Kartong Bird Observatory Hooded Vulture project

For International Vulture Awareness Day 2022, we chose to support Kartong Bird Observatory in Gambia with their ongoing Vulture projects. Here’s why we think it’s a worthy cause to support:

Resident Hooded Vultures around Kartong exist in a complex society with multiple levels to interactions between individuals and there is plenty more to learn about their lives. Photo by Colin James Cross

Kartong Bird Observatory has been studying the resident Hooded Vulture population in the Kartong area since it started work in The Gambia in 2010 and some individual birds are still around from those first periods of ringing surveys.

Whereas many populations of Hooded Vultures in African countries are in serious decline (listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN), the populations in the coastal region of The Gambia are at least stable, largely due to their interaction with the human populations where they feed on rubbish dumps, kitchen waste, abattoirs, fish-landing sites and carcasses washing up on beaches.

The Hooded Vulture population in The Gambia is stable, with large congregations near human settlements. Photo by Colin James Cross

Hooded Vultures in The Gambia live in close proximity to the human population, clearing up waste products, including food and animal waste, from the environment. This close interaction requires close study to highlight the benefits of vultures as sanitizing influences in the ecosystem and determine any negative impacts on human health.

Vultures routinely investigate the outdoor kitchens of Kartong for scraps and waste. Photo by Colin James Cross

At the Kartong Bird Observatory, a large number of birds regularly attend the gardens and surrounding areas and offers unrivalled opportunities for closely studying their behaviour and social ecology. This is helped by colour-marking individual birds with coded leg rings or wing tags.

The KBO team record intimate relationships of these highly intelligent birds, including pair bonding, mutual preening of paired adults and juveniles, hierarchical confrontations, aggressive behaviour, sunbathing and contact vocalisations. Photo by Colin James Cross

Birds are typically captured using a cannon-net or whoosh-net by licensed bird ringers with years of experience in catching and handling large birds of prey.

To date, 258 Hooded Vultures have been ringed at Kartong, providing a large cohort of long-lived birds which can be studied as they move around the local area.

Over two thousand sightings of colour marked birds have been collected by the KBO team, many at the observatory where they come to drink in family groups, in the local area at rubbish dumps and around the beach and mangrove habitats at Kartong.

Family groups frequently visit the gardens around the Observatory to search for water during the dry season. Photo by Colin James Cross

While adult Hooded Vultures are largely sedentary and do not leave their breeding areas throughout the year, juvenile and sub-adult birds range over larger areas, appearing at other villages and sites around the West Coast Region and across the border in the Casamance Region of Senegal, as documented by Thompson et al. 2020 (Endangered Wildlife Trust & Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association).

Wing tags allow for sightings to be made from a greater distance, encouraging participation by others outside the KBO team. Photo by Colin James Cross

As well as sightings from the KBO team of research assistants, records are often sent in by Gambian bird guides and visitors to the country.

Results show that adult Hooded Vultures are very faithful to their breeding sites and stay in pairs for many years. In some cases KBO have colour-marked both adults in a pair and are able to follow their breeding success over a number of seasons, as they bring new offspring to the observatory in family groups of 4 or 5 birds.

Yellow-BA and CZ are a longstanding pair KBO have been studying through multiple breeding seasons. Each dry season they use the same nesting site in the middle of Kartong village and then bring their offspring to drink at the observatory. Photo by Colin James Cross

To compare the fortunes of Hooded Vultures in different regions KBO began working at an established vulture feeding station in the Central River Region of The Gambia that has been run for a number of years by Spanish vulture charity Fondo Amigos del Buitre. Colour marking here has also shown lots of birds faithful to the local area and they are often re-sighted by the local vulture expert, Kebuteh Sano.

In this region there is also a large population of White-backed Vultures. KBO have recently begun a colour-marking study on these birds which they will be expanding over the next few years.

White-backed Vultures are also listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN, so monitoring their population in The Gambia is crucial. Photo by Colin James Cross

Capturing wild vultures also provides a chance to undertake genetic and parasite studies and KBO collaborates with research groups at the Universities of Cardiff and Lincoln in the UK, the University of Cape Coast in Ghana and the University of Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa.

An important part of Kartong Bird Observatory’s effort researching vultures in The Gambia is the training and educational activities carried out by their research team in Kartong, and at sites in the Lower River Region and Central River Region together with the Fondo Amigos del Buitre and Gambian Department of Parks and Wildlife Management.

Ringing in the community helps build engagement with the local population. Photo by Colin James Cross

We will be keeping our special Vulture Draw open until Friday 30th September. These funds will be donated to Kartong Bird Observatory to support their ongoing Vulture project.

A mini felted Hooded Vulture and a meet and greet are up for grabs!

