BOPAndOthers

2018

Holy cow. It has been 5 months since I have been on here! When did that happen!? I don't really know where the past 5 months have gone, heck I can't even remember what I did yesterday, let alone 5 months ago!

I've been busy. Life got busy. It got busy, and I needed to free up time for other things, and unfortunately, my blog had to sit on the back burner for a while! The birds and my dog are always my first priority, and through this tough winter, they have been the one thing I am focused on completely and worried about constantly.

If you follow me on Instagram, you will know of a lot happening recently. It's where I post the most frequently, and somewhere I love to post. I have got two wonderful new additions to my family. Last year, just before Christmas, I collected two Gyr/Saker Falcons. I got them within two weeks of each other, and although it has been hard, I know that it will turn out great. They were both Parent Reared in a full seclusion aviary, so until they were pulled and equipped with anklets and jesses, they had never seen a human or anything outside of their aviary. I collected Apollo first, from a great breeder, and now a friend, and I couldn't be happier with him. He is gorgeous. I got the choice of two, one bigger and one a bit smaller. I decided on the smaller one. He was going to be my first actual falcon. It was tough for the first day, but he settled down and into the family so fast and so well, I still can't quite believe it to this day. He is great.

Two weeks later, we went to pick up my second Falcon. I was thrilled beyond words, so much that I didn't sleep that night before. I just couldn't wait to see her and find out what she looked like. All I really knew was that she was a Black Gyr/Saker. It was quite a long drive to get her, but I am so happy we did! She is striking. Just so utterly gorgeous, but I still can't get a good picture of her. She is one of the most stunning birds I have seen, and I am not exaggerating. I will admit the first two weeks were hell on earth. It took her a while to take to me enough to even hold her, and let me tell you, she was noisy! We're getting there, I'm trying to get her steady around the dog first, and then we will be focusing on lure work, and how fast she is going to hit it. Although she looks big, she is actually quite a slim bird, she weighs around 2lb 7. To me, all that means is that she is going to out-do me. She will be very fast and agile, which will definitely catch me off guard. I can't wait!

After having Apollo, it was kind of a shock to the system. He was so easy, and then we had little miss who thought she ruled the roost. Fair to say, she has been put in her place!

As if these two haven't been enough, I also need to get all the birds up and going for wedding and display season! I love this time of the year, it is busy, but so much fun! I just wish it was a lot warmer. As I am writing this post, it is currently snowing. In February. What is going on!?

The birds aren't the only thing that has kept me busy, we have a (now) 13-month-old Labrador puppy called Ralph. He turned 1 last month and is the light of my life. I adore him. He has quickly turned into 'my' dog, and although he is the biggest pain in my ass, I couldn't live without him.

He's fab, apart from the fact that he doesn't listen to me when we are out. In the house, I am his favourite person, he is attached at my hip, and I teach him everything. He knows so many tricks and will do them outside. However, he has somehow got into the habit of pulling on the lead and also doesn't have any recall. Like any! It's just so hard to say no to that face though! We're getting there, it's just going to be a bloody long process!

If you want to follow him, check his Instagram out: @Mousey_Ralphy.

I do post a lot on my YouTube channel, although I have slacked a little lately, I am getting back into it! If you want to go see my daily vlogs, see Apollo and Athena more, then go subscribe to my channel so you don't miss when I post! @BOPAndOthers

I am going to be trying my hardest to post more on here, I adore my blog so much. It's my one place that I can somewhat 'braindump' and I don't know how I went so long without it!!

I will see you soon

Konnie

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TUESDAY TALKS

Wow. What a week. I feel like so much has happened, and I need to sit back and write!

I love Tuesdays. I see them as a reflection day. A reflection of all that happened last week. It should be Monday, but you're always too busy on Monday catching up from the weekend. Tuesdays have the balance of calm and busy to help you reflect on everything that's happened.

This past week has not been good. Personally, it's not been good. Generally, it's been terrible.

Last Tuesday, 15th August 2017, we lost one of the birds. Unfortunately, last Monday, Chillie started acting a bit weirdly. I brought her in and tried to feed her up. She rejected everything. We tried everything we could, however, she passed away in my Mum's arms around noon. This was such a big shock to us all. It was inconceivable. This was my mum's first bird: She hand reared her, hand fed her, held her and was doted on constantly. It killed me to see her reaction.

As much as Chillie was a pain, she was loved and loved back every second. She was gorgeous and so well natured. Although she was stubborn 50% of the time, I couldn't fault her. I miss her terribly.

Rest In Peace, my love. You will never be forgotten.

Whilst we have such beautiful things, we also have such terrible and horrifying people in this world. Last Thursday, in Barcelona (Spain), some terrorists drove their van into a group of people. In doing so, they killed 13 people and injured in excess of 130. Hours later, there was another attack which led to one person's death and 13 people injured.

