As far as I'm aware JPJ will be returning to the UK sometime in the next 12-18 months I don't expect we will see the birds back in the UK though seems a pointless exercise to move them again (but who knows the financial constraints of either choice). She was for a time to join the South Carolina Bop Centre but this did not work out
Might just have to take up your offer on visiting your centre! Yes I'm surprised Jemima has left that centre, the book constantly said things like how she has seen a lot of poor quality centres and that hers was basically the best, so i would have liked to have seen it for myself! Oh well, hope the birds don't have too much trouble in quarentine!
Post by harrishawker on Oct 4, 2006 21:40:07 GMT -5
Eagle Heights is within 20 miles of me and i no the staff quite well. The staff are well trained. In fact one member is just about the worlds best Sparrow hawker and has recently been invited to do some articles in a well known Falconers Magazine. He has flown and breeded them for 25 years and is very experienced with other birds. Indeed, the main staff are all well trained.
On the Downside, I think that they are all squashed in a little too much plus i did notice the clipping which is there for easy use when un-clipping for flying. Their Food is rediculously over priced (hawk food) and i have heard there Courses are a bit Naff!
I do not like displays much as i think the birds are treated like a circus act but most at the heights are rescued birds so at least they get a life that they would have been long time dead.
So i am very 50/50 over this place but it makes the Kids laugh (esoecially with the Caracaras) and puts a smile on many handicapped kids face. Now that can't be bad can it
In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.
Aerial beats the crap out of her tailfeathers she only had one she didn't break the tip off of last season. She has no qualms with crashing into stuff like Junipers and wiggling between the branches. Plus when she mantles she sits high. Those and she broke a small piece off of a pimary. Nothing worth imping. Those pics are of here were at the end of the season.
08 season: 51squirrels 16 rabbits 43miscellaneous
I'm sorry, but you said "it's impossible" when you really meant "I don't know how yet".
Eagle Heights is within 20 miles of me and i no the staff quite well. The staff are well trained. In fact one member is just about the worlds best Sparrow hawker and has recently been invited to do some articles in a well known Falconers Magazine. He has flown and breeded them for 25 years and is very experienced with other birds. Indeed, the main staff are all well trained.
Post by harrishawker on Nov 28, 2006 2:03:23 GMT -5
justmax said:
harrishawker said:
Eagle Heights is within 20 miles of me and i no the staff quite well. The staff are well trained. In fact one member is just about the worlds best Sparrow hawker and has recently been invited to do some articles in a well known Falconers Magazine. He has flown and breaded them for 25 years and is very experienced with other birds. Indeed, the main staff are all well trained.
Yes, I am talking about Nigel. He is the guy in the original pic which Falcon boy posted. What he does not no about Spars you can put on the back of a matchbox. He is also a straight forward 'No bullSH!@t' Guy (more than i can say for some of the falconers over here). I do not think people realise how hard it is to follow the rules and regulations over here in these centres they are scrutinised by the Anti's , the RSPB, RSPCA and DEFRA on a regular basis. If you see one bird that has a tail feather missing or another not clipped right you dismiss the whole centre.They have a general all round view and if these organisations pass it then as a falconer don't you Knock it.Without these centres our future in Falconry is hugely diminished..Support them and do not critise them as cruel or inadequate as if you do as a falconer then you give the Anti Brigade Huge ammunition , in fact if a member of the same sport does you give them an 'Ammunition Dump' I know Alan, Emma,Rob,Nigel very well and they are very very experienced and very caring falconers. They do alot for charity and travel many schools with displays ...yes its part of their income but the more you can explain to the future generation how harmless , wonderful,and funny these birds are the more chance our sport has a future.
I have changed my opinion 100% and do not mind admitting it. Do not think of it as a circus think of it as education.
PM me and tell me who you are and where in Kent
Are you talking about Nigel?
Where abouts are you based...what do you fly?
In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.
