Britsh Falconry Fair

The recent Bank Holiday weekend saw a very unique event in the UK Raptor calendar, one which most falconers and raptor enthusiasts look forward to with relish - “The British Falconry & Raptor Fair”, of which the 17th running took place at Chetwynd Park in Newport, Shropshire.

The show is the ultimate flagship event of its kind in the falconry world, with specialist exhibitors attending from all over the world The fair features continuous arena events on all aspects of falconry, plus major exhibitions by national countryside organisations such as the British Falconers Club, the Hawk Board and the Campaign for Falconry, and is also home to a fantastic Sporting and Wildlife Art Exhibition, which is well worth the visit.

Opening the event was Britain’s ‘First Lady of Falconry’, Jemima Parry-Jones. A woman who is no stranger to the event or to the British Falconry world, she was for many years the proprietor of the National Birds of Prey Centre in Gloucester until she left our shores in 2004 to pursue business interests in America. She has recently returned from the States and many agree that the British falconry scene will be all the better for it! In recognition, her friends and colleagues presented her with a beautiful crystal eagle which simply read, “Welcome back”, sentiments which we at S.O.S. are happy to endorse.

As well as the numerous flying displays given in the main arena at the Fair, there was a fantastic collection of raptors on the weathering grounds there. Each year this display gets more and more impressive as additional species are featured - my favourite was a beautiful PALE CHANTING GOSHAWK, a raptor which is native to Eastern and Southern Africa and is a species you don’t often see outside of zoo collections in this country. Thanks, by the way, to the Central Falconry & Raptor Club who managed the weatherings so ably and assisted visitors with information and the taking of photographs when required.

As well as the live raptors on view, there was also a wonderful collection of raptor images & sculptures to be seen in the Falconry and Wildlife Art Marquee. Organised annually by Chris Christoforu, it features a superb mix of established and up and coming artistic talent which this year included the work of a wonderful sculptor by the name of Bill Prickett. If you would like to know more about Bill’s work please go to www.billprickett.co.uk

Meanwhile, back in the main arena a selection of other highly visual entertainments took place, including the Knights of Arkley, a medieval performance troupe who recreated a wonderful Medieval Jousting Tournament and treated the crowd to a superb display of horsemanship and ancient fighting skills. For more information, visit www.knightsofarkley.com

Finally, a mention should be made of all the trade stands at the event offering a wide range of falconry equipment - the choice was endless, the selection of items mind-boggling - everything from hoods, bells & gloves through to incubators, imprint tanks and four wheel drive vehicles - and the opportunity to compare products, quality & prices just something you can’t do easily on the internet.

The British Falconry & Raptor Fair truly is a wonderful event and a fantastic day out for anyone interested in Birds of Prey and Falconry. It also provides a great opportunity to meet old friends, catch-up on the latest developments and make new friends and contacts (Grant and Ffyona Fergusson of Galloway Falconry - nice to meet you!) So, guys, see you all there - next year!

Dinosaur Discovery

Today saw the third instalment of out New Activity Adventure Days for youngsters here at the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary.

It was a day full of fascinating facts, looking at all the latest scientific discoveries and in particular examining the many links between dinosaurs and birds - specifically birds of prey, which we in the bird world refer to as RAPTORS.

Raptors in a dinosaur-related context are something many children are familiar with today, thanks in part to Steven Spielberg and his hugely successful Jurassic Park movies; and in fact, starting our day discussing these films provided the perfect spring-board from which to launch the eager young minds on our course to investigating all things dinosaur!  

Velociraptors are the infamous dinosaurs from the Speilberg films that every child seems familiar with.  In their day (83-70 million years ago) velociraptors were ferocious bipedal carnivores with long, stiffened tails and enlarged, sickle-shaped claws on each hind foot, with which they are thought to have killed their prey. This, believe it or not, is how raptors are still defined today - the word ‘raptor’ comes from the Latin word ‘rapere’, which means to seize. That particular dinosaur and all its modern day raptor relatives seize and kill their prey using their feet, or to use the correct terminology, their talons! 

So we began our activity day by investigating all the physical similarities between birds of prey and dinosaurs and took an in-depth look at fossils to discover how they are formed. From this we began to understand what fossils can tell us about animal life on the planet millions of years ago, using as an example the fossil of the famous Archaeopteryx that is regarded as the first true bird. From there we peered further back in time at fossils of a new four-winged dinosaur discovered in 2003 which pre-dates the archaeopteryx.

We discussed how dinosaurs gradually evolved over time, and how scientists have now discovered a primitive form of feather on some fossil specimens.  Called ‘protofeathers’, they look remarkably similar to the the down feathers you get on new born raptor chicks and to demonstrate, we drafted in Baloo (our six week old Bengal Eagle Owl chick) to show the children exactly what ‘protofeathers’ may have looked like.

During the day many interesting questions were raised and we looked at lots of different sources of evidence and scientific theory to undercover the truth.  The one thing that everybody now seems to agree upon - whether they be top ranking scientists or primary school age children - is that dinosaurs did almost certainly evolve into birds!

Finally, to celebrate everything we had learnt during the course of the day, we enjoyed plenty of arts, crafts and games to round off the day - you can see some of the dinosaurs we sculpted from paper & painted in the picture above.

If you would like to take part in our next FREE Activity Adventure Day, see all the dates & details by clicking here, or contact me soon to reserve your place!

