{"id":18873,"date":"2018-10-15T12:00:04","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T12:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/?p=18873"},"modified":"2019-04-11T10:43:48","modified_gmt":"2019-04-11T10:43:48","slug":"setting-kitty-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/setting-kitty-free\/","title":{"rendered":"Setting Kitty Free"},"content":{"rendered":"
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one final check over<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just a little belated update on our beautiful Red Kite<\/a> (the experts think she might be a girl after all by the way so she is legitimately Kitty to us!)…<\/p>\n

After two weeks of care, rest and recuperation with the experts at the Hawk Conservancy Trust<\/a>, we received a call to say that it was time to set Kitty free.<\/p>\n

Although she had been clipped by a car, luckily for her, she was just in severe shock and no bones had been fractured or broken.\u00a0 \u00a0They kept her in until she was well on the road to recovery, feeding her up to give her a good chance of adjusting back in the wild.\u00a0 Then they put her in a much bigger enclosure for a couple of days to make sure everything was working properly, before giving us a call to come and pick her up.<\/p>\n

I kind of imagined someone a little more qualified would be coming with us to let her go, but in the end (and quite sweetly) it was just us (and Granny who was with us when we found her!).<\/p>\n

\"weighing
one last check on the scales<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We turned up before the Hawk Conservancy doors opened to the public, and watched as she was carefully caught.\u00a0 \u00a0Mr R was able to hold her before she was weighed (Red Kites like to play dead so this part of things is pretty easy –\u00a0 she looked a little like a frozen chicken lying on her back) and then it was time to box her up and get going.<\/p>\n

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the toddler helpfully demonstrating how to fly in case Kitty had forgotten (she hadn’t)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"red<\/p>\n

We drove back to the exact place that we found her, with her box carefully wedged next to the Toddler in his seat (not your typical back seat companion!).\u00a0 Once there we steadily lifted her box over the fence and into the field.\u00a0 \u00a0 The chances are that her partner (if she indeed has one) will have been continuously returning to look for her, so it was important to let her go back in familiar territory.<\/p>\n

\"red<\/p>\n

As Mr R carefully opened the lid,\u00a0 she played dead for a brief moment before realising she suddenly had her freedom back,\u00a0 giving us a quick flying display before disappearing out of sight.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0I am so glad we didn’t leave her to be hit by another car, and that she got to fly another day…<\/p>\n

A strangely moving but lovely start to a wet and drizzly Friday…<\/p>\n