Ringed and ready for release

With a number of Raptor Hospital patients due for release around the same time, we took the opportunity to invite Dr Hugh Hanmer from the British Trust for Ornithology to come and continue training Jess on how to ring birds. All of these birds were checked and given the all clear by our specialist vet Dr Elliot Simpson prior to being booked for release.

The first bird to be ringed was a Little Owl, which was found beside a road locally. When it arrived it was a very healthy weight of just over 200g, meaning that this was a female (as male Birds of Prey are smaller than females). Having spent some time in one of our outdoor aviaries to monitor for any injuries, we were pleased to find nothing wrong with her.

Jess ringing the Little Owl

Little Owls always appear to be scowling, and this one was no exception. Having said that, she was very well behaved during the ringing process.

The second bird to be ringed was the Kestrel found at a local Tesco. This bird also had no injuries and showed the typical feisty attitude of these mini predators when being ringed.

Jess with the Tesco Kestrel

Lastly, two Barn Owls were ringed together. One of these was picked up on a dual carriageway locally, while the other was found in a recent barn conversion. Both had minor injuries which were treated upon arrival and had made a full recovery. Interestingly, both these Owls were juvenile (hatched this year) females, but had very different plumage.

The two Barn Owls in one of our outdoor aviaries before being rung.

Dr Hugh Hanmer from the British Trust for Ornithology with Jess, studying the feathers on the Barn Owl to determine her age.

All four of these birds are booked for release this week, and we’ll post any footage or updates on our social media channels.

An uncommon patient

At the end of November, we received a call from Marine and Wildlife Rescue , asking if we could take in a Short-eared Owl that they had picked up.

This unfortunate Owl was on its migration from further north (possibly Russia or Scandinavia), where the temperatures have already caused thick snow falls, when it was found entangled in the cables of a wind farm maintenance vessel, off the coast of Felixstowe.

The Owl appears to have tried landing on the cable, but got it’s wing stuck in the oil.

Upon arrival back on land, Dan from Marine and Wildlife Rescue, checked the bird and found no injuries but it was covered in oil from the rigging. When it arrived at our Raptor Hospital, our team carefully washed the affected wing and put the Owl into one of our isolation cages to monitor. There appeared to be no ill effects from its accident and on his regular visit, our specialist vet Dr Elliot Simpson gave the bird a clean bill of health.

Upon arrival, the Owl was not impressed at having to have a bath!

We were thankful to not have to keep it for much longer, as this bird was determined to continue it’s migration and clearly did not take to being held captive, even if for a short time for it’s own good.

We arranged for Dan to collect the Owl to release it on a Suffolk Wildlife Trust Reserve near the coast where it was hopefully heading before its accident. Prior to it being released, we were also able to ask Dr Hugh Hanmer from the British Trust for Ornithology to come and ring the bird. As Short-eared Owls are nomadic and actually go places, it was important to contribute towards the little data there is on them, in the hope that this Owl may be caught by another ringer elsewhere.

During the ringing process, Hugh was able to determine that this was an adult female, so we hope that she will return to her breeding grounds next year and raise more of these beautiful birds.

Before release, the Owl was ringed by a licenced ringer, in the hope that we may find out where it goes.

Barn Conversion dangers

Our favourite Owl is well known for using old farm buildings to nest and roost in, hence why they are called Barn Owls! However, as these buildings have become redundant to agricultural uses, they are often sold off and converted to new homes or businesses. We recently had an interesting case brought into the Hospital, which carries a bit of advice to it’s tale.

We received a call from someone who had found a Barn Owl flying around inside their house. They were able to catch it, put it in a box and bring it to us for assessment, where we discovered it had injuries suggesting it had flown into things in an enclosed space. Upon further discussions with the finder, it turns out that their home was a recent barn conversion, and that prior to them carrying out the work to make the building weathertight, it was a known Barn Owl breeding site.

Barn Owls are a Schedule 1 protected species, which means that their nests are legally protected from disturbance, during the breeding season. Although their breeding season can start as early as March and go through to September or October, during the colder months, Barn Owls will often roost in the same area, sometimes even using the next boxes to shelter from bad weather or stash food for a rainy night.

This Barn Owl had found it’s way into the building via a hole which had been left to install a vent, but then found itself unable to get out.

This Barn Owl was named “Wobbles” as it was a bit disorientated upon arrival. It had sustained some feather damage and some bruising to it’s wing tips, which we were able to give some pain relief for. After a couple of days in our small cages, it was moved to one of our larger aviaries, where it has more space to fly around. Unfortunately, it is still a bit reluctant to fly, so will be under observation for another week before it’s assessed again for release.