One thing I will never understand about this world is religion. Religion is the one key thing that always takes away the chance at world peace. Although, we shouldn't be tying these 'terrorists' to a religion. If they believe that a higher being is telling them to kill and injure people than they are sorely mistaken. These people are nothing but cowards, and their names and faces should never see the light of day. They made a decision that day, which was to kill somebody. If that doesn't sound wrong to you, then please re-evaluate your life and your life choices.

Charlottesville.

How can one word - one state - hold so much hate.

Nazi is a word we all have heard about. It is used mostly whilst talking about Hitler and WW2. It's not a nice word. It was and still is used to define terrible people, who do terrible actions.

If you haven't heard or seen any pictures from the 'rally' then I would recommend looking. The world looked like it transported back 100+ years to when we would burn witches! 'People' were running around with torches and signs saying 'white lives matter'. This was all over a statue being taken down. WHAT!? Yeah, I've said that to myself a few times over the past week! This took place on Friday 11th August.

On Saturday (12th August), they clashed when they were faced with counter demonstrators. I heard about this late Saturday afternoon, and was horrified by all the videos I had seen on Twitter. There were cars driving through crowds without caring for safety. The state was quickly put into a local state of emergency.

At 1:42pm, Heather Heyer was murdered when a car rammed into a crowd of protestors. 19 other people were injured in this.

Again, WHAT!?

I can't fathom this. My brain won't let me accept what happened. This is ridiculous, and horrifying! A white supremacist rammed his car into a group of people protesting (as he was doing) and killed a young woman.

I can't talk anymore about this without getting mad, so I will wrap it up there! If you want to learn more about Heather, I would recommend it, especially her mothers speech at her funeral. It's incredible.

On a more positive note, yesterday was a solar eclipse. It was the first America has witnessed that has gone from coast to coast. In the UK, we didn't really get anything, although it was around 8pm! The best thing about solar eclipses are 100% the pictures!

How can we not talk about Trump looking at the eclipse, even though he had 'eclipse glasses' and it hurts your eyes! This man, is president of the 'free world'.

Tuesday should be everyone's reflection day. Just take 10 minutes out of your day, and think of everything that happened to you this past week, and then think about everything that has happened in the world. It's a good exercise.

I hope you enjoy your Tuesday.

I will see you soon.

Konnie

xox

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, by BOPAndOthers

2017

MEET TIMMY!

Holy cow. I haven't been on here in a while!! Oopsies! Having a puppy and chicks are such bloody hard work! It's been a month since I last posted a blog post, and three weeks since I uploaded on YouTube! Aaaaah!

*goes back into my quiet cozy bubble*

Anywaaay, I'm back! Woop! 🎉 If you have been following me on any of my socials or are subscribed to my YouTube channel, then you will know that a couple weeks ago, I got a new baby. As you may remember, I picked up a new baby Barn Owl and introduced her in my latest blog post - 'Meet Billie'. A few weeks after that, I picked up my dream bird.

Everyone; meet Timmy!

If you are unsure, he is an American Kestel (falco sparverius). He is around 8 weeks old now, and the love of my life.

Since my 11th Birthday, when I got the chance to hold the American Kestrel at Cotswold Falconry Centre, Morton in the Marsh, I have wanted one. It was such a massive privilege that day to hold him, and although I cannot find the picture, I remember that moment so vividly! It also helped that, that day I got to hold a Bald Eagle and then a 'huge, ginormous' Pygmy Owl 😜.

This has been 8 years in the making, and although I'm glad I have the chance to have him now when I'm a bit more experienced, it was an absolute nightmare having two babies who were both learning to fly, as well as an energetic puppy running around! It was like hell for a good three/four weeks! Fortunately, the babies are all outside now in their aviaries and loving it. Unfortunately, I still have the energy filled puppy! He is lovely though! (Go follow him on Instagram: @Mousey_Ralphy).

I've named him Timmy because he is tiny, and I want to call him Tiny Tim! He weighs around 100g (3.5oz) and I'm terrified. I thought I was scared about Scout's weight at around 180g, this is a whole new ball game!

We are still going through lots of training: manning, walking, getting him used to Ralph, hopping and leading up to flying. Since we got him, he has been the steadiest little bug ever! Nothing fazes him! Within half an hour of us picking him up, and taking him away from his siblings, we were sat at my Great Aunt's house and he was asleep! We've gone on walks with him, and he will sit as still as possible, and chirp away at you!

My goodness. I was not prepared for how much he 'talks'. As soon as he sees Ralph or I, he is screaming his little heart out. I see this as a good thing, he wants to see me, but my goodness is it just a tad annoying!

