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PHOENIX FALCONRY



                                       News - January 2010

As the cold weather and deep snow continue into January, our thoughts are on the impending breeding season and with the completion of our new facility we are keen to get the entire collection of birds moved in to their new luxury accommodation and hopefully let the loving begin...

Whilst some of our birds are hard to pull away from their heated chambers in this cold spells, the rest of our team are having a ball! In particular our Canadian Bald Eagles who feel right at home in the region of -5degrees. But probably our biggest fan of these polar conditions is Edna, our Striated Cara-cara from the Falkland Islands . In the wild just now, she might be enjoying temperatures as low as -50! So the -5 Perthshire weather is positively balmy to her and a good snow bath and inspection of the facility each day goes down very well.

Probably the biggest news for us this New Year is the arrival of our long awaited litter of German shorthaired pointer puppies! Our hard working pointer bitch “Fay” finally came of age (4) in the late autumn. Spencer needed no encouragement to assist in increasing the size of our working kennel of pointers. 4 lovely boys arrived 63 days later (3 black and 1 liver) and mother and puppies are all doing well. Two will be going on to good working homes with fellow falconers whilst two will remain with the Phoenix Kennels to be trained to join our existing team of top quality working pointers (well if we ever get round to stop cuddling them that is!)

Finally, with the tail end of the hunting season upon us, we have a little more than 9 weeks left to enjoy in the hunting field. Our pack of hunting Harris Hawks are fit and keen and with the cold weather, the game on our estate is finally congregating around our cover woods. The snowy conditions favour the use of our ferret, who is working very well After the decadence of Christmas and Hogmanay, Spencer and our instructor team are all nursing a few good turkey dinners and a good daily workout for us all will be very welcome indeed....