We would like to share some advice to anyone converting an old building which may have Barn Owls or other wildlife using the building. Please consider giving them an alternative space, either within or attached to the existing building, or very close by. We can offer free advice on where to locate nestboxes for Birds of Prey if you’re unsure where to begin.

The finder asked us for advice and is now building some nest boxes to provide Wobbles with a safer place to roost before it is released back in the area.

Wurzel Buzzard

Sometimes, birds come in to our Hospital with such a back story, that we have to publish it.

Wurzel was brought in by a local farmer, who saw her get spat out the chute of the combine harvester! Fortunately, the blades weren’t operating at the time, but how she found herself inside the machinery, we have no idea!

Buzzards will often spend time on the ground “grubbing”, which is hunting for worms and other insects. With the relatively mild weather (up until last week) this has been perfect for species which feed on insects, and at certain times of year, insects can make up a large proportion of a Buzzards diet.

However, combine harvesters aren’t known for being particularly speedy, and Buzzards are usually quite quick to get out of the way of large, noisy, scary machinery bearing down on them.

We think that Wurzel may have been in the field grubbing because of another issues, which meant she was unable to get out of the way of the combine before she got caught up. Upon admission, she was showing a tilt to her head, which we think may be a neck injury sustained in the accident. She was in reasonable body weight, but had an interesting lesion in her mouth. Initially, this was thought to be frounce, a yeast infection which causes swelling to the throat and tongue, making it painful for the bird to eat. However, following a visit from our vet Dr Elliott Simpson, it was discovered to be an……. infection. Elliott removed some of the infected tissue to send for analysis and prescribed antibiotics to hopefully clear it up.

We are unsure on the long-term prognosis on this bird, as she still has a pronounced tilt, which we hope will improve given time and rest.

Unexpected item in the bagging area

With the recent stormy weather, many people have been reporting birds in unexpected places.

Last week we received a call from our local vets, asking if we had space for a Kestrel. This bird had been found in one of the metal cages that milk cartons are transported in, round the back of a local Tesco store.

It was taken to the vets, who couldn’t find any obvious injuries, but with Storm Arwen due, it was decided to keep the Kestrel in for a few days to improve it’s chances of surviving.

Now that the weather has settled a bit, we hope to release this Kestrel later this week in a more natural habitat, where there will be plenty of prey for it to hunt and areas to shelter from any future storms.

Joe Volunteer

Volunteers come to us from all walks of life and we are pleased to allow individuals the opportunity to spend time helping us out, in return for learning new skills and knowledge.

Joe joined us a couple of months ago, and volunteers once a week with his support worker Chip. Joe is autistic, and struggles with social situations. However, he loves animals and this really shows in his work.

At home, Joe has a menagerie of animals himself, including snakes, insects and a dog. He has joked about opening up a Zoo himself one day! He enjoys spending time working with our Keepers on the Mammals, and has a soft spot for the Meerkats. Joe is a dab hand at poo picking and spot cleaning the enclosures, and is meticulous with his raking, despite the Meerkats doing their best to make a mess!

Although most of our volunteers join us to help with the birds, we say that they have to earn their time flying the birds, and Joe was fortunate to get his first flying experience with Auckland last week. Auckland is one of our star birds during displays, as her small size means she will frequently fly between visitors and even sit beside them on the benches.

We are not currently doing displays, but visitors are welcome to watch us exercising our birds, and quite a crowd gathered while Joe and Chip were flying Auckland with our trainee Dolly and experienced volunteer Jan. Both the guys did really well with an audience and are looking forward to their next flying opportunity.

Big thanks to Waitrose Ipswich!

We had a lovely surprise visit from Jenny, a member of the Community Matters Team at Waitrose Ipswich this morning.

Many retail outlets have a charity token box in store, where customers can vote for their favourite charity every quarter to receive a donation from the business. Due to the pandemic, most have had to stop this scheme. Waitrose instead asked colleagues to nominate charities according to the sector in which they work as part of this year's "Give a Little Love Campaign.

Jenny nominated us in the Conservation and Animal Welfare category, and was delighted to present us with a cheque for £333!

General Manager Maz says “We were very grateful for the unexpected donation and it will be used towards our Hack Pen Project.”

Hack Pens are used to rehabilitate wild birds before they are released back into the wild, following a stay at our Raptor Hospital. They are located in suitable habitats and allow the birds more space to build up fitness and to get used to the sights and sounds of the local environment. We monitor the Hack Pens using remote cameras to assess when is the best time to open the door and release the birds. We continue to feed the birds at the site until they stop visiting.