Nice Day at The Farm

Today proved to be a busy day for two of the staff (and several of the owls) from the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary when we were invited to attend the “Schools Farm Fair 2007” at the Suffolk Showground on the outskirts of Ipswich.  

Now in its seventh year, this worthwhile annual event is attended by over 3,500 primary school children and teachers from all over the region. The one-day educational show enables them to connect with how their food is produced and to give them an understanding of farming and its relationship with the management of the countryside.

As S.O.S. is a centre dedicated to the rehabilitation of the region’s wild raptors - which is a form of countryside management - the event gave local school children the opportunity to meet some of our residents and being the breeding time of year it is, we were able to take several baby owls to the event. This proved to be a big hit!

The event was incredibly well attended and from the moment the show opened our booth inside a giant marquee - which was filled with all manner of other farmyard animals and wildlife - was surrounded by herds of enthusiastic youngsters.

It was very nice to see some friendly faces from the many schools children we have previously visited as part of our education program, including all our friends from Leiston Primary School who revisited our stand many times during the day!  

The concept of the School Farm Fair was created by the Suffolk Agricultural Association in 2001 and other agricultural associations have followed suit to develop similar events around the Country.
The day also included demonstrations such as 'The Farming Year' featuring an impressive range of farm machinery in action, a farrier at work, a sheepdog display and gun dog races. 

In addition, over 50 commercial and voluntary organisations provide interactive displays to demonstrate the great diversity of farming and countryside activities in the region. Pupils also had the chance to take a tour of the conservation area and ancient woodland trail at the show-ground, where they could see practical conservation in action for themselves.

For the benefit of others involved in the education process, here are a few of the comments from teachers who attended the event:

"This was a day full of rich experiences for the children, particularly those involving contact with animals. There was always someone to ask and all adults were very friendly, knowledgeable and patient".

"The children had a really great day and the visit provided an excellent stimulus for creative follow-up work on our return to school"

"The event provided the opportunity for our children to see farming in action. The children are still keen to tell me things that they enjoyed that day as we continue our science growing project".

"A wonderful day! Long may such an initiative which relies on the hard work of so many contributors be available to our school-aged children".

If you would like any more information about the event past, present & future, visit www.suffolkshow.co.uk for details.

Is it a bird? Is it a Plane?

This week we thought we would tell you about the wildlife rehabilitation work of some of our friends and fellow organisations within the East Anglian region.


As a regular reader of this blog, you may know that here at the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary we specialise in the rescue, care and rehabilitation of wild UK native birds of prey, many of whom benefit from the respite afforded by our specialist Raptor Hospital which is funded by the generosity of you S.O.S. supporters.


We have many species brought into us each year and if you look back through our diary archive you will see that there are several stories relating to the rehabilitation work of the past few months.


However, having a reputation for wildlife rescue means that just occasionally we get animals brought into us that we either know nothing about, or are not equipped, to deal with -  our field of expertise is very much restricted to Birds of Prey! So what do we do when we don’t know what to do ourselves?


The answer is to call in another expert, and we usually turn to our good friend Alec Suttenwood who runs the local organisation Ipswich Wildlife Care & Rescue for advice. He is very knowledgeable about the care & conservation of our UK native wildlife species and every now and then will pop in to see us at Stonham to tell us about his latest endeavours. This sometimes allows us to meet his fellow passengers on the day, who very often tend to be of the four-legged variety.


This week when he came in he told us about the badger cub featured in our picture. Both he & his sibling were recently spotted near a local main road by a member of the public. At the scene, Alec found that the mother (or “sow” as she should be correctly called) had sadly been the victim of a road traffic accident. Alec’s first course of action was to take the two cubs - brother and sister - to a vet, where it was discovered that whilst the sister had survived the incident unharmed, the male was less fortunate and had received two broken legs. Thankfully the vet was able to treat the fractures successfully and shortly after entrusted the pair back to Alec.


(Incidentally, the title of this story - Brock ‘n’ Bones - is inspired by the fact that Brock is the traditional Anglo Saxon / Old English name for the Badger.)

The rest of the story is a happy one. After a few weeks the orphans were fit enough to be transferred to another organisation, Wildlife Aid, run by Simon Cowell (no relation) down in Leatherhead, Surrey, which specialises in badger care and rehabilitation.  

Wildlife Aid takes in badgers from all over the country and very carefully constructs new family groups from them, as badgers naturally naturally in family groups in the wild.  Once the new family bonds have been established, the badgers are then released into man-made sets in remote areas where they won’t be disturbed by man or be in danger from road traffic. 

We’re pleased to report that the brother and sister pair in this story have now been successfully released back into the wild at a man-made set down in Devon.

Alec’s wildlife care & rescue service is run entirely at his own expense and it really is wonderful to be associated with people who do such dedicated work. So if you come across an injured wild animal, that you think may need assistance then do not hesitate to contact him at the address below.

IPSWICH WILDLIFE CARE & RESCUE
The Bullpen
Belstead Hall Farm
Belstead
Ipswich

Easter Fun

The recent Bank Holiday proved to be a fabulous weekend here at the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary!
The flying season officially began on the 31st March, and we couldn’t have asked for a better start to the 2007 season. Lots of people came to see us, taking advantage of the fine, warm weather which also provided us with perfect flying conditions for the three flying demonstrations that we staged each day of the holiday.

The flying team (both birds and falconers!) did themselves proud, with the birds executing many spectacular manoeuvres above the heads of the crowd.  One bird who flew particularly well was our young Snowy Owl, Loki, who wowed the crowds as he went - and then he WENT (literally), flying off over the golf course to delight some surprised golfers with an impromptu display before returning to us an hour or so later!  