He's so gorgeous that it makes up for everything though! I got the pick of 4 AK's when we arrived at the breeders house. I chose Timmy as I really wanted a male. There was one that was definitely female, and one male that looked like a female from the back. Timmy was the one that looked the most male already. He has the gorgeous grey wing edge, and brown at the top of the back. With AK's, it's very easy differentiating between male and females.

The difference between them is amazing!
Male on the left, Female on the right!

I'm exceptionally happy with how everything is going lately. Timmy is progressing more and more everyday, Billie is right on the tip of free flying, Scout is there! I still have a couple of birds who are still moulting, but I am so very proud of my birds at the moment! If you want to see more of me and the birds, then you should check out my YouTube: BOPAndOthers. I am going to start uploading properly again, with lots of Ralph, and the birds flying!

Follow all my social medias -->

I will see you soon!

I hope you enjoyed!

Konnie

xox

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, by BOPAndOthers

2017

MEET BILLIE!

Welcome Blog, to July 2017. *sigh* I know, it's been a while! I've been so busy that I haven't been able to do much - let alone run a blog!

Today's post is a special one. Hopefully, one I will look back on and be happy I did it!

Today, I would like you all to meet Billie.

As you have probably guessed by now, Billie is a Barn Owl! He/She is currently 5 1/2 weeks old, and I'm in love.

Billie is currently everything Bear was. Outgoing, talkative, loving, food mad! Exactly what I needed to put a band aid over the missing part of me.

I'm currently taking her everywhere with me. I want her to be as adjusted to everything as can be! So far, she has been shopping, friends houses, weddings, garden centres! She's an owl about town ;-)!

For Barns, I consider this one of the best stages. They're so inquisitive, and curious, but as they don't have their feathers through yet, they cannot fly. For Billie to get anywhere, she must waddle, and it's the cutest waddle ever! It's very similar to a penguins! I love watching her.

Ralph also adores her. He is doing very well! He gets a bit curious too, and considers her to be one of us, so he will lick her, and try to play (which isn't always good!)

Billie is not impressed!!

I can't tell you how nice it is to have a Barn Owl that you hand-reared. There is something so, so special! After Bear, I realised how much I relied on our relationship, and how much I needed it. When it was gone, I felt like a part of me was missing. Bae and Boo have really helped me, but nothing beats one that has grown up with/around you.

I'm just not impressed by the 4am wake-up call of a very loud obnoxious screech! Not nice at all!!!

There is also a Vlog going up, all about Billie and I will be documenting most of her growth on my YouTube channel! So please go and subscribe! Keep an eye out for little Billie :-D

I'll try and keep you updated on her progress! I can't wait to see what she will look like!!

Konnie

xox

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, by BOPAndOthers

2017

WHAT'S UP WEDNESDAY!?

What's up? Oh, yeah, I haven't been on here for a while! Oopsies! I've been busy okay! Let me catch you up!

1. Ralph!

If you don't know by now, I have a (now) 18 week old Black Labrador pup! He is called Ralph, and lives up to his name! He is constantly wrecking things! He loves chewing on anything - especially fingers, clothes and toes! He's brilliant though - and I couldn't be without him. He gets on quite well with the birds, but it's not his fault half of them hate him! Yeah, most hate him, but there are two that absolutely adore him, and I still am beyond shocked about this! Louie loves him! He's like his little best friend! Also, Smokey really likes him! She isn't bothered by him at all, yet hates every person except from me! It's madness! I love it though, it's so nice to have a dog again. Will admit that the puppy stage is no easy feat! I cannot wait till he's like 2 and well behaved!

2. Vlogging

I will admit I haven't been doing much lately, but I feel like it takes over everything, and I have barely any time to vlog, let alone write a blog post! It's great though - I adore it! It's great being able to film my day, and be able to look back on that day later on! It's like a better journal. I'm still a bit cautious of it, but I love it! If you are not subscribed to my YouTube channel, you definitely should go over and check it out! It's not always the best quality - I'm only filming on my old Samsung Galaxy S4! I will be vlogging a lot more now that we have...

3. Scout

If you are following my on any of my social media's (Go follow me now --->)
then you will see that we have a new little addition to the family! Little being the key word there ;-)! I would like you all to officially meet Scout, our new 5 week old Little Owl! He's absolutely gorgeous, and I'm in love, no matter how little sleep I get! He's nothing but a rascal, but I adore it! I will probably be doing a blog post solely about him, but for now, I wanted you all to see him! He's fab! I keep forgetting how small he is though! He currently weighs between 160-180g (depends on when he's fed) and it's very easy to lose him! His favourite game is hide and seek, where he just hides somewhere and I have to find him before he hurts himself! I love him lots already though, and we've only had him since Saturday 10th June!

~

I've been very busy, but I will be trying to keep up this blog! I love it, just gotta find the time to sit down and write!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this post! If you did, comment down below what you want to see more of!

Adios amigos,

Konnie

xox