Following higher demand for our Hack Pen this year, we are hoping to construct a few more over the winter months which will allow us to have several release pens available for wild birds next year.

(L-R) Jennie, Keeper and Fundraiser, Jenny from Waitrose Ipswich, Jess, Falconer, Lincoln our Bald Eagle and Maz, General Manager.

New microscope for the Raptor Hospital

Here at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, we are always looking for new ways that we can improve our service for the wild birds of prey who are brought into our Raptor Hospital. We have recently acquired a new digital microscope which will allow us to screen samples on site, rather than having to send them off to our local vets. This not only saves us a considerable amount of money, but time, as we appreciate that local vets are very busy helping domestic animals.

Jess, using the new microscope to screen a faecal sample for parasites.

Jess, who runs our Raptor Hospital says:
Having this diagnostic facility means we can triage new patients in the hospital much more thoroughly before administering treatment, and also offer our centre birds regular health checks and triage any new health issues that arise without a wait time. Working alongside Elliot for diagnosis means we can treat issues like parasite burdens and intestinal issues much sooner than if we were to rely on an off-site diagnostic service. In many cases the speed of diagnosis means treatment is much more thorough and successful. It also means we can gather more specific documentation of the health of local wild bird populations too, and the frequency of parasitic and bacterial loads that we see arriving at the centre (and also treat accordingly)

Image taken from the microscope of worm eggs identified in a faecal sample taken from a recent admission.

We are very grateful to Shadwell Charities Committee and Animal Survival International for their kind donations which have enabled us to purchase this equipment from Iolight microscopes and to Elliott Simpson for his continued support in all veterinary matters.

A fond farewell to two volunteers

Here at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, we have a team of volunteers who help our falconers and keepers carry out their day to day duties looking after the birds and animals, engaging with visitors and making sure that the Centre is maintained to a high standard.

We have recently said goodbye to two volunteers who have made a big difference since starting with us.

Rosemary Gethin started volunteering with us in March. She soon learnt how to clean out aviaries and prepare food for the birds alongside the gardening and maintenance tasks. Rosemary was particularly keen to provide enrichment for our birds, and spent time working with other volunteers and our trainees to come up with new challenges. Rosemary has now moved away from the area and will be missed.

PJ Harris joined us in April, to complement his university degree by learning practical skills in animal care and management. Always happy to muck in, PJ was a valuable member of our team. He has decided to leave us to concentrate on his studies, but we look forward to welcoming him back outside of term-time.

Volunteer co-ordinator Beckie says “We couldn’t do the work we do if it wasn’t for all of our volunteers. They give their time freely to help our charity and we hope that they gain skills, experience and friends while with us.”

For more information about our volunteer scheme, please click here.

A word with our Trainees

Jade attended the Home Education Fair in Bury St Edmunds to help raise our profile.

Here at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, we like to give young people an opportunity to learn about our work through our Trainee scheme. Every year, we hire a trainee and give them a paid role where they receive on the job training, learning about the varied roles we have here.

General Manager Maz says: “During the course of the year and when space and finances allow, we will seek to add young trainees to the staff on a temporary secondment as it gives them an insight into the realities of working with wildlife. This helps clarify their ambitions as to which area they would like to work in - zoos, veterinary, research, education etc…”

Earlier this year, we interviewed several potential candidates, all of whom were existing volunteers or work experience students. Each had their own merits and the final decision was very hard. In the end, we decided to offer the role part time to two of the candidates.

Dolly had finished her degree in Zoo Biology at Nottingham Trent University and become a volunteer with us while looking for a job. Jade was just finishing her Animal Care course at West Suffolk College Otley campus and had been a work experience student with us for a few months.

Although the girls already knew our routine here from their voluntary work, it was a big step up in their learning and level of responsibility. After guidance from the falconers, they took the lead on working with some of our birds who had not had much socialisation previously. Fred, one of our Crested Caracaras has particularly come out of his shell and loves his enrichment days provided by Dolly, Jade and the volunteers.

They’ve helped with putting together our feed rounds, making sure enough food was taken out the day before to defrost. They also worked out food quantities for each bird, based on their weight in the morning, which the girls took the lead on monitoring.

Jade learning about training young falcons

Starting in June, Dolly and Jade embraced working with all our baby birds, and as the birds grew their flight feathers and began their training to join our flying team, the girls were a big part of getting the babies used to different people flying them. They have worked with our Great Grey Owls Smokey and Bandit, MacKinders Eagle Owls Kali and Kruger, Twiglet the Long-eared Owl, Plop the Barn Owl and Ember the Black Barn Owl.

