Book your Experience
Off to Survival School again
Where has the summer gone!!???!! Suddenly Lilly and I are packing our bags again for another 
wonderful Falconry and Foraging course with Survival School. Well be away from the 12th of August to the 14th of August, so if you need to get in touch please call or email and we will return all messages on Monday the 15th. Wish us luck for the rabbit hunt or the poor participants on the course may be going hungry for the night!
Returning Home
Alas our trip away ended all too quickly and here we are back at work again with renewed vigour and excitement for the up and coming busy month. A special thanks must be said to Lu our wonderful volunteer who kept everyone safe and sound and my worrying wart brain under control knowing that all my animals were being well cared for. With such a large team of animals and birds it is a worry to leave them for any period, especially when birds strongly develop bonds with a particular person. Even with just one bird, holidays take a lot more organising than just flights and insurance, there chicks to order and vet numbers to be noted, feeding regimes to be recorded and individual care sheets to be written.
Whilst we were in Scotland we were unbelievably lucky to see the stunning Osprey, I took a photo though a pair of Binoculars with my mobile so forgive me for the quality of the picture!!! 
We also saw a very rare animal – the Haggis!!!!
This week saw Otis, our common Buzzard take to the skies with ‘no strings attached’- free flying. It has taken just over a month but he has come on really well and although his grumpiness means he’ll be a while before he’s flown to the public he is a real stunner and a great member of the team.
Zippy is trying to grow into those ears of his but is taking his time and both George and he had to go to the vets this week for their 6 monthly mxymatosis injection, which is especially important since it has made a very aggressive appearance in our area. So much so that 3 hours out hunting with Lilly this week saw just one rabbit!! Unbelievable had i not been walking for 3 hours!!!
Just a note we are in August addition of Berkshire Life if you want to have a ganders and we will be making an appearance at the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenheads Love Parks Week on the 25th of July and the 28th of July please come along and listen.
Just a short one
Just a little note to let people know that the Feathers and Fur team will be taking a short holiday
to visit much loved family up north in the wilds of Scotland. The centre will remain open thanks to the wonderful skill and pure loveliness of Lu my highly valued volunteer.
So far this month we have had some wonderful high points. Bournville and Otis are two newest team members are coming along beautifully. We have gained another great volunteer who like Lu will eventually look to having his own bird. We’ve had some wonderful hands on sessions where the rain thankfully held off and lots of Cubs, Rainbows and Brownie groups which are masses of fun.
Over the next few months we are hoping to launch our new hunting days, so we are still on the lookout for local land with a bunny problem. We are also having another move around so that Zippy our wonderful new rabbit can come out on show, he is currently running amok around the house and like the Indian Eagle Owl before has chosen poor Lady’s bed as his own.
June
As always I could start the blog as ‘wow it’s been a busy month’, but i am sure by now you have realize this! June has seen some extremes of weather from ridiculously hot to sudden down pours and in true Feathers and Fur style we have been out in all weathers. We have three new additions to the family, Bournville a young male Kestrel, Otis a male Buzzard and Zippy our male Papillion rabbit.
Bournville comes from a breeder on the Isle of Wight and I have to admit has already won a warm place in my heart. He is so chilled out and relaxed and after only a week he is on the creance (training line) flying to the lure.
Otis comes from the same centre as Ash, a wonderful place in St Albans called Willows. Otis is replacing Tilia our female Buzzard as although we have put many hours into Tilia she just cannot calm down, a result i suspect, of her fox attack before I collected her. We still have Tilia but not on show to the public and the aim is to eventually put Otis and Tilia together and let them breed. However neither will be mature enough yet for a few years.
Zippy (and yes he is named after rainbow – Zippy and George) was very kindly donated to us by Georges breeder once she learnt of the education programme we use George for. I shall get some pictures up asap.
As for the rest of the month we have done a few school fairs, Winnersh Village show, plenty of groupon sessions, lots of school visits and birthday parties. Today i even managed to get out hunting and Lilly caught her first rabbit. She is now sat with a rather large crop watching the rain.
Falconry and Foraging with Lilly
Today’s blog is all about Lilly our youngest Harris Hawk and her recent adventure. We are lucky enough to work alongside a wonderful company called Survival School which offers courses where you can learn all sorts of wilderness survival skills and have some amazing adventures in the countryside. About 4 years ago I attended one of these courses and met the company owner Jonny, whilst learning all about foraging and fire lighting I mentioned to Jonny (mainly in jest) that we should join forces and offer a course that would allow people to learn all about the plants they could eat in the countryside and then learn the sport of Falconry to allow them to catch the meat to eat with Burdock root and Dock leaf salad!! Low and behold a few months later Jonny calls me up and tells me that he has thought it through and come up with some dates and was I free? Falconry and Foraging courses were born.
This past weekend Lilly, Teddy, Gimly and I join 3 instructors and 6 participants, 
camped in a wonderful estate somewhere around Burton on Trent in Derbyshire. Friday evening was spent introducing ourselves to the team and giving a bit of background history. Dan, Paul and Ashley, the instructors, took the group though general health and safety, then how to use the tools they would be using to forage safely and how to make the all important foraging stick, handy for leaning on when tired and pulling down branches to get the important food bits.
