TACK3727

The size and the height of the nest boxes suggest that they are intended for use by falcons and not hawks, the sparrowhawk is a low level nester, and do not tend to use nesting sites high up or use man made artifical structures, I am positive that the boxes that you have described are intended for peregrines, where abouts have these boxes been placed on trees or bulidings?

Proably the best idea tipplerboy plus the adult will proably be easier to settle when the have bred at their new loft. Have you gat any photos of the birds to put on here :)

HI all my westies are featherd legged and strong flyers they only tumble on odd occasions, they tend to concentate on flying to a great height until they are like specks in the sky.

I have also experienced squabs with sprayed legs and it has usually happened when there has only been 1 young reared in the nest, it seems to be that the push out with 1 leg to keep themselves upright because they have no other chick to rest against. You will find that the sprayed leg will not heal itself and will only get worse if left. One method that I have known to work to a certain extent is to careful place the sprayed leg back in the normal position and then secure it via a thick piece of string to the other leg, the length of string needs to be at its longest point no more than the natural position between the 2 legs, aslo were the string is placed around the legs, cushion between the leg and the string with strong paper to ensure the string does not cut or rub into the squabs leg, also check and loosing the string as required to enable the legs to grow.

The westies are like most other flying breeds, it depends how much you feed them, they wont fly if too hungry and wont fly if full with food. Try to experiment with the amount of food until the birds are flying well. My westies will fly around 1 hour + at a time and they will fly so high they look like specks in the sky. I have had succes with adult stock I have bought in after letting them out after around 6 weeks, whilst in the loft they have had access to a large wire cage fitted to the front of the loft so that they can get a good look at the surroundings, when the day comes to let them out do not feed them the day before to ensure they are hungry, hopefully using this method you should be able to settle the birds without to much fuss. Before I forget on the first few days when the new birds get their freedom, have a couple of birds that are already settled on standby to release in case the new birds strike off and start to wander.

Sparrowhawks are tree nesters and not cavity nesting birds which means that they are very unlikely to nest in boxes and prefer to make use of an old crows or magpies nest, when large nestboxes are provided by birds of prey thay are usually used by Kestrels and Owls. The people who are putting up the nestboxes are they placing them on trees or buildings? If thet are bird lovers the positioning of the nestboxes will give you a clue as to what species they are attempting to attract. Let me know what type of nesting box they are putting up and if they are on trees an buildings and I will give you my opinion of what they are trying to do.

Gutted for you Kev, please report it to the RPRA Hawk watch to add to the figures.

It might be a Yorkshire thing but thats what I meant. I'll sort them out meaning I'll collect and get them back to Roland. :-/

Sorry to hear your pain Roland, I live in Barnsley South Yorkshire I would say its about 15 mile from Pontefract Race Course, I presume thats were your birds were liberated, how many did you send and what was the other retirns like in your club/fed. If you have any reported down this end, give us a nudge and I will sort them out for you.

No matey not hearsay, like I said personal experience and yes I am living and I am a witness otherwise why would I say it. 20 years involved in Falconry along with dealing and collecting escaped Birds Of Prey. The European Eagle Owl is more likely to be active during daylight hours. The latest personal sighting I have is of a European Eagle Owl living locally, often seen flying up and down the riverside, photographed and reported in the local newspaper by a local resident. This bird has been surviving for the last 4 weeks, living on wild ducks and rabbits. Just for the record I only relay fact and not hearsay.

Interseting read so far. The European Eagle Owl is the largest of the Owl species, although a it does have a close relative the Bengal Eagle Owl which is smaller. It's more than likely that the European Eagle Owl that has been spotted is an escaped Facloner's bird that has managed to find it's freedom, although wild Eagle Owls do appear in Britian having crossed the channel. If the Owl is an escaped captive bird it will be displaying a closed ring on one of it's legs and also maybe jesses ( Leather straps around it's leg/s that enable the Falconer to hold it secure) I believe that due to the location that the Owl has been seen that it is more than likely a captive bird that has escaped, through for whatever reason. Eagle Owls due breed in the wild in Britian and I am aware of 3 nesting sites, although non around the area of the reported Owl. The British breeding Owls are believed to be escaped captive birds who have succesfully adapted to life in the wild. I have flown and bred European Eagle Owls and I know what they are capable of killing, anything from a mouse to a small deer, if it's food then it will be killed and eaten. The Eagle Owl is not a threat to Racing Pigeons, due to the Pigeon's speed, although I do know from personally experience that hungry escaped Eagle Owl's have been known to attack small dogs and cats when pressed to do so. Where the European Eagle Owl is found in the wild it is the top of the food chain, including preying on other Birds Of Prey. If any escaped Bird Of Prey is found by the RSPCA or RSPB or handed into a vet they are not allowed to kill the bird unless suffering from serious injury, the bird will be handed onto to an experienced Bird Of Prey Keeper or sanctuary.

At the end of the day if somebody has 100 birds to send let them crack on, it generates money for the club and lucks good on results when the winning bird has won against an extra 100 on the race result. One bird, one winner thats all it takes, the birds are all coming back to the same area and you will usually find the race is won on the trap, also think of it this way, safety in numbers, the more birds in the racing flock the better the chance of survival if percy strikes a any point.

These are really good traps for rats and you can also get them for mice, they are made of tough plastic, a strong spring and teeth round the edge to kill the rat when it traps. They are also easy to set by pressing the back of the trap so it saves your fingers getting caught!!!!!!! If you e-mail www.thepetshop-online.co.uk the can get hold of them, I think last time thry were about £2.00 each.

Nice trapping

Sorry to hear about the scum British Homing World today and it reports that a young fancier Shaun Kaye 14 year old had started up with Slaithwaite Fying Club in the Pennine Valleys Federation, he had gathered together 17 young birds that he had managed to get tame, when some low life ripped the door of the shed and stole all his birds. It was discovered that a local druggie was responsible and had cut the rings off and sold the birds at the local livestock auctions for £1.30 each. Pure evil low life waste of space scumbag, a yound lads pride and joy in exchange for a bag of Herion aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrggggggggggggghhhhhhhh (puke)(puke)(puke)(puke)