The girls enjoyed working with the birds during the displays, and helped by releasing birds from their aviaries or boxes and flying the birds amongst the crowds. However, we waited until after the summer holidays to ask them to take on a presenting role, both for the flying displays and our popular Meerkat talks. With support from staff, the girls did their homework and have now delivered several talks about a variety of our birds.

Dolly introducing Boris to young audience members

Quote from Dolly

Dolly presenting part of our flying display with Cecil

I applied for the role to expand my experience & knowledge of bird handling, training, behaviour and health, and have really enjoyed starting to deliver talks in the shows - even though it was scary to begin with! My highlight so far is the work we’ve achieved with Fred the Crested Caracara; he’s sitting on the glove now and loves his training routine & enrichment, whereas he was nervous of us just going in his aviary to begin with. I find it really special that we’ve been able to build relationships with the birds, and see them trusting us. It enables us to share them and engage with guests in displays which I find really rewarding. I’m learning more every day from the falconers and love every minute working with the birds.

Quote from Jade

Jade with Dereck the Harris Hawk

I applied for the position to extend my knowledge of falconry and how to train birds of prey. I have learnt that when it comes to training these amazing creatures it's nowhere near as easy as some people think. The amount of time, patience and dedication that is needed to have these birds respect you is crazy. It's a very delicate process which can help the birds choose their path. It is very rewarding when it all falls into place after all the hard work and the long hours of relationship building. The best part is something that me and Dolly have achieved which is that we have turned around Fred the Crested Caracara’s life completely. He seems so much happier and more confident to be around people and will progress so much more as time goes on for him.

Working with Fred our Crested Caracara has been a highlight for Dolly and Jade.

Barn Owl dilemma

Around this time every year we see an influx of Barn Owls brought into our Raptor Hospital. Many of these are young birds, who have just left their natal territories and are having to learn how to survive without the help of mum and dad.

This young owl came in starving and in poor condition.

As the weather gets colder and more unsettled, these birds may struggle to hunt successfully each night, as Barn Owls are very sensitive to wet and windy conditions. Weighing less than a kilogram (bag if sugar), Barn Owls will be buffetted around by wind and inexperienced (and hungry) birds may sustain injuries as they get thrown into buildings, trees and other landmarks.

This Barn Owl was found near a road with awing injury.

Another factor is that with the clocks going back this weekend, Barn Owls are now more likely to come into contact with vehicles during morning and evening rush-hour. If you are driving in an area with fields and hedges near the road, please slow down for wildlife. Many of the birds that come in having been found on the roadside have not actually made contact with cars or vans, but have been hampered by the tail wind, which can cause them to become disorientated and crash into the ground, sometimes into the path of traffic.

Bird bones are hollow to allow them to fly, but this means they are quite fragile, sometimes resulting in broken bones.

If you find a sick or injured bird of prey, cover it in a towel, blanket or jumper and put it into a well ventilated box which won’t cramp the bird., then call us or take it to your nearest vets. Vets are obliged to treat wildlife for free and will pass them on to wildlife rescues and rehabilitation centres such as us when they are in recovery.

Changes to the Wise Owl Roadshow

Here at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, we always put the welfare of our birds first and are proud to receive all the excellent comments and feedback from visitors saying how well looked after our birds are.

We have been working with specialist vet Elliott Simpson for a couple of years now. He not only helps to look after all of our resident birds when they require some veterinary treatment, but is also our referral specialist for any hospital cases which require a bit more avian knowledge.

As a leading avian veterinarian, Elliott was part of a working group which recently put together a Best Practice Guide for keeping Birds of Prey. In addition to feeding and housing guidelines, there is a section on handling, in particular tethering of birds.

Visitors to Suffolk Owl Sanctuary will have noticed that our weatherings have been looking a bit empty over the past couple of years. This is where traditionally all of the birds that fly during our displays would be tethered during the daytime. Each bird would have its own area to protect it from the elements, a perch to sit on and a bath to bathe in if desired. The birds would be picked up and relocated for flying displays or exercise, then returned to their perches. At the end of the day, the birds would be moved into our Mews room, which is fitted with a variety of large and roomy night boxes, where the birds are untethered overnight.

Modern practice is now moving away from this, and as such, we started free lofting many of our birds. This means that birds will live permanently inside an aviary, apart from when they are being flown. It is believed that this allows the birds to demonstrate more natural behaviours, and to have a choice as to where it sits. It also allows us to create new and interesting aviaries, with enrichment in the form of natural logs for perching at different levels and planting, which is not possible in the weatherings.