Post by countrygirl4eva on Feb 15, 2007 6:15:33 GMT -5
Hiya i hav been reading these posts with much interest... regarding eagle heights... i am totally suprised that anyone can think its anything but admirable and inspiring. i have been a season ticket holder there for many years and in the summer there is nowhere i would rather be than sitting watching those magnificent birds souring above the valley. In response to the view that they are treated like circus animals i say.. what a load of rubbish! If the birds didnt want to fly then they quite simply wouldnt. i am very much with Justmax and his opnion... I have had many chats with the falconers and donated money to the funds wich enable them to buy equipment to help the birds survive.. they have released many birds back into the wild... and just to say to Falcon Boy.. i think next time you should find out the facts before judging places and people. In my opinion Eagle Heights IS one of the best in the country and should be applauded for there effort and determination. xx Regards
P.S did anyone see the clowns at the heavy horse show last year! <- if you did.. what did you think? xxxx
and just to say to Falcon Boy.. i think next time you should find out the facts before judging places and people.
I never said they were horrible people. Just that some of the folks in the demo seemed inexperianced and overall the centre was not as impressive in many factors as some of the others i visited.
I do know there are a few people there with lots of experiance. The gentlema pictured with the martial eagle is one of them. He is the guy who breeds sparrowhawks and i must say, he knew his stuff.
Falcon Boy Apprentice Falconry Administrator
Ethics make the individual, not the other way around.
Falconboy is stating HIS opinion on the whole set up, and the center. There truly is not need to say such comments, seeing as everyone is entitled to their own opinion. this being said, i would not continue on such a way of calling someone a "know it all". and he never once said that he thought they where horrible people, or anything that would involve him "backtracking" and what facts would he have to learn? how they made a leash set up like that safe? the facts of what feather damage looks like? i believe it is you that need to get your facts straight.
Post by Falcon Boy on Mar 18, 2007 21:31:00 GMT -5
countrygirl4eva said:
Stop trying to backtrack now you know that EVERYONE disagrees with you. I think u r a know it all but really you dont know anything HA
You seem to read into and interpret things way differently than anyone else who has ever read these posts. Not once did i backtrack. My initial post said
I also did not like the display, while it was good by design, all but 2 of the people doing the display seemed "afriad" of the birds, whether this was actual fear or simply inexperiance i do not know
To specify, the two gentlemen of which i have respect are Nigel and one other younger fellow who flies a perlin but who's name avoids me at the moment. Both of them seemed very confident in both their handling skills and practical knowledge. I felt as though a few people in the display were afraid of the birds, for example, i saw one kid run from a vulture when it tried to bully him for food.
I am wondering if you are here to start a fight with me or actually make a valid point regarding the centre and my points. You mentioned that you love to sit and watch the birds soar around the valley, and while that is truly touching, it is not falconry and it is irrelevant to what you disagree with me on. To my understanding you do not like my opinion on the centre, to which I said it was not one of my favorites due to bird conditions, teathering arrangements, and handler experiance. While i said i do have respect for two of the fellows I met, the rest I observed seemed to have a lack of knowledge and experiance, not something that in my opinion is preferable in a falconry centre that is supposed to be teaching people about falconry and birds of prey.
You also mentioned that I am a know-it-all, and to that i'd like to beg to differ. I would think anyone who has met me [and for those who have a valid reason to disagree, PLEASE step in and tell me] would disagree with you. At falconry meets I often am silent and merely listen to gather knowledge, I am rarely the head of a conversation, feel free to ask anyone who knows me in the Maryland Falconers Association or who met me at the New York State Falconers Association. Although I will occasionally give a random suggestion or two if I notice another falconer struggling it is never a "you have to do it this way", it is often "perhaps if you try this it may end this behavior becuase...". Ask Rage, I mentioned something similiar to that when his bird decided the culvert was a better place to eat than the grass. So, despite your opinion that I am a know it all, I feel myself and I'm sure many will back me up in the fact that I am not and rarely, if ever, act like so. If anyone disagrees please feel free to state it publicly as I would like to know if that is the case.
Falcon Boy Apprentice Falconry Administrator
Ethics make the individual, not the other way around.
I wouldn't go so far as to call you a know-it-all, I would just suggest that you word your critiscisms more carefully in future, to prevent any offense or upset. Everyone is entitled to opinions, but there is a fine line between opinionated and arrogance...