In September, we said farewell to Houston, one of our female Black Vultures. After flying at the centre for a number of years, she went to become part of a breeding pair. She was swapped for a male, who has been introduced to Dallas, our remaining female, with the hope that they will also become a future breeding pair. 

2017 has been a successful breeding year for a number of species, but a centre first, and quite possibly a UK first, was the fledging of our Mountain caracara, 'Ted'.

On 8th May 2017, our pair of Mountain Caracaras laid an egg. By looking at the CCTV cameras set up on the nest and surrounding area, we had witnessed them copulating a number of times and were quite certain the egg could be fertile.

Unfortunately, neither parents showed any interest in incubating the egg and by the time the second egg was laid on the 10th May, the first was practically buried underneath the nesting substrate. Therefore, after a week the decision was made to remove both the eggs and begin artificial incubation.

After 31 days of incubation, we were starting to see signs of hatching, but unfortunately, the first chick to hatch was underdeveloped and sadly died. The second chick, however, hatched successfully on 21st June and was hand reared for the initial 10 days.

Without wanting to hand rear the chick fully, the decision was made to put it under foster parents. Our Crested Caracaras have proven to be extremely good foster parents to other Cararcara species in the past, so on July 2nd, we swapped their chicks, which were close to fledging, with the Mountain Caracara chick and after a tense few moments, witnessed the Crested Caracaras tending to the chick.

The Crested Caracaras reared the chick successfully, until on 6th August, the chick fledged the nest. He then stayed with his foster parents for another 2-3 weeks. At this stage we believe we are the first in the UK to breed Mountain Caracaras successfully. it was also our 43rd species to be bred at the centre in the 29 years of opening.

Ted, as he has been named, is currently in training to be flown as part of the centre's daily displays, with the possibility of becoming a breeding bird in the future.

As the season is slowly winding down, we are thinking about putting birds in aviaries over the winter, particulary those who may start to breed. We are hoping that Lulu, our 11 year old female Chilean Eagle, will pair up with Saus, our 4 year old male, now that he is becoming an adult. This season they have been getting on very well, sitting next to each other on the weathering and flying together on display. They have now been put into an aviary together, and we are very hopeful that they will breed.

Our female Bateleur Eagle has got a new mate, who arrived at the centre in the middle of September from our friends at the International Centre for Birds of Prey.

The 10 year old has replaced her old mate, who sadly passed away last year at the age of 43, after successfully fathering 12 chicks in total, including our display bird, Guy. The new male has already started building a nest, so we are hoping this new pair will also succefully breed. Bateleur Eagles are a near threatened species in the wild, with populations outside of protected areas declining dramatically.

Indy, the Lugger Falcon was bred by friends of ours and arrived at the centre in July. She is a young bird who is currently being trained by Chris, and is now making regular appearences in one of our daily displays.

Found in open woodlands throughout India and Pakistan, the Lugger falcon is considered to be a near threatened species. Populations have rapidly declined in recent years due to the use of pesticides and being used as decoys to trap larger falcons.

Most of the chicks here at the centre are raised by their parents, with little or no help from us. However, the Brown Wood Owl chick is being hand reared. This is because it's parents are being foster parents to wild Tawny Owl chicks.

Members of the public often find tawny owl chicks on the ground and pick them up and bring them to wildlife centres. Most of the time the chicks would be fine where they are, as they can hop up through the branches and mum and dad will be close by, but some may be in more danger, close to busy roads etc. We would like these chicks to eventually be soft-released back into the wild, so to prevent them imprinting on us, we allow foster parents to raise them. The hand reared Brown Wood Owl will then be able to join another collection as a display owl.

Bird numbers are increasing at the centre on a daily basis at the moment, as several eggs are now starting to hatch. The Common Buzzards and Ferruginous Hawks have hatched, as well as several species of owl, including the Barred Owl, which we photographed as it was having an identification ring put on it's leg.

Recently, Kellie took two falcons to RAF Brize Norton, to support the RAF Falcons Parachute Display Team on their launch day. This was their first public parachute display to start the 2017 season and they invited local schools to watch. Unfortunately, the windy conditions meant that they were unable to jump, but children were able to hold the falcons and watch as the C17 aircraft flew past.   

Saus, our male Chilean Eagle, has recently broken the Centre's record of the highest flying bird. Lulu, our female Chilean Eagle was originally holding the record of 1968ft (600m), but on 22nd April Saus beat this by a whole foot! The next day though, he smashed this record, by climbing to 2105 ft (642m).   

We hope you had a lovely Easter weekend. We were very busy at the centre, where the birds flew very well. We also took a small team of birds to Cotswold Wildlife Park, where we had bird of prey encounters and flew some (inluding Roz, pictured) on display. Whilst there, we raised hundreds of pounds to go to the International Vulture Programme.

Two Crested Caracara chicks have hatched at the centre, beginning the successful hatching period in this years breeding season. Their parents are doing an excellent job rearing them and they are now big enough to be ringed (pictured). They will hopefully be joining our flying team once they are fully fledged.

On Saturday 4th March, we held a talk on African Vultures, where Kellie spoke about the work she did with wild vultures in Africa and the problems they are facing. The evening was a great success, with money being raised for the International Vulture Programme.

Cotswold Falconry for more than 10 years has provided financial assistance to various in-situ vulture conservation projects. In 2016 there was the opportunity to see first-hand some of the work we have been supporting. In October, Kellie excitedly took up the trip to South Africa alongside the Hawk Conservancy Trust and Gauntlet Bird of Prey, Eagle and Vulture Park. There, she assisted in the catching, ringing and tagging of several young white backed vultures, to help with their conservation. She had an amazing and eye-opening time and was able to share her experiences with the members of the friends of cotswold falconry. Using photographs she took whilst in Africa, she was able to explain why the ringing and tagging of these Critically Endangered birds is so important in monitoring the species and saving them from extinction. There was also a chance to have coffee and a slice of the vulture cake, specially made for the occasion!

We still have some tickets available for the 'friends of Cotswold Falconry' vulture talk on Saturday 4th March and would like to invite members of the public to attend. Hear about Kellie's experiences while she was in South Africa, working with wild, critically endangered vultures.

Cotswold Falconry for more than 10 years has provided financial assistance to various in-situ vulture conservation projects. In 2016 there was the opportunity to see first-hand some of the work we have been supporting. In October, Kellie excitedly took up the trip to South Africa alongside the Hawk Conservancy Trust and Gauntlet Bird of Prey, Eagle and Vulture Park. There, she assisted in the catching, ringing and tagging of several young white backed vultures, to help with their conservation. She had an amazing and eye-opening time and is looking forward to giving an evening talk about her experience on Saturday 4th March at 6.30pm. This will take place at the Batsford Education Centre. Not only is this a great opportunity to find out about the peril facing some of our birds out in the wild it is also a chance to raise funds for some very positive wildlife charities. Tickets are £5 per person.

Cotswold Falconry is now open for the 2017 season. There will be flying displays running throughout the day, at 11:30, 1:30 and 3:00. We look forward to seeing you!

A bit of sad news to report. We put the adult male Bateleur Eagle to sleep just after Christmas. He was a very old bird, being at least 43 years old and had been at the centre since the first year we opened. Despite our and veterinary efforts, his leg joints just didn’t enable him to have the life he had previously enjoyed.