Over the winter, we will be building a new block of aviaries for the remaining display birds to move into. This will be fitted with windows and hatches for the birds to fly in and out of when it’s their time to take part in displays, something which our Owls have already mastered.

Following the move away from tethering birds at the centre, questions were raised about tethering birds and taking birds off site. Although we no longer take our birds to country shows or fairs, our Wise Owl Roadshow has always been popular with schools, youth groups and care homes who find it difficult to organise a trip to visit us.

The birds chosen for these outreach trips were specially selected because of their calm demeanours. All of these birds are hand reared, so are used to people and being handled, and our staff were trained on how to manage the birds while off site.

However, in order for us to maintain our standards of bird welfare, we have taken the difficult decision to stop taking our birds off site, as of January 2022.

We understand that this is likely to be an unpopular decision to many of our long standing supporters, particularly schools and care homes. We hope that you will all understand our reasons why, and that you can help as we raise awareness for the plight of bird welfare. Many of our supporters already understand why we don’t allow visitors to stroke our birds (due to our skin having oils which can damage their feathers).

We will use the time up to the end of the year to rebrand our outreach visits, as we hope to still be able to educate, engage and inspire people of all ages to care for Bird of Prey and the world they live in.

If you have any questions regarding this, please direct them to info@owl-help.org.uk

Kestrels set for release

These two have been long term rehabilitation cases. The youngest came to us as a pre-fledgling that was found in a field, presumably taken by a predator then dropped. Unfortunately, due to its age, it was becoming quite tame to people so was housed with another older male kestrel that came to us with a broken beak.

During the time the beak was healing the company of another kestrel took the youngsters focus away from us and thankfully started to wild up again.

The downside to long term rehabilitation cases is that the birds can lose fitness which is not conducive to a successful release - and often get accustomed to pre-laid food.

So these two were taken to one of our dedicated wild release hack sites where they can experience the sights and sounds of the area of release, whilst also seeing and potentially catching wild prey whilst in situ. The hack pens are supplied with food for a number of weeks leading up to release but are designed to allow for small rodents to enter and exit. This should hopefully start encouraging hunting behaviour or at least peak the birds interests.

Once opened we will continue to provide food at the pen until we are sure that food is being left, or the visits are becoming less regular. Over this time we also limit the amount of food left to encourage natural foraging instead of reliance. Cameras are set up to monitor these sites over this period.

Stretching their wings in the hack pen.

New intakes for the hospital

Here’s some of the most recent patients to spend some time at our Raptor Hospital.

TAWNY OWL

This female Tawny Owl was found bewildered in a woodland where the finders were working - although a bit underweight there was no obvious cause for concern however she was brought to us for observation. After a few days it was evident she was suffering a potential injury to her wing, as she was showing signs of being limp on one side (which she hid very well to begin with!) This really shows the importance of a period of monitoring as these birds instinctively are very good at hiding acute injuries. Now it has been observed she has started a course of medication to ease the symptoms and hopefully get her back to health.

GOLF COURSE KESTREL

This kestrel was found in the middle of a golf course, unable to fly. The condition of the bird was confusing, as it carried a fair bit of body fat and very little muscle - this is usually conducive with an aviary environment which could point to a previous rehabilitation stint this bird may have had. Upon further investigation it was found to also have a slightly swollen head which would indicate some kind of trauma - however in this instance road or impact trauma were ruled out based on where it was found. Possibly it was attacked by a corvid of some sort. After a brief course of medication it was deemed fit to be monitored in an aviary where it can regain it's strength and hopefully build up some muscle condition before release.

BARN OWL

This gorgeous boy was brought to us after being found on the ground in a field absolutely exhausted. When he arrived, we found he was carrying a BTO ring. His records indicated he was rung in 2019 as a nestling near Capel St Mary, Suffolk. He was luckily suffering nothing other than exhaustion from hunger and potentially recent cold weather so has benefitted from a short 'hotel SOS' stay with plenty of meals served fresh!

VET VISIT

On his most recent visit, our specialist vet Elliot checked all our current hospital birds including our golf course kestrel for signs of more acute illness, and signed off others to be released. These visits are not just for our hospital however, whilst here Elliot will be taken around to our resident flying team and aviary birds for a quick assessments, and any concerns raised whilst here are addressed. Many older birds will suffer minor health issues (as we all do!) that simply need careful monitoring and occasional intervention and having this professional support is vital for the health and wellbeing of our residents.