Easter weekend saw the successful launch of our new entertainment for children, the “SOS SAFARI”. Just like a real Safari, the aim is to provide a special interactive project which ensures that all our young visitors get as much out of their day as possible by coming to know the many different birds of prey we have at the Centre. Equipped with their free copy of the special Safaris guide book, children are able to wend their way around the centre completing a series of fun tasks including some bird spotting, completing a rubber stamp collection, beak identification, untangling a maze and doing a spot of free-form drawing as they go. 

To celebrate the occasion we also had our EASTER EGG fact boards dotted around the centre, giving visitors many unusual and fascinating facts about the Easter tradition.  (So if you are ever in a situation where you might need to ‘phone-a-friend’ to complete a quiz on the subject, just give us a call!)
And of course we topped off the event with our popular EASTER EGG HUNT, for which we hid lots of decorated eggs around the centre for the children to find and exchange for chocolate ones.  All-in-all it really was a fantastic weekend of family fun and a good time was had by all - we hope that all those who joined us had a wonderful time.

For those of you that didn’t manage to visit us over the Easter break, do remember that there will be other Bank Holidays throughout in year - with other events and activities laid on for all the family!  Please check out our Events page for details.

And lastly, don’t forget our FREE KIDS Activity Adventures. The next one is all about DINOSAURS and will take place on Saturday 28th April 2007.  Places on our Activity Adventures are FREE but please remember you must book in advance to ensure your place!  If you would like to find out about our other Activity Days,please click here for more information!

Schools Out

Today saw the start of our “Activity Adventures” for youngsters here at SOS!

This new series of discovery days will be running throughout the year from Easter to September and have been specifically devised to appeal to youngsters aged 6-12. Admission to each is completely free, the only pre-requisite being that all participants must book their places in advance, either by e-mailing info@owl-help.org.uk or telephoning us on 01449 711425.

Each Activity Day uses our new purpose-built classroom as its base, and many thanks must go to all those who have made the building and the equipping of it possible through their generous donations; and to Dick, Jamie and all those involved for giving up their time to compete the construction.

Our first Activity Adventure was entitled “FASCINATING FALCONRY” and the purpose was a basic introduction to this unique, engrossing and ancient art form.

To begin the day, the group of enthusiastic young visitors were shown how and why falconry came into being, from the training of birds of prey to bring down quarry for food through to its sporting heritage and on to contemporary flying in front of the public as part of modern-day programmes that bring conservation issues to the attention of public in an informative and entertaining way.

Then we took an in-depth, behind-the-scenes tour around the centre, learned many fascinating raptor facts (including a bit of Latin!) and discovered how to tell the difference between the various raptor species with regard to their size, shape, colouring and sex.

This was followed by an ‘arts & crafts’ session in which the youngsters were asked to design and classify their own imaginary bird of prey - a session which proved to be great fun and required large amounts paper, paints, scissors and glue! Among the results were a Rainbow Barn Owl which hunts Gingerbread-men, and a Purple-Footed Owl who has a highly specialized diet and only feeds on Purple-Footed Mice!

Then we watched a flying demonstration - favourite moment, watching the Saker Falcon dramatically follow the lure ably swung by one of our falconers, Matt; witnessed the feeding of our newest arrival to SOS - a 21 day old Bengal Eagle Owl chick named BALOO - and ended the day with a fast-paced & exhausting game of “Predator Vs. Prey” through our children’s maze.

Our next Activity Adventure will be on the 12th April, and once again ALL are welcome! For more details of this and all the events through the summer, please click here.

Meanwhile, I look forward to seeing many of you throughout the summer here at The Suffolk Owl Sanctuary!

Good Luck WILL Rub Off

In the immortal words of that kosher Cockney, Dick van Dyke as he chirruped his way through “Mary Poppins”

Chim-chiminey, Chim-chiminey, Chim-chim cher-oo!
Good luck will rub off when,I shake 'ands with you
Or blow me a kiss and that's lucky too!

Well, that was almost the case for one sorry looking Tawny Owl who found its way to us this week.

The bird was brought into the centre late in the afternoon, due to the fact that the owl had spent an undetermined amount of time in a chimney!

The people who brought it in were clearly considerate and very concerned for the bird’s welfare. They had practically had to have their entire chimney dismantled in order to rescue the owl and after that costly business, then drove all the way too SOS in order to get the bird rehabilitated.

When we first opened the cardboard box in which it arrived (our prescribed method of moving injured birds - safe, dark, warm and not so large as to allow the contents to flap its wings and damage itself further), we thought we had discovered a completely new species of owl - the SUFFOLK SOOTY. As we now know, it was simply a Tawny Owl covered in black soot!

We instantly set about cleaning the owl as best we could, starting with eyes, throat and visible airways: the eyes in particular had to be rinsed very carefully to remove the grime, but as soon as we did this, the bird instantly perked up! In the process of cleaning, the resultant copious clouds of soot surrounding the bird made us all cough - definitely not a nice substance to breath into your lungs regardless of what species you are!

After the big clean up, we placed the bird into a hospital compartment overnight to recuperate quietly from its ordeal. But sadly, I have to report that our sooty efforts came to nought - we cannot always work miracles and the owl died the following day.

There could have been several reasons for this - first & foremost because owls are particularly fragile creatures and highly susceptible to shock, which can lead to death.
However, we suspect that in this case the most likely cause was that the bird certainly ingested a large amount of soot in an attempt to free itself from the chimney or clean itself on its way into us.

