in the slot and receive a can of Diet Cola and half a dozen little black and yellow passengers, 😂
So, if you find yourself in a similar situation, give Ian and his team a call.
https://www.eliminatesolutions.co.uk/

Great to see feathers from both Golden Eagles, Orla & Scout, on parade with 4SCOTS at Buckingham Palace for the Presidential visit.

The flying area should be finished in the next few weeks. We have already started training birds for flying displays and getting them acclimatised. This is "Dink", our male Eurasian Kestrel, being given some free time in the flying area. Already "Duke" the Hazard (Buzzard x Harris's Hawk), and "Max" the Red Kite, are free flying in there. A few more hawks will be put through their paces in the coming days, along with a few of the Owls.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zslKSD5Q Rc

When you ask the son to give the lawn a quick clean, 😂

Once again I must thank our wonderful and knowledgeable visitors for their support and reviews resulting in this award. The centre continues to go from strength to strength. The current transformation, including new personnel and developments like the flying arena, will ensure the centre continues to evolve to become the facility I envisaged many years ago. Thank you.

We are keeping our fingers crossed. Luca our Steppe Eagle may be a dad. That will mean I am a grandad, again, 😁😁

A video from today of the recently arrived Nuthatch pair. This is one of them.

We got the results of the DNA test on Friday. The results indicate Max is a male Red Kite, 😊

A few photographs of the flying area. Showing how it looked at the beginning, and the progress made over the last ten months by ourselves and others in clearing and tidying the area. We have now started to build portable benches, perches, and barriers for when the flying demonstrations begin. Also, we have begun to clear the ground above the pipelines to re-instate the depth of cover above the oil lines, this will provide drainage and hard standing. You wouldn't believe how much rubbish and scrap metal we've removed, probably over one full skip load. We have already noticed a huge increase in the wildlife population since the area was cleared.

The "Looking Back" page in one of the local papers had this article in it today. Fifteen years ago, wow. Two months before I was asked to help do some wiring for Brian at his new centre. There's an ocean of water gone under the bridge since then. The highs, the lows, the very lows, and the bottom of the abyss. But, the centre has been on many highs since the move to Lomond Shores, with many more to come I'm sure. The centre is a world away from what it was in the beginning, although the first site holds many good memories, and a universe away from the site behind the garden centre. Onwards and upwards.

A few images taken on a recent Jessops photography workshop sent in by one of the clients, Ammar Alhasso.

Our new looking chairs. A big thank you to Vicki Crichton at All Dressed Up in Alexandria for the donation. I must admit they look a bit snazzy, 😁

Max's first day on the weathering lawn beside the other hawks. Just a little exposure each time until she/he gradually gets used to it. Feathers being sent next week for DNA testing to confirm male or female.

THE TRUTH EXPOSED It is interesting that, until the event of social media, those responsible for working in, and managing the countryside, were left to do their job. The public trusted them. Years of experience, born and raised in the countryside, working with nature every day, understanding life cyces, predation, and charged with a responsibility to care for the countryside and provide the masses with food on their plates. Then social media came along, and the "celebrity" c...onservationist/wildlife expert arrived on the scene. In the main, people who were raised in an urban environment, and latched on to the fact the great unwashed in the towns and cities needed "educated" on nature and wildlife. TV and social media are vehicles they are comfortable with, and they use that to promote their largely ignorant view of how nature and the countryside works. They actively ally themselves to those organisations who have "assumed" responsibility for the preservation of nature and wildlife, organiations equally populated by urbanite graduates and academics who have absolutely no clue about countryside management, (The Scottish Government falls into that category). This article exposes the conflict between such organisations, the RSPB and National Parks. This could get interesting, 😉
http://www.moorlandcommunities.org.uk/we- need-to-talk-abo…/…
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Some images of Orla taken during a photography workshop today. Have a look at Dean Bricknell's facebook page and website.