Derek the Harris’s Hawk getting his check up by Elliott. This is important with our older birds so that we can spot any issues and treat them quickly before they become serious.

International Conservation Education Conference

Last weekend, our Education Officer Susan “attended” the International Conservation Education Conference, run jointly by the International Zoo Educators Association and the European Association for Zoos and Aquariums.

Usually this bi-annual conference takes place at a collection somewhere around the globe, rotating across the continents every time. But with travel still restricted in many countries, the decision was made for this years conference to go virtual. 294 delegates from 55 countries joined in over the course of the weekend!

Hosted by Zoo Wroclaw and Afrykarium in Poland, with support from San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, the event started at 7am UK time on Friday and finished at 5.30pm on Sunday! Thankfully, the whole event was recorded, so participants were able to get on with work, life and catch up on sleep if required!

The theme of this years conference was Building Conservation Education Success and featured 65 talks, workshops and presentations on a variety of topics.

Covid was a big feature of many of the sessions, particularly how collections adapted from teaching in person to teaching virtually, something we have already embraced, but are always keen to learn how to improve our offer. In particular, using more interactive technology through quizzes, virtual reality and props to really keep the audience engaged.

Not all the presentations were by current educators, with several students presenting their research on nature connections, diversity and learning context modelling. Some of these studies will be influencing our work going forwards and it was refreshing to see studies being done looking at the evaluation of learning (both formal and informal) in collections.

Susan said “I’ve always loved finding out what other collections are doing and sharing ideas on how to improve our work. Although our work focusses on birds of prey, I particularly enjoyed finding out about the use of smell libraries at a Russian collection working with bears, community engagement projects from an aquarium in Ireland and nature pre-school from a Zoo in the USA. It was also great to reconnect with fellow Educators in the UK, and I hope to visit some collections in person over the coming months to see for myself the amazing work that we are all doing for conservation education.”

Just like an in-person conference, the social events were very popular! To end the conference there was a jungle themed party, where everyone was invited to dress up!

A bevy of Buzzards

Although Buzzard’s aren’t an uncommon patient for our Raptor Hospital, it is unusual to have more than one in at a time. We recently had three in our aviaries, and took the opportunity to ask Hugh to come down and do some more ringing training with Jess and Susan. In more than 20 years of ringing, Hugh has never had the opportunity to ring a Common Buzzard, so the experience was valuable to the whole team. Here are the stories for each Buzzard.

The first to arrive was an interesting case. This Buzzard was found in the middle of a field, and presented with severe blood haemorrhaging in both eyes. Although there was some orbital swelling, there was no bruising or any other signs of injury or impact. We suspect she got into an altercation with some crows. The bird spent a few days on medication to reduce the swelling, and showed signs that it was blind; not reacting to movement and doing a light-searching head movement. However, the treatment worked and after a couple of days the eyes started to clear and the behaviour became more normal for a Buzzard.

This Buzzard was checked by our specialist vet Elliot on his recent visit, who was happy with her progress. A small eye ulcer was given further medication, which has now cleared up, so we took the opportunity to ring this bird before release. Upon taking the measurements, this large bird was confirmed to be a first year female.

Bill length isn’t usually measured, but for some birds it can be helpful to determine the sex of the bird.

The second Buzzard to arrive was a young first year male who was brought to us in very poor condition. The bird was starving, which suggests it had recently been evicted from the parental territory and was inexperienced at finding food. We provided it with a varied diet to regain body condition, and it quickly put on weight again!

Enjoying a meal of quail

When this boy was caught for ringing, he earned the nickname “Heartybum” as his juvenile plumage had created lots of heart shapes on his under tail coverts. These will be replaced with adult type feathers next year.

These juvenile feathers will moult next year and be more adult type, without the heart shapes.

Not the most dignified way to get a weight, but when it first arrived, this male was only 455g, so this is a massive improvement (now weighing 600g as the jacket weighs 75g)

The third Buzzard came in after hitting the side of a van. She had swelling on her chest and head so was given pain relief to help her recovery. After a few days, she showed herself to be a fighter and we have been very happy with her progress. She was the last to be ringed and despite being quite feisty in the aviary, she was very submissive in the hand and allowed Hugh to take all the necessary measurements without the aid of a casting jacket.

Hugh measuring the third Buzzard. Callipers are used to get accurate measurements of bill length, tarsus width and hind claw length, which are all useful when trying to sex birds of prey,

Rear claw length helps determine the sex of Buzzards.

“Heartybum” was collected by his finder this week and released near where he was found. The other two Buzzards are also scheduled for release over the next few days, so if we receive any further updates from them, we will share them here.