Whilst on this occasion we were unable to help, we do of course stand by our commitment at S.O.S. to help care for and rehabilitate injured wildlife wherever possible. But as they say, you can’t win ‘em all!

Leiston Green - Recycling Team!

Today was a very interesting day for me as I made an educational visit to Leiston Primary School here in Suffolk.

The day began with over 250 children and staff all seated in the school hall eagerly awaiting the arrival of our feathered education team. On this occasion I took LUNA the Barn Owl, MARA, one of our White Faced Scops Owls, and BRAMBLE, a male Common Kestrel. (He doesn’t like to brag about it but he is the very same Bramble who appeared on the Royal Mail stamps a couple of years ago... but that’s another story!)

Anyways, I was first introduced to the school by the headmaster, in English. But he then informed me that Spanish was a favoured language within school and so went on (I have it on good authority) to introduce me in Spanish, too!

Although my Spanish is neither as good nor as fluent as many of the schoolchildren. I did manage to say HOLA! (hello, in Spanish) - and received a warm HOLA in response from the children. This set me up nicely for what turned out to be a very inspiring day!

So, why was so it inspiring? Well, because many of the children had done vast amounts of research before my arrival: it was truly wonderful to see just how interested these children were in birds of prey and the environment.

Many of the children were confidently able to tell me many facts about OWLS, before I had a chance to inform them - which I have to say, made a refreshing change. Full credit must go to the wonderful teaching staff (in particular Mrs. Frances Hitchcock) who are evidently fundamental to the enthusiastic research process of the youngsters.

After the main display in front of the whole school (in which LUNA showed exceptional skill at sitting on a curtain rail), I then gave an individual demonstration to each class, followed by a question-and-answer session. This set the pattern for the remainder of the day.

However, lunchtime proved to be an equally interesting experience for me. Firstly, Jamie Oliver's recipes made an appearance and very tasty they were too (it’s many years since I last had a school dinner - my, how they’ve changed) and secondly, I was introduced to Leiston Primary School’s GREEN team!

As you can see from the photograph above, the children at the school are very passionate about the environment, and in - their own time - go round to each classroom during their lunch hour to recycle all their waste paper. They even have special badges that say “Green Team - Operator No.1/2/3” etc.

As an Education Officer that tries to educate & inform people of all ages about the need for environmental concern, I found the efforts of these primary school children truly inspiring!

So, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK - Leiston Primary. I hope that the many other schools who read this blog will follow your wonderful and inspiring example, you should be very PROUD of yourselves!

Spar Attraction

Please meet a new addition to the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary raptor collection- a male Sparrowhawk, for whom we have yet to find a name.

The MUSKET (for that is the correct way to refer to a male Sparrowhawk) came to us in a rather unusual way. 

He was brought into us with a large and slightly infected wound to his right wing. As you might know, the name Sparrowhawk implies that this particular species of raptor feeds primarily on sparrows and other small woodland birds, so his ability to catch prey in flight and sso urvive would have been severely compromised with such a level of wing damage.  

But the unusual thing about this particular bird was that it appeared to be completely tame - we would normally expect a wild bird like this to be highly nervous, agitated, and petrified of people. (If not handled carefully, it is not uncommon for human intervention - albeit well-meaning - to put birds of this type under so much stress that they can die of shock!) 

However, this fellow seemed to be very comfortable as our falconers examined him and not in the slightest bit bothered by the attention he received.  

The most likely explanation behind his injury was that he is a captive escapee and as such, had severely struggled to fend for itself himself the wild and damaged himself in the process. When we took it to our specialist raptor vet to get the wing injury treated, he also concluded that this is undoubtedly NOT a wild bird.

As captive bred raptors have very poor natural instincts, principally because they are constantly fed by humans from the day they hatch, to hack this young man back to wild would probably result in its demise. He will have no real perception of what his natural prey should be, neither any understanding of the natural predators that would want to prey on him.

True, eventually hunger will force a raptor to try and hunt for itself but their success rate is invariably low.  More often than not, escapees like this one become injured because they are unaware of the many things that can cause them harm in the wild.  

So, for the time being at least, this little Musket will remain in our charge. Whether he regains full use of his wing remains to be seen but as he is one of our native species and due to his incredibly tame nature, we are seeking the right clearances to house him on display at the Sanctuary so that all may appreciate this bright-eyed raptor at close quarters.

Little Pussy Willow

As most of our readers are aware - our beloved Barn Owl “Willow” sadly passed away last December (2006).

He was a well known and much loved member of the SOS team. We have done our best to inform as many of those who kindly adopted Willow as possible of his demise, but if you failed to receive notification, please accept out sincerest apologies.

As a result of the high numbers of enquiries we received about Willow’s death, we thought it fitting to erect some form of memorial to him as a mutual token of respect to a wonderful bird that had a special place in the hearts of so many people.

We felt that perhaps a living memorial would be the most fitting tribute and so there was only one logical choice - a dwarf Pussy Willow tree. This has now been planted at the Sanctuary and we have had a commemorative plaque put alongside so that all are reminded just how special he was!

What made him so? Well, he was born on the 11th May 1999, bred here at the Centre, and was hand reared by one of our original falconers, Gary Butcher. Willow just happened to hatch on Gary’s birthday and so a bond between them was instantly formed.

