Hello everyone and welcome to the all new SOS blog page. This is our way of moving with the times - and is a very new area for us!
The idea behind this blog is simply to keep all of our valued supporters and friends updated as to what goes on here at the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary - throughout the course of the year.
So the beginning of the year seems like a very good place from which to start. Let me take this opportunity to wish everyone reading this blog a very Happy New Year from all of us here at SOS.
As far as the birds are concerned this is very quiet time of year, with many of our birds either in moult or preparing to breed, and as ever we hope to equal if not improve upon last years breeding successes.
Those birds that are still in work are very busy with the many and varied falconry courses that are ongoing throughout the the year (for anyone interested in Hawking please be advised that places for January are now very limited - due to the 06/07 season ending at the end of January 2007 - beginning again in October 2007).
For anyone that would like to know more about our falconry courses, please click here to go to www.falconry-east.co.uk
We are currently planning to have lots of new additions to the centre in 2007 - in terms of new birds, more red squirrels, new aviaries & education buildings, not to mention a ‘covered flying area’ and special ‘activity-theme’ days for the children which are all in the final planning stages - aiming to be ready for the 2007 summer season - which will run from Easter to the end of September.
So do check our blog page regularly - to see what is happening each month.
We will also be aiming to be report on all our breeding birds and telling you of their successes and failures - and are currently in talks with a company to organize NEST-CAMs in the breeding aviaries, in order to give you incredible access to all your favourite birds here at Stonham.
If any companies out there specialising in WEB-CAM technology would like to donate more CAMs to us, or help out with our NEST-CAMs project, then please do get in touch. The more CAMs we have, the more footage we can post on the web and share with all of our friends and supporters.
It will mean greater access to the collection for many more people - and particularly those who are physically unable to visit us or who live too far away to make a visit possible!
As a registered charity, always in need of YOUR help - we are ALWAYS extremely grateful for any support that the public (or companies) can give us, in order to ease our workload or improve our services and communication to the public.
A good example of this (company support) in practice - can be seen in the form of our ‘new pathways’ around the centre, which were kindly donated to us by our friends at LAFARGE Aggregates. Check out the, “Follow, Follow, Follow” entry on this site to find out more!
We can’t thank LAFARGE enough for all their efforts and hope that you (the public) will make several visits too us over the coming year - in order to put their good work to use UNDERFOOT - as you walk round the centre!
So, we are all looking forward to a very busy year here at SOS - and hope that you will continue to join us, support us, read our blog and even pay us a visit or two during 2007.
We look forward to meeting each and everyone of you!
Fog Blog
Well, for those of you who have visited SOS previously, or those that know something about the work that we do here (and more specifically for those of who are not aware of what we do) - one of our main priorities here at SOS is to give first-aid, care and treatment to many of the sick or wild injured ‘birds of prey’ that are brought into us each year - with the aim of rehabilitating and releasing wherever possible - and this we do in our on-site Raptor Hospital.
This year we had several birds brought into us over the Christmas period - a couple of Barn Owls, a Tawny Owl and two Kestrels - and whilst most of you were at home enjoying the festive celebrations, there were still staff here at SOS administering care to our wild injured friends!
Sadly, we were unable to preserve the Barn Owls as these birds are particularly fragile when it comes to rehabilitation, and despite our best efforts they were so badly injured we were unable to save them.
The Tawny Owl however, was a completely different story and it is currently well on the road to recovery (we know this because he has become very feisty - a typical response - from a creature born in the wild and not used to living in a captive environment). He or she (both sexes look the same making it rather difficult to tell them apart) is currently resting-up in one of our rehabilitation aviaries ready for its release back into the wild. Hopefully we will report on the Tawny’s release, when should be in the not-too-distant future!
Likewise, one of the two Kestrels brought into us was also too badly injured to pull through. However the case of the other little wild female Kestrel (pictured above) is an interesting one. We think she too was a victim of the freezing fog that we had just before Christmas: she was brought into us on the 22nd Dec looking very wet and very be-draggled - just to prove, perhaps, that it wasn’t just the JUMBO JETS at Heathrow that were grounded over the Christmas break!
Most raptors (Kestrels being a member of the falcon family) like to bathe each day to keep their feathers in good condition. We think that she probably took a bath early in the day and then because of the freezing temperatures, was unable to dry herself. Soaked feathers would have made it impossible for her to fly and therefore catch any food, making her very weak and hungry, and this may well have continued for several days!
The result was one very ‘sorry-looking’ Kestrel by the time she was finally brought in to us! But thankfully all that was required by this beautiful little bird was some good food and a warm, dry roof over her head. She is doing very well and in the process of getting herself “flying-fit” in another rehab aviary before her release early next week close to where she was found, where she belongs! What better start to the New Year.
If anyone reading this blog would like to know more about what to do when finding a wild or injured Bird of Prey then click here for more details
Check out our next blog entry to see what happened.....!