Great Big Green Week

Here at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, we are always looking for ways to be more sustainable and limit the impact on the environment.

Visitors who have completed our trail booklet will have found signage around our site explaining how we take in old towels for the hospital, recycle newspaper in our overnight bird boxes, collect rainwater to water the gardens and use cut branches as perches in our aviaries.

To celebrate Great Big Green Week, running between the 18th and 26th September, we’ve written this blog with our top tips on how to be more Green.

• Plant a tree or sow a wildflower meadow - These are not only very green ideas, but will benefit people and wildlife too! Trees not only provide a home for many species, including Owls, but they store carbon from the atmosphere, provide shade on warm days and help soak up surface water when it rains. Wildflowers look (and smell) amazing, which attracts lots of pollinators like bees, beetles and butterflies. This in turn attracts animals that feed on these insects, moving up the food chain to our apex predators like Kestrels and Barn Owls.

• Save water - Turning the tap off when brushing your teeth can save up to 200 gallons of water a month! Try taking a five minute shower - choose your favourite song (or two) and challenge yourself to get clean before the song finishes! And to be extra green, why not use the “grey” water to water the garden or house plants? Whilst we don’t often experience water shortages here in the UK, with increasing temperatures due to climate change, there is a high risk that in the future this may become more of an issue for us.

• Leave the car at home - During the national lockdowns last year, people around the world were sharing how happy they felt to be able to walk around with less traffic on the roads, discovering new places easily overlooked when whizzing past in a car. Now that restrictions have lifted, everyone has jumped back in their cars, which has had a massive impact on our wildlife! If you can, walk or cycle to school, work or social events. This is not only fantastic for the environment, but will also improve your own health, as it is recommended by the NHS we should be doing 150 minutes of exercise every week. If you need to travel longer distance, try using public transport or car-sharing.

• Eat seasonally - Whilst supermarket shopping has become the norm for most of us, it can be hard to know what produce is “in season” as we’re used to being able to buy whatever we want, whenever we want it! Try visiting your local farmers market or farm shop to discover locally produced food that is in season right now! Growing your own is also a great way of learning the value of food, and it tastes amazing too!

• Reduce plastics - Most people are now used to taking their own bags when they go shopping, but you can do even more. Why not take a reusable drinks bottle or coffee cup to use when you’re out of the house for the day? If you’re out buying a drink, say no to a straw or cutlery (you can take your own from home) and help raise awareness about the impact of single use plastics in the environment.

Home Education Days

Here at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary we have always supported local home educators. Several local groups already use our facilities on site for group visits, while a number of individual families bring their young learners for an alternative day out.

Having recently realised that there are more Home Educators in the area than previously thought, we’ve decided to run some special Home Education Days throughout our quieter season. These will feature all the same benefits as our group days, but will be open to all, allowing families to get to know others who share similar interests.

Education Officer Susan explains “Suffolk Owl Sanctuary is unique to the area, in that we can offer bespoke educational activities about bird of prey conservation for groups who visit us. We understand that not all home educators will be part of a larger group, and wanted to offer them an opportunity to meet others in a safe and friendly environment which caters for their learners needs.”

We are planning to start these days in November, with two or three sessions planned per day (to cater for different ages/ abilities). Each session will be limited to a max of 8 participants, allowing us to use our private Activity Room for most activities, and catering for those who may not cope in larger group environments.
Session topics will be pre-set initially, however there is scope for participants to put forward suggestions for other topics or subjects going forwards.

To help us make sure that we offer what is needed, we have created a very short survey for home educators to complete. You can also leave your contact details on the survey to be added to our mailing list so you won’t miss any updates. Alternatively, keep an eye on our social media for further announcements.
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New skills for Jess

Regular followers of this blog may have seen that in the past 12 months we’ve started ringing some of our hospital birds before release.

Jess ringing her first bird with a BTO ring.

The British Trust for Ornithology coordinates the British Bird Ringing Scheme, which sees volunteers around the UK ringing wild birds to help monitor populations, migration and general health of our birds.

By ringing birds that have been taken into care, we have a chance of assessing whether these birds survive after release.

Hugh Hanmer, who is a Research Ecologist with the BTO, is also a licenced ringer and has agreed to run the project on our behalf, and to train our Falconer Jess, who runs the Hospital, on how to ring raptors. Our Education Officer Susan is already a bird ringer, but still needs some experience with raptors, so she will also be learning how its done.

Each species has a different ring size, which are secured using specialist equipment.