Gary was originally convinced that Willow was a girl and regularly referred to him as “my little girl”. The debate continued for sometime until some kindly visitors to SOS offered to pay the cost of a DNA test to determine ‘her’ true sex. And as we now know, the results confirmed that ‘she’ was in fact a ‘he’ - which just goes to show that we don’t always get it right when it comes to determining the sex of birds!

Besides being truly wonderful in appearance and beautiful in flight, Willow was also well know for his ability to hunt for himself - a rather unusual trait for a hand-reared owl. But the ‘wild-flower meadow’ at the back of the flying ground provided an ideal hunting ground for him, the tall wild grasses the perfect spot for hunting voles - a favourite delicacy of all Barn Owls!

Willow’s unbroken voleing record was the catching of not one but two wild voles during a single public demonstration one summer. Although this feat was not an intentional part of the display, it did admirably demonstrate the way in which Barn Owls hunt in the wild for the benefit of our visitors.

But life goes on and so do the needs of the Centre, so for those of you that wish to continue to support us by adopting a Barn Owl at the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, please click here to adopt COBWEB, who has taken over the gauntlet (literally) from Willow - and will be seen daily in our flying demonstrations from the 31st March 2007. Your continued generosity will be much appreciated by all.

Flights of Urban Fancy

A major part of our brief at SOS is connected with education - during the course of the year we welcome many thousands of visitors to Stonham, and of course we visit (and are visited by) a variety of schools and other local youth groups eager to learn more about owls and their way of life.

To be properly prepared, we have to do a fair bit of research on our subject and this takes many forms, including books, the internet and learning from the good old-fashioned experience of others. But this week our research took an unusual turn, when we visited an exhibition in London dedicated to anything and everything to do with OWLS.

The exhibition was organised in conjunction with the World Owl Trust, a charity based in Cumbria whose work involves owl conservation and rehabilitation on a national & global scale and to whom a percentage of profits from the sales of paintings at the exhibition were donated. It was a truly fascinating and inspiring experience!

For a variety of reasons, Owls have excited and inspired artists through the ages but this exhibition, entitled “HOO WOT”, brought together the work of contemporary artists from all over the world. It included the work of 36 painters, street artists, sculptors, fashion designers and many more from incredibly diverse backgrounds and cultures, all involved in producing their own unique visions of the Owl.

The most interesting aspect of the show for me was, by far, the number of urban street artists - or GRAF (grafitti) artists as they are known - that have been inspired by the beauty of Owls to create some unusual and imaginative artworks.

The way these artists have combined their own individual street styles with the overall imagery of the owls was well worth seeing! A good example of this fusion of URBAN street culture and RURAL wildlife can be seen in the image at the top of this story featuring a Barn Owl with its wings made up of graffiti-style lettering, created by a Graf artist named Dvate, and by the owl with its wing-feather pattern made up of skulls featured below...

Apart from being visually interesting, these pieces of artwork reinforced our belief that inner-city kids and urban street artists can be just as passionate and concerned about the environment as those of us that work directly with wildlife on a day-to-day basis. This exhibition gave us at S.O.S. many leads and ideas as to how we can connect with a young, contemporary audience who might otherwise appear disinterested.

Perhaps if we can all remain as passionate, focussed and committed about the environmental issues that have concerned and inspired these artists, there just might be a chance that we can save and preserve our native wildlife and the environment in which it lives for future generations, and encourage them to be equally inspired!

The Hoo-Wot! exhibition will shortly be moving to Hastings and is well worth a visit - if you would like more details then please email Ben at hoowot@gmail for information.



Easter Eggs? Maybe Baby!

This week included what proved to be an exceptionally long day for two of the SOS staff and an attractive Bengal Eagle Owl.

Why? Because the staff started the day in East Anglia and the Owl started the day in Ashston-under-Lyme, near Manchester!

The private owner of the Bengal, no longer being in a position to give the bird the daily care and attention it needed, wanted it to go to a Centre where it could be taken care of properly. As a result we were contacted to see if there was any chance we could re-home the bird.

Now, as a rule we usually have to turn down requests of this nature because our main aim in life is the care, conservation and rehabilitation of the British native species in the wild.

But by coincidence, as readers of this blog may know we lost the male Bengal Eagle Owl from our display team earlier in the year due to old age. So when we discovered that the owl being offered was not only the right species and the right sex to provide companionship for our remaining female, Bagheera; and he was also the correct age for breeding - we took up the offer.

The owl in question is a three year old male Bengal Eagle Owl (alternatively known as an Indian or Rock Eagle Owl, originally the species is a native of the Indian sub-continent). He will go under the formal name of Shere Khan, to complement the name of his new lady friend. In this way, both are named after two characters from the famous Jungle Book story by Rudyard Kipling, later made into a popular film by Disney. However, he will affectionately be known as SOX, as that is the name he arrived with! (For more about Shere Khan & the Jungle Book stories, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shere_Khan )

As you can see from the picture, SOX is a prime example of the species, with an imposing stature, characteristic honey colourings, a strong set of talons, visible ear tufts and those unmistakable orange irises (or irides for all you Countdown & Scrabble fans).

So together with my colleague Maz (now Mrs Maz, as she has just got married), I travelled all the way up to Manchester to collect SOX for his relocation to the scenic Suffolk countryside. It was a long and tiring journey by road, taking 10 hours in total for the round road trip. We set off well before first light in order to return the owl to its new home before dusk.