Friday night Lilly slept in the car, whilst I got the tent and a rather snazzy new sleeping bag from PJ Camping, the shop next to our site at Ladd’s.
Saturday morning for the group was spent learning all about plants and their uses both nutritionally, herbally or practically, whilst I scrambled under hedgerows and field margins desperately seeking out good warrens. Eventually I founds some just in time because at 1.30 Lilly and I were up. After a quick introduction to the ferret team the group learned how to handle the ferrets and how to set ferret nets and how to handle the bird most importantly!
Our first couple of warrens proved to be unsuccessful with no bolts, and when we chose to move on the next warren the blooming rabbits bolted but we were all too far away to let Lilly go. Eventually we moved to the other side of a small valley and Paul found a warren deep in a small stand of trees. A bolt, Lily took off the fist and chased the rabbit around the perimeter and down into the valley, on foot we chased just in time to see the rabbit bowl into a small ditch at the bottom and Lilly coming to land on the fence. I chased down the hill where Paul and I jumped into the ditch hoping to re flush the rabbit. Another bolted along the ditch but Lilly did not see it in time. Just then another and this time it bolted straight up the hill with Lilly in hot pursuit. The group had all run around the trees and were able to watch Lilly’s chase with a fantastic view. Unfortunately the rabbit ran to ground and Lilly took into a tree but what a fab chase.
By this point I was aware that if we didn’t get a rabbit the team would be going hungry that night, so we switched to ferret netting, as the remainder of the warrens were under shrubs and Lilly is not experienced enough for those.
Ferret netting is one of those sports that takes a long time to set up and is really disappointing if the ferrets don’t flush anything.
It is at this point I would like to say thank you to a wonderful man whom came to my centre a few days before we left for this trip and spent a great deal of time talking with me about ferreting and told me how he used to make all his own nets. That afternoon I returned from a Hawk Walk to find all his nets sitting on my step, thank you so much.
Anyway the first warren had about 30 nets set and no rabbit flushed, it’s now 4pm and I am very worried! This however is the nature of hunting, pitting your animals against wild ones and 9 out of 10 time wild will win.
The final warren and I can feel the tension, suddenly the net is caught right by my feet and we had our rabbit. Fantastic. That night the group cooked a broth of rabbit (cheating a little by adding sweet potatoes!) with ramsdens, a garlic like plant and a hot salad of Dock, cleavers and stinging nettle!! I have to admit it’s not something I would eat because it’s yummy but if in need!
Sunday was spent teaching the group about the basics of falconry including the falconry knot and the process of training a bird. Finally at noon it was time to head home. Packing the car and saying good bye always seems to come round too quickly. I had such a brilliant time and I was so proud of Lilly as it was her first time away from the centre and she was a real star. Thank you to the group for being fab and the instructors for the wonderful late night conversations around the camp fire.
(I have to admit……McDonalds was my first stop on the long journey home!)
Just Because I think she is beautiful I have added some pictures of Charlie who is now well on the way with her training and can fly about 10 foot at the moment to the fist.
Catching Up
Well its probably been one of the busiest times I can remember so I apologise for not writing sooner. First off I am really sad to say we have still not had any luck with the rescue and recovery of Storm. We advertised everywhere, news papers, local radio, news website, we even made it onto ITV facebook sites but still no luck. Not to say we didn’t have plenty of phone calls but non could confirm the equipment on Storms legs and when we went to look it would be a Sparrow Hawk or a Common Buzzard. It just confirms my belief that we need to teach people about the wildlife around them inorder for them to understand it. But I refuse to give up and I am still looking for him.
On a happier note we have two new members of the team, first off is a baby Bengal Eagle Owl called Charlie a beautiful little girl who has thoroughly put Lady’s nose out of joint by stealing her bed.
And Ariel, a stunning Lanner Falcon seen here with her new hood. Her story is one of success, found by a respected display falconer starving and exhusted in a field Lost as she was then know tookover a month to recover to full health. Afterward she became a fantastic member of their team however lacked the ranging out flying style that was required of her. This means that she doesnt like to fly too far from the lure which is perfect for us. So long story short she is now a member of the Feathers and Fur flying team.
We have done some amazing stuff over the past few weeks including having a stand at a lovely school fair, visiting a falconry fair and updating our equipment, we have birthday parties and Groupon bookings nearly every day too. But the most standout occasion is an invitation we received to Longridge Activity centre in Marlow, where I had the pleasure of meeting Steve Backshall a wildlife TV presenter best known for the programme ‘Deadly 60’. I shall just be professional and say he was very good at his stuff even if he did get bitten by a snake and did not hold any of the Birds of Prey correctly (they weren’t our birds otherwise i would have been pulling him up to standard!)
I have added some new photos to the Gallery and over the next few days I’ll be adding some of our press cuttings to the Press page so please come back and visit. Also if your around I shall be on Radio Berkshire on Thursday the 12th of May at 3pm.
