It's been a long time since I posted here, sorry about that. A new business venture, using the Sparrowhawk, Artemis, to chase off starlings from local dairy farms has been taking up a lot of my time.
It's proved very succesful, and we've operated on three farms so far with another three booked in for the future. Timing is everything, as I need to get there with the hawk as soon as the starling flocks turn up, so that they get the idea that there is a resident predator around the farm, and that they would be better off elsewhere. It's been mild this winter so far, so although there were a few early flocks of starlings, the huge flocks from Russian and Finland have not yet turned up. When they do, I'll get the phone call from the farms and it will be another week of very early starts, getting to the farm at dawn so as to be ready to let loose Artemis as soon as the starlings turn up. They tend to be quite regular and at one of the farms I've been visiting they would always turn up within five minutes of 08.10 .
AS I think I mentioned in an earlier post, Artemis doesn't actually have to catch any starlings to have an effect. She just flies at the flock as it comes into roost in a tree and they immediately beat a retreat. If we can keep doing that, they push off completely.
An article about our adventures so far appears in the most recent edition of Countrymans Weekly, a newspaper dealing with all sorts of country sports.
A local BBC reporter for BBC Spotllight is also interested in making a short film about the sparrowhawk versus the starlings , so Artemis may be appearing on the small screen.
Sparrowhawks are famous for having very brittle tail feathers, which snap easily. Artemis is no exception and her tail is a disgrace, only about half the length it should be. It doesn't slow her down, but it does make her less manoueverable. However, this isn't as bad as it could be, as I don't want her catching small birds, her natural prey. ( They have enough problems in the UK as it is, given the large number of cats).
It is possible to repair a broken feather, by "imping" it. That is, using an internal splint to fix a replacement feather to the shaft of the old, broken one. Trouble is, you can't get sparrowhawk feathers for love nor money ( I've tried), so if I do it, I'll have to use feathers from the tail of a pigeon, which are the closest in size and shape. That should confuse any amateur bird-watchers in the vicinity.
To add to my self-imposed workload, I've also got a new female Harris Hawk. She was given to me and is proving a real handful as she is over a year old and has never been touched. More anon.