Altogether it was a 438 miles door-to-door journey, but despite it SOX arrived none the worse for wear. After a night’s rest, he was introduced to his new partner for the first time. After a brief squabble - more often the case when new birds are introduced to each other - they have settled down together and we are hopeful that ‘family life’ may begin as quickly as possible.

But there are no guarantees! So for further news, keeping checking this blog and we will give you an update as soon as there is any news! With any luck, we may receive something slightly more exciting than a Cadbury’s Creme Eggs this Easter!

Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Tailmounts

In our last story we reported how three of our over-wintered birds had been brought out of their aviaries in preparation for the summer flying season.

In this story we will be focusing on one of them - Flint, our male Lanner falcon. Or to give him his correct title, Flint the Lanneret.

(In falconry terms, it is only the female of the species that is referred to as a Falcon. Likewise when referring to Peregrines, for example, the male of the species is always referred to as a Tiercel and a male Sparrowhawk is always referred to as a Musket - from which the gun took its name, when firearms replaced falcons as means of providing food for the table.)

At one time, Flint was one of the most popular and spectacular members of the SOS flying demonstration team. However, two years ago he was retired, when we thought it best he become part of our Lanner falcon breeding program.

Sadly, Flint’s breeding partner Gem passed away a fortnight ago. This was a great loss to us as the pair successfully reared young last year: after an examination by out specialist vet Roger, Gem was found to have died from natural causes.

Unfortunately, as we have now entered the breeding season, we faced an LLD (Lonely Lanner Dilemma) as we were unable to find Flint a mate through our breeding contacts. That said, even if we had, it would be unlikely that the new pair would have bonded enough to breed this season.

So the decision was made to bring Flint out of retirement and return him to our flying team. This presented a much better option for him as opposed to being left alone in an aviary, especially as - based on past experience - Flint loves to fly! As you will see if you are able to visit us during the summer months, Flint’s spectacular stoops to the lure are some something to behold!

So, as Julie reported in our story last week about Flying Weights, Flint transferred from the aviary to the weatherings at a weight of 1lb 6oz. Today he weighed in at 1lb 2oz and within within the next day or two he will be at the correct flying weight to begin his re-training for summer demonstration work.

But before he can take to the skies he needed to be fitted with a Tail Mount, which is a job we tackled today. A Tail Mount is a small device attached to the two central deck feathers of the tail tail (which can be seen in the inset photo above). The mount is placed at the base of the tail, where it won’t interfere with the birds flight in any way.

What is the purpose of a Tail Mount? Well, the mount provides a platform for a Bell and a Telemetry Clip. The Bell helps us to locate birds by sound over short distances, if they happen to fly out of sight. Telemetry is a form of radio tracking used to locate birds over longer distances, and the Telemetry Clip simply an anchor for the radio transmitter attached to the bird. As a delicate and expensive piece of electronics, this lightweight piece of equipment is only placed on the bird for the duration of each flight, after which it is removed.

So now, with all fixtures and fittings in place, it won’t be too long before Flint takes to the open skies again for the first time in two years, when he will join his son Lock as part of the SOS demonstration team.

Rheia Does A Heavy Number

Warden Julie Finnis writes:
Today three of our summer flying demonstration team were taken out of their winter aviaries and equipped with anklets and jesses to start exercising and be ready for Easter, when our display season starts.

During the winter months we give all our demonstration birds extra food to help them through the cold weather and to encourage their feathers to moult. The drawback is that at the start of the exercise season, all that weight needs to come off again.

All the birds in the team have what is called a "flying weight", which is the weight at which they respond to the food rewards and will fly to get them - this gives our visitors the chance to see each bird demonstrate its aerial virtuosity. At "fat weight" owls and other birds of prey cannot be bothered to fly because they don’t need the food. This is exactly like the situation they evince in the wild, where a bird will only fly when it needs to hunt and will spend the rest of the time sitting quietly on a perch somewhere.

The three birds that started exercising today have got quite a bit of dieting to do!

Our European Eagle Owl 'Rheia' (pictured above and who, incidentally, has been with us for coming up to 12 years) tops the scales at 6lb 9oz. Her ideal flying weight will be around 5lb 7oz.

Our Common Buzzard 'Ash' weighed in at 2lb 9oz and has a target weight of 2lb.

Meanwhile the lightweight Lanner Falcon 'Flint' weighed in at a mere 1lb 6oz and will aiming for 1lb 1oz.

As a very general rule a bird needs to lose around 25% of its body weight to get to "flying weight", although the actual weight is specific to the bird - they are all individuals. These three are all aiming for there or thereabouts, and if so you were to put in the context of a human who had a "fat weight" of 12 stone, their "flying weight" would be about 9 stone!

We'll keep you posted on their progress but do come and see us from Easter onwards, when all three should be happily soaring around the demonstration ground.

Play Misty For Me

Last Thursday was a busy day for SOS as we took our travelling roadshow to the Canterbury Infant School and Kingfisher Nursery in Thetford, on the far side of the county.

This meant a very early start, not only for the staff but also for the birds involved - on this occasion the birds selected to represent SOS were Lock (Lanner Falcon), Cedric (African Spotted Eagle Owl), Josh (Harris’ Hawk) and Misty (Barn Owl).

The day started with preparing each of the birds for their outing - checking their condition & ‘flying weights’, making ready their special traveling boxes and preparing their food for the day: then they and our equipment were loaded aboard the transportation kindly supplied by one of our regular volunteers, Kathy Bole - for whose frequent assistance we would like to raise a big vote of thanks!