Day Off – NOT
After another hectic Groupon session and a poorly customer unavailable for his Hawk Walk I found myself in the unusual position of having an afternoon off.
Now for a girl who works seven days a week and usually until the wee small hours responding to e-mails and ensuring that all behind the scenes work is kept on top off I was determined to make the most of the good weather and work on my tan.
So what would it be, a run in a desperate attempt to ensure I’m fit enough to compete the three marathons I signed up for in a moment of madness or perhaps a spot of lunch and a stroll along the river? No, like the bird anorak I am I decided to fly Storm the newest member of the team and ensure his aerobatic displays are finely tuned for the upcoming fetes and summer fairs.
Now Storm is somewhat at the same stage as I am with my running programme at present he has great potential and has the ability to be at the top of his game but the winter has seen him keeping warm inside and over indulging in his favourite snack of choice, chocolate (oh no that’s mine) his is Quail.
Now after some impressive flybys and speed defying antics he decided that he was going off for a gander around some of Hare Hatch’s more scenic and in this case most expensive residential gardens.
Now whilst I enjoy the outdoor life and nosing around other peoples finely manicured lawns, wading through shallow ponds and striding knee high through killer stinging nettles is not my particular ideal of the perfect afternoon off and slowly it dawned on me I should have agreed to the Roast dinner and half a cider in the newly refurbished local.
Well all this started at 2.00pm and after nearly six hours and fading light I decided that enough was enough and headed home with a heavy heart and an overwhelming need to crack open bottle of red wine I’d promised to celebrate my Marathon home coming with. But instead I opted for a take away and an early night as I knew I’d be up at first light chasing the perfect Storm
Although I write this less than a day later and still in search of our trail blazing Peregrine I began to think this would be a good blogging opportunity not to tell you about Storm’s adventures or for me to vent some frustrations but to give you all a glimpse of the life and the commitment that anyone who works with or who’s life revolves around animals.
At least once a day someone comes up and tells me how they would love to do my job and how lucky I am. Although I’m aware how lucky I am it worries me that people enter into buying birds and animals so haphazardly without fully understanding the commitment and dedication it requires.
I have had birds at the end of my bed, I’ve spent nights under trees, I even spent Christmas day hair drying a damp and frozen cold Harris Hawk.
I love the sport of Falconry and I fully support any ‘would be’ falconer to embrace their passion but do it with caution and a readily available supply of Dock leaves.
And as for Storm it’s a 5am start and a flask of tea!
End of March
My gosh it feels like its been so long since i last wrote. I have to boost that Feathers and Fur is going from strength to strength. We are fantastically busy at the moment with the Groupon offer that we did and birthday parties. We are also just about to come into show season and have been asked to attend many fairs, from small school fairs to larger village shows. I’ll post some of them in our next blog.
Our biggest news is the introduction of a new Peregrine Falcon, Ilex. A very handsome young man from North Yorkshire. Ilex is 6 years old and has been used for both display and breeding over the past few years. The sad side of this news is that Ilex is replacing Fagus who has vanished in search of a female. It has been three weeks now and although we tracked him for a few days with his telemetry he appeared to be hunting (since he was not interested in the Lure) and then finally his battery died and although we have seen him he is not interested in returning. It is a very sad moment but one of the risks of flying birds of prey with the ultimate freedom.
Spring is Nearly Here
Well February proved to be a busy time for us with the Groupon Deal that ran so successfully and our new Falconry Courses that we now offer it has been non-stop. The birds have also been busy; Tilia is slowly becoming a calmer character and is flying beautifully out in the fields. Lilly had her first introduction to rabbits working alongside Teddy the ferret this week and Willow made it not once but twice into the Maidenhead and Twyford Advertiser! (Lady and George also had their print premier)
Just to give you an idea of projects and new items to come firstly we are offering a wonderful experience for mums this mother’s day with a owl session. We are also expanding the Birthday offers with party bags full of falconry goodies. March will also see some wonderful Feathers and Fur goodies in the garden centre including money boxes and soft toy falcons complete with falconry hood! During March and April all the aviaries and weathering’s need painting white and treating with wood preserve and our garden and pots will be coming into bloom very soon. Wow spring is looking to be very busy.
Groupon Vouchers Welcome
Well I would like to say a big hello to all those that have found out about our business through the power of Groupon. We had such a phenomenal response with well over 800 vouchers sold. Fear not I will work my little socks off to make sure each and everyone has a great Flying experience. For all those not in the know Groupon is a website that offers money off sessions or products etc. Well we offered a taster falconry session and it proved popular.
So a quick note, please if you haven’t called yet to make your Groupon booking, don’t. Please go via the Groupon page on this website and email me the details required. I will reply ASAP. Just in case you haven’t read the rest of the website Feathers and Fur also offers Birthday Parties, private falconry sessions, photography sessions, falconry courses, corporate talks and school and educational group sessions. Just to name a few things. Look forward to meeting you all soon.