Hugh says “Bird ringing is an important part of wild bird monitoring and in the UK is done by volunteers adding metal leg rings with unique numbers to birds. By adding this ring it makes a bird an individual that can be identified in the future if it is ever found again, so we can see where it goes and how long it lives. At the same time we, where possible, age, sex and take biometrics such as wing length and weight to get an idea of their condition. All this data together is very important for trying to monitor and protect our wild bird species and identify problems for them. Usually this is done on birds out in the wild but it is especially interesting and useful ringing rehabilitated wild birds prior to their release as it gives us a chance to see how well rehab birds do after returning to the wild as well contributing to our wider monitoring.”

Jess and Hugh measuring the wing length of the Kestrel. This can help determine sex and race in some species, as well as being a useful guide for overall health.

Jess says “I’m interested in learning a new skill which will hopefully lead to positive stories about our released hospital birds. By ringing the birds before release, there is a chance that we might encounter them again in the future, to show that our little Raptor Hospital here at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, is successful.”

Jess carefully holding the wing open to check the birds age - Kestrels retain some juvenile feathers into their second year which look different to adult type feathers.

Hugh showing Jess the contrast between the different generations of primary and secondary feathers.

The Kestrel was returned to its aviary for a day or two before it was collected for release. The ring is the equivalent weight to wearing a watch or bracelet, and most birds don’t even notice their new accessory upon release.

A visit from the Vet

Here at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, we are proud of our relationship with Avian specialist Vet Elliott Simpson from Aquila Veterinary Services.

He recently came to check some of our long term hospital patients and give us his expert opinion on their long term recovery chances.

This Buzzard came in with a severe head trauma. It had blood in both eyes and was displaying worrying signs that it was blind, with possibly some neuropathy issues aswell. After a quick phone call, Elliott recommended medication and treatment which we could provide quickly. Overnight, the Buzzard improved a bit, and after a few days it was able to see food put out for it and fly to a perch. The blood had mostly cleared from its eyes, so we are hopeful that it will make a full recovery.
Elliott was pleased with its progress, although suggested we continue treatment for an eye ulcer. We’ll never know exactly how this Buzzard got into this state, as it was found in the middle of a field. Our best guesses are that it’s either persecuted and hit with a blunt object, then dumped, or it got into an altercation with another large bird, such as another Buzzard, Peregrine Falcon or a Crow.

Elliott checking the eye of the Buzzard

Applying some drops to help treat the ulcer

This young female Sparrowhawk was brought in after hitting a window. After a couple of days to recover from concussion, she was placed into a larger aviary so we could assess if there was any other damage. She appears to be familiar with mesh and netting (which we use at the top of our aviaries to prevent escape), suggesting that she is already experienced enough to hunt in urban gardens. We were happy with her recovery and decided she would be a good candidate to ring before release. As these are wild birds, we try to minimise contact and handling as much as possible, and during the process of catching her up to ring, it was discovered that she had a mild case of frounce, a bacterial infection which can cause issues in the throat. We delayed her release until this had been treated. Elliott checked her over and removed a few small lumps from her mouth (remains of the infection), revealing healthy tissue underneath. She was given a clean bill of health and will be released soon.

Elliott checking the young Sparrowhawk before giving her a clean bill of health

Back in her aviary and ready to go!

This young Little Owl came in a few weeks ago with no obvious injuries. Upon investigation, the local vets discovered that it had an infection, so it was prescribed some antibiotics. Although it’s been quite lively since arrival, the infection didn’t clear up. It has now had a few weeks in our care and Elliott agreed to try another course of antibiotics to see if it will improve now it’s body condition is a bit better. Unfortunately, the infection resulted in some rather unpleasant mutes which made a mess of its tail, so here’s Jess giving it a bath and towel dry to clean it up a bit.

Can’t Fly, Won’t Fly is a young Kestrel which for some unknown reason, won’t fly! It was found on the ground and assessed for all the usual injuries. After X-rays showed nothing broken or any obvious tissue damage, we thought it just needed a bit of time to recover. It was put in an aviary by itself initially, but Jess then decided to put it in with two other long term Kestrel patients, to give it some competition which might encourage it to fly. So far, we have seen it hopping along the perches but it seems unable to get more than a few inches into the air, which for an aerial predator, is a bit of an issue. Elliott suggested it just needs some more time, so we will continue to care for it with the other two for now.

Finally, it must be said that whilst every bird we receive is given the best possible care, sometimes their injuries are deemed to be too great to ensure a quality of life, and therefore the kindest treatment we can give is to humanely euthanise them to end unnecessary suffering. This is always performed by a veterinarian and is never a decision taken lightly but on every occasion, with great sadness.