On arriving at Thetford, we were shown into the assembly hall, which would be our base for the day as we met with various classes from the school. The children were extremely well behaved as we introduced all the birds and talked about their lifestyles and habitats, and despite their young age, the pupils asked many relevant questions regarding the birds we had brought along.

By far the favourites on this occasion were the owls, particularly because the children had just finished reading ‘The Owl who was afraid of the Dark’ which features a Barn Owl. This meant that meeting our own representative of the species, Misty, became the highlight of the day and, it seemed, about as important and significant as a ‘royal visit’ in the minds of these youngsters!

Here at SOS, we believe that every child should have the opportunity to get close to nature and learn about the fascinating creatures that inhabit our planet. If you, your teacher, your school or activity group would like to arrange a visit from our display team, then please contact me at the e-mail address below.

Up, Up & Away!

Remember our story about the two wild injured Kestrels that were bought into the Sanctuary just before Christmas? Well, I am happy to report that the story has the makings of a relatively happy ending!

Whilst one of the Kestrels remains in a rehab aviary, having problems with a very stiff wing (which we hope will rectify itself in time), we were able to release the other last weekend.

This pleased us no end because, truth is, the young female had spent rather too long a time in the rehab aviaries for her own good. In an ideal situation, once a wild bird of prey is fit for release we like to get it back to the wild as quickly as possible. This is because, whilst a stay in our hospital area is designed to allow the bird time to recover, an extended stay in captivity will ultimately compromise its hunting skills, which are essential for raptors to survive in the wild.

However in this case the bad weather conspired against us and we had to change the routine. The terrible storms and high winds of the week the kestrel was ready for release meant that she probably wouldn’t have survived the buffeting. Then we had several bouts of snow, which again may have made hunting difficult - especially for such a young bird.

When a raptor is released, it is best to make sure that it is done so under the best possible weather conditions, so allowing the bird the best chance of getting back into the swing of hunting. Good weather also means that the bird’s prey (food source) is more likely to be out and about. In the case of Kestrels, this diet is mostly made up of small mammals, such as mice and field voles.

Once it’s decided that the conditions are right, the next step is to make sure the bird is ready for release. It first needs to be caught up and removed from the rehab aviary. Then we give it a ‘test-flight’ to check its flying capability and hunting responses.

Preparing for the test flight is what you can see happening in the inset photo above. Firstly, temporary anklets are placed on each leg and then a creance line (training line) is attached to the anklets - this is done not to train the bird in any way, but simply introduced as a retrieval mechanism. The bird is then released for its test flight: should it show any signs of difficulty in taking to the skies, we would then allow it more time to recuperate.

Thankfully, on this occasion everything went according to plan. The Kestrel was released for the test flight and even managed to do a slight hover, the distinctive hallmark of this particular species of bird of prey. This unusual ability is reflected in the Kestrel’s traditional english folklore name - the WINDHOVER!

Once we were convinced that our young guest would be able to fend for itself in the wild, all that remained for us to do was to take it to the appropriate release site and set her free. Whenever possible, the site should always be close to where the bird was originally found, in order to re-introduce it back into familiar territory.

So yesterday Craig (one of the falconers here at SOS) jumped into his car with the bird safely contained within a traveling box and drove to the allocated release sight to set the Kestrel free.

The mission was a successful one and the young female took off with out so much as a backward glance - exactly what we wanted to achieve! Witnessing a successful return to the wild is a terrific reward for those of us involved in the rehabilitation business!

Storm Force Clean Up

Hurricane Stonham!  Perhaps not nearly as dramatic as hurricane Katrina but in some ways nearly as damaging in its own way!

Last week, this region (and most of the nation, it seems) were hit by the worse storms for over seventy years.  Gale force winds with recorded speeds of between 70 & 90 mph were responsible for huge amounts of damage across the entire East Anglian region, leaving over 5,700 homes without electricity for over 24-hours!

As far as the birds here at Stonham were concerned, I am happy to report that there were no injuries or fatalities - but unfortunately, the shrubbery wasn’t quite so lucky!

Thankfully, the aviary design that we employ here at Stonham is relatively sound when it comes “SDS” - Storm Damage Survival!  This due to the fact that the main hexagonal aviaries have no solid walls to speak of, enabling the high winds to pass straight through them.  Had they been completely solid wall structures we might not have been so lucky - the areas of damage we did sustain, most were purely cosmetic.

The only aviary to be badly affected was that belonging to ISIS, our Pharaoh's Eagle Owl, as the mature tree that grew inside was completely up-rooted by the wind.  But we did our best to save it by giving it a healthy trim and re-planting it - with any luck it won’t be too long before it re-establishes itself.  Isis himself didn’t seem to have too much to say about the incident, with not so much as a ruffled feather to show for his ordeal: being the regal bird that he is (Egyptian royalty - don’t you know), he simply sat rather serenely as we went about the busy task of tidying up his royal Kingdom!

How else did the storm affect us?  Well, we were without power for almost 24-hours.  And what, you may ask, do Birds of Prey need electricity for?  The simple answer is that in the wild they don’t have any need for it at all: however, for those in our charge it is very necessary to power the electric freezer’s that keep their food - chicken poults, rats, mice & quail - frozen until required.  And as we had just received a month’s supply of food the day before, it became a military operation in order to find a portable electric generator before everything defrosted!  Thankfully, we did manage to find not one but two and disaster was averted - the food remained frozen and we were provided with the technology to produce the numerous cups of tea needed to keep the team warm as they toiled away repairing the damage.