Our special prizes include:
Meet and greet with Jack and Rose
Felted Hooded Vulture, created by our falconer Dolly
Ruby keyring, created by our trainee Izzy
Rocky keyring, created by our trainee Izzy
Jack keyring, created by our trainee Izzy
Rose keyring, created by our trainee Izzy
Original Art created by Jack and Rose


We’re asking for £2 per entry into this prize draw. If you’d like to take part, you can pay via PayPal to owleducationsuffolk @ gmail.com, but please include your name and contact details, and select paying friends and family so that the full amount goes to the Vultures.

Kartong Bird Observatory are also looking for good quality second-hand optics to assist the team with recording sightings. If you think you can help, please contact susan @ owlbarn.co.uk

Good quality binoculars and scopes are important pieces of equipment needed to monitor the Vultures once they’ve been colour-marked. Photo by Susan Jones

Ringing birds before release

We invited Dr Hugh Hanmer from the British Trust for Ornithology down last weekend to ring some more of our Hospital patients that are almost ready for release. Jess is progressing well with her ringing training and is finding it very informative to be able to age and sex the birds using biometric details, rather than relying on a DNA test which is often used these days with captive birds.

Buzzard

Using a hood on wild birds helps to keep them calm

This Buzzard was left unsexed due to being in the middle of all the measurements required to sex Buzzards (there is a lot of overlap between males and females!) We think it’s a small female as the legs and feet were noticeably large compared to other recent Buteo patients.

Showing the size of feet compared with a finger

Kestrel

Beautiful young Kestrel being ringed before release

This young Kestrel was found waterlogged after recent storms. Finding no injuries, we were pleased that Hugh was able to ring it before it was returned to where it was found.

Sparrowhawk

The steely stare of a Sparrowhawk

Identified as a young female by her size (with females being much larger than males), this Sparrowhawk has shown good progress and is now feeding by herself and perching in our indoor aviary. She will be moved outdoors over the next day or two so we can assess her flight before relesase.

Sitting on her perch showing off her ring

Young Tawny

We’ve had a number of gingery Tawny Owls this year

A very late young Tawny Owl who came to use with a heavy parasite load. He was clearly struggling to thrive having gained independence from his parents, but with no injuries, he just needed some good food and rest for a few days.

Mushroomhead Tawny

Mushroom-head not looking impressed by being ringed

This Tawny Owl made a miraculous recovery after a severe head trauma. After a couple of weeks in our care, overnight the swelling went down and its vision returned. This individual was doing an interesting asymmterical moult, which allowed us to age it as a second year bird (hatched 2021)

These two Tawny Owls were placed in one of our large aviaries together after being ringed. This will give them both more space to build up fitness before release and we hope that the youngster might learn some survival skills from the older bird.

In memory of Wendy Lewis

Last month, we received a handwritten letter from one of our supporters. David Lewis had received a renewal letter to re-adopt Cobweb for his wife Wendy, whom had sadly passed away in July.

David wrote “In her memory, I will continue to adopt Cobweb in her name, as I will continue to adopt Holly in my name. The {renewal letter} you sent encouraged me to write a poem about Owls. I have been writing poems and short stories about animals since the advent of the Covid pandemic, not to mention the love letters to Wendy when I couldn’t visit her because of lockdowns. When she died last month my world fell apart after 49 years of marriage. Writing my poems and stories, now in excess of 180, gave me some stability and comfort to continue with life and it’s problems.”

In memory of Wendy, we have decided to publish David’s poem here, to inspire others to think creatively about the natural world.

Owls

They say the Owl is very wise,
To me, that comes as no surprise.
He knows what’s what when he’s out at night,
Scouring the fields and woods for a tasty bite.
He looks like a headmaster at school,
He always acts like he’s “very cool”.
He is not daft, by any means.
In majestic pose he is often seen.
He usually sleeps through the day,
Then silently waits in the dark of night,
To catch his unwary prey.
He hoots a lot, for that’s his way,
He sometimes does it, night or day.
He comes in many shapes and sizes,
Colours, too, and brilliant disguises!
He lives in countries, far and near,
To most small nocturns, he is a bird to fear!
To humans he is seldom seen but often heard.
I like owls, for all kinds of reasons,
They are a bird for all seasons.
My wife and I have adopted them, you see –
A Barn Owl for her,
A Little Owls for me.
They are cared for at the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary.
Why don’t you contact them, or go and see?

This poem is dedicated to Wendy Lewis, who passed away on 16th July 2022, aged 75.
David Lewis

Little Owl from Spirit of the Wild

Over the summer, we received a call from Ben at Spirit of the Wild who had rescued a young Kestrel and needed someone to finish the rehabilitation process. At the time, we had a number of other young Kestrels in our care, so we were able to add this individual to the group, where it quickly learnt how to behave like a Kestrel again.

Keeping Ben updated about it’s progress, he asked if he could come and see the Kestrels released, so we arranged a day when the weather was calm to give them their freedom.

