Poor show of me..sorry all

[Tomahawkss]

Wow what an intro, welcome to you and your mrs who seems a goodun, you will probably need to use the rubber room alot after you have been on the board
Andy

[sbd]

Dobry Den Chris,

blimey I know more about you than most of me mates
I have a feeling you'll fit in fine.

SBD

[chris ballard]

Err yea, sorry guys, never use one word when a thousand will do. Still, WYSIWYG!

Nice day innit...and im gardening...DOH!!

[corb.177]

Well that was an intro and a half.
I have been reading a book about Harris Hawk's (by Lee William Harris) liked the Harris since i saw one at a display going through its paces.
The main thing I learned is how much time and effort goes into looking after one of these fantastic birds.
Guess I will stick to watching the displays.
Anyway welcome to the Best.

[Backache]

Hi Chris,
Nice to see a 'Drop Short' on here and an ex JLR at that. I started in the JLRRE in Dover myself....and we still have the RA lanyard

Welcome to the forum

Nev

[chris ballard]

Hey Nev, I wernt no steam gunner!!

I know, Red for the blood you never spilt, blue for the sea you never crossed, and yellow...cos thats what you are!(RA Stable belt colours)

We also reasoned that "Ubique" meant "everywhere" for the RE, and "all over the place" for the RA

Mind you, its better than "****S" Teenie weenie air taxis I suppose.

Its funny how these things go aint it. Love the old RAOC badge with the wrong sized balls! And what about the Gloucesters with a bolt that went right through their heads to holt their berets on!! (sorry lads, I know it was a well deserved battle honour, but you just have to)

Sneaky and Corb

Raptor keeping aint rocket science (never thought I would say that, just shows.) Its a lot easier to get help these days.

Best time for raptors is late morning or mid to late afternoon. They have 2 hunting drives a day by all accounts. We normally go out about 2ish.

If you do decide to do it, get a mentor, and think about it hard first. If you do it right (IMHO) then the clobber to support and house the bird (perches, telemetry etc) will cost loads more than the bird, and always get vets insurance...ask me how I know

Harrisi lamp really well. Mine took to it without any prompting, but she was a lot better this year (second season). To tell you the truth, I find lamping with an airgun really frustrating, as the hawk lamp (Clulite) lights up the whole field and the hawk picks her target. Not much stalking necessary. The harris loves to plunge through cover and kill, so she often takes things we never see till she hits it. On my patches, lamping is often the only way to see her actually chase.

If you want to read about top harris hawking, read "a passion for harris hawks" (or any of his books for that matter) by Martin Hollinshead.

Lee's book (IMHO) is full of contadictions and is much of a muchness, Such as saying the harris is all you would ever want and then saying "when you are ready to progress"...what, more like when you want to make life more difficult and limit you hawking!

Martin is an Austringer (hunts hawks, eagles and buteo) and a very successfull one at that. The Harris is truly unique, and it is this that makes it a good beginners bird...its feet still hurt though!

Look there I go again, jackableedinory!!

[Acenorth.]

Hey Nev, I wernt no steam gunner!!

I know, Red for the blood you never spilt, blue for the sea you never crossed, and yellow...cos thats what you are!(RA Stable belt colours)

Yellow for cowardice wasn't it?

Its funny how these things go aint it. Love the old RAOC badge with the wrong sized balls!

Again, said to be gained for supplying the wrong ammunition to the RA, who fled a post thus gaining the yellow band in the middle on their belt?

Welcome aboard Chris, being ex-mob, you'll fit in just fine....

Ian