Amongst the other damaged sustained was the loss of a huge proportion of our perimeter fencing, all of which had to be replaced before the daylight faded, in order to keep the Sanctuary secure.  Even Anna, who is normally exclusively to be found in the SOS office, was drafted in to help with the clear up campaign - all of which went to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the girls are every bit as capable as the boys (as you can see from the photo of our Warden, Julie, above as she grappled with broken fence panels!).

Thankfully, we did manage to get all the work done by the end of the day, the electricity finally did come back on and all that remained for us to do to finish off a tiring & stressful day was (yep, you’ve guessed it) - have yet another cup of TEA! 

Raptor M.O.T.'s

Well, once again SOS was called in to do a bit of SAVING this week. This time it was in order to give a pair of Harris’ Hawks a happier home!

About a week ago we got a phone call relating to the two birds. Unfortunately their current owner was no longer able to continue caring for them and therefore had made the very responsible decision of donating them to a Bird of Prey centre (in this case he chose SOS) so that they may receive the best possible care and potential for a good quality of life.

Our two new arrivals at SOS were, I’m glad to report, in relatively good condition, with no visible signs of feather damage or any other serious complaints. All they really needed was a general clean up - what some might refer to as a Raptor MOT!

To carry this out, the birds were first hooded and then carefully examined by our head Falconer, Andy Hulme. Once it was established that both Harris’s Hawks were in good health, they were then furnished with new equipment so they could be handled with the least amount of stress.

Next came the coping of beaks & trimming of talons.

Coping the beak of a captive raptor is a necessary process. In the wild the birds will generally keep their beaks in good working order - wearing them down of their own accord.

In captivity, successive generations of captive bred birds don’t seem to be quite so fussed about their overall appearance. If not routinely coped, their beaks can often become overgrown - which in turn can lead to problematic feeding habits and dietary problems. So it’s true to say that a bird that looks it’s best will also feel its best, too.

As shown in the photo above, the bird is first immobilised by wrapping it in a towel and then hooded, this to prevent it becoming alarmed or damaging itself.

Its beak is then trimmed and filed. Similarly the talons are given a trim and generally tidied up. Neither process hurts or harms the bird in any way and is really the equivalent you trimming your nails.

We hope to be able to give these birds a new lease of life here at SOS. Confident that once they have familiarised themselves with their new surroundings, they will become a valuable addition to our existing flying team, which help us demonstrate the various aspects of of raptor care & conservation to visitors.

**

HELP! We’d like some names for these two birds!

The only thing that remains for me to say is that both of the hawks (one male and one female) came to us without names. So if you have any suggestions as to what you think they should be called, please send me an email with your suggestions. We will post all the best entries here on our site and then you can pick your favourite name and suggest reasons why you think we should use it!

As they say on BIG BROTHER - YOU DECIDE!!!

**

And finally, it is worth mentioning at this point that whilst it is relatively easy to obtain Harris’ Hawks (and indeed, many other birds of prey, including owls) for private ownership, they are most definitely NOT PETS and require a great deal of dedicated care! And, in my experience, if you don’t also treat any bird of prey with respect, they will soon make their feelings known.

Therefore, anyone intending to own a raptor privately should first FULLY research everything that is required for its care, and also consider the level of commitment required both in terms of the time and the money involved in keeping a bird of prey.

It is also worth remembering that most well-cared-for raptors will out-live most cats and dogs! Hawks, such as the one featured in this story, can live anything up to 20 years in captivity and European Eagle Owls for more than 30.
Which only goes to endorse the fact that falconry is definitely not an occupation to be entered into lightly. Proper training in the care and maintenance of a bird is of the utmost importance before the acquisition of any raptor. If you would like more in formation about the various courses that are be available on this subject, please e-mail me.

New Paths at Stonham

Follow the Yellow Brick Road - well not quite! Its not yellow and its not a road - but a huge truck load of Tarmac arrived at SOS in December, and the question was - where was it all to go?

For those of you that are not aware of what I am referring to SOS has recently had a facelift (well a path-lift actually, and its all thanks to our kind friends at LAFARGE Aggregates - who have not only donated all the materials free of charge but also the labour (although we did supply our own labour in the form of DICK - and a great job he did too, preparing all the pathways before the crew arrived to begin the work)!

I must say that the crew made a brilliant and very enthusiastic start to the project and the weather was kind to us on day one. So how much progress did we make? Well you can see from the photo above that the combined team from SOS, Lafarge and a kindly volunteer (Jamie Smith) made a brilliant start. Thankfully we also had the full crew for day two of the project - and despite the weather on the second day, we did manage to get the project completed in record time.

There was even enough tarmac left over to tidy up the doorway and entrance area of SOS (well, it seemed like a shame to waste it)! So we are looking very smart as we move into 2007.

A huge amount of thanks go to all those involved in the project (too many to name individually). For without their personal commitment (materials, labour and finance) we would never have been able to re-develop the centre in this way (we simply did NOT HAVE the funds to make this happen). It will make a huge difference to the visitor traffic we have at the centre, and will now make all our wonderful birds accessible to all!

So do come and visit us very soon - and perhaps you too can FOLLOW, follow, follow - our fantastic new pathways around the centre - and see exactly how much more accessible our wonderful collection has become - due to the generosity of others!

If this story inspires you (or a company you work for) to get involved and help us to improve our centre for the benefit of all - then please email us with any suggestions you might have!

We look forward to your visit in 2007.

Blogs Eye View

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!