However, Ben arrived with another bird in need of our help. A couple of days before the Kestrel release date, this young Little Owl was found in distress. When Ben arrived and assessed him, there were no injuries but he was suffering from exhaustion and dehydration. He was taken back with Ben and placed in a small holding aviary so they could monitor his progress. Ben provided some mice soaked in warm water and cut into bite sized morsels to entice the Little Owl to eat. After a few hours of perseverance, the Little Owl decided it quite liked mouse after all, and once it had some food it became more alert.

Ben was concerned that the Little Owl may have a hidden injury, as wildlife is good at hiding disability to avoid drawing attention to themselves, so asked if we could step in to help.

Since arriving, we have monitored this Little Owl closely and are happy with his progress. Once he’s eating whole food unaided, he’ll be ready to go out to one of our hack sites for release.

UPDATE!

Having made lots of progress in our Hospital aviaries, last week we moved this Little Owl to one of our small hack pens. Abbi, a vet student who was with us for the week did the honours of releasing him into his new temporary home. We will continue to feed him and monitor his progress but hope to open the doors for his release over the next few days!

Successful BSL day

On the 10th September we were pleased to host our annual Signing Day for the deaf and hard of hearing community.

Over 40 deaf visitors from across the area were able to visit us for free with their families and carers, and enjoyed our Meerkat talk and Flying Display, courtesy of our friend Natalie, who was on hand to use British Sign Language to enhance their visit.

Natalie was really impressed with how engaged people were….she spent a long time after the flying display taking questions with the falconers and was assisting families throughout the day.

One deaf family arrived just before 3.00p.m., by which time all planned activities for the day had finished. Natalie was still on site, and as the falconers were still flying some of the birds, we were able to make their day special with an impromptu talk. This was eventually watched by about 30 visitors who saw what was going on and gathered around. Everyone went home with a smile on their faces!

All our deaf visitors are looking forward to future signed events, which will be posted on our website and social media. If any deaf groups or individuals would like their contact details to be added to our mailing list, please email suffolkowlhome@gmail.com

A busy summer for Education

Our Education Officer Susan has had a busy summer holidays attending a variety of locations to raise awareness about our work and inspiring the local communities to learn more about Owls.

Food Chain bracelets is a popular activity for outreach events

Newmarket Library - Although not a busy session, the audience enjoyed our popular All About Owls talk and making their own Food Chain bracelets to take away with them. One library user went back a while later to say how wonderful the visit was, her family thoroughly enjoyed it!

Kirsten’s Care - This group booked an All About Owls talk, which we were able to adapt into more of a conversation to keep the group engaged. They got to handle a variety of biofacts, including eggs and feathers, as well as receiving a demonstration on how to help injured wildlife. There were some interesting anecdotes from the group, who shared their own experiences of seeing owls or interesting birds from yesteryear.

Lots of enthusiastic families ready to become Pellet Detectives

Gainsborough Library - Another library visit to support their Summer Reading Challenge, and this time the two sessions were fully booked! A brief talk about Owls was followed by our popular Pellet Detectives activity, which had parents as involved as the kids! Some myths were busted at the end of the session and the group were challenged to ask a question which we’d never been asked before, and one participant succeeded! To answer the question - How many Owls are there in Thailand? There are 21 species of Owl found in Thailand. The Short-eared Owl is the only one that is also found here in the UK.

Here’s what some of the participants said on their feedback forms:

'My daughter enjoyed it. First time she has seen a pellet.'
'When we were picking the pellets, it was interesting finding the bones'
'I think it was very exciting, I enjoyed finding all the bones.'
'Brilliant, thank you so much'
'I liked identifying what the bones are'
'A very informative owl staff member and I have learnt something new today about owls.'

Susan with Wolter the Barn Owl and one of her favourite Owl stories

Stonham Book Shop - Get Suffolk Reading invited us to support this event held at the Book Cellar here at Stonham. Visitors were shown how to make their own storybook and encouraged to write or illustrate their book with a story. There were a variety of items on the table to inspire them and we heard some very creative stories about Grandads with ice cream all over their faces, and climbing ropes to reach the treetops. Susan shared some real life stories from our own Raptor Hospital, with the help of Wolter and chatted to the participants about our work. A few families who were on holiday then visited the Sanctuary as a result of our attendance at this event.

IN Stroke group - We pride ourselves on being an accessible location for group visits, and were delighted to arrange a special visit from the local Stroke Working Age Group. The group of over 30 survivors and their carers enjoyed a guided walk, followed by our Meerkat Talk and Flying Displays. They brought an extensive picnic and enjoyed the shade of the sensory garden to eat it.

Enjoying a story in the shade

Stowmarket Storywalk - Continuing our support for Get Suffolk Reading, we attended the Storywalk in Stowmarket, which had several families in attendance. We walked from the Parish Church (near the Library) down to Pykes Meadow, where the group sat in the shade to enjoy some stories and snacks. On the way, Susan chatted with the families about things they could smell, hear and feel which encouraged creative thinking to make stories at the end.

Stall all set up at a history event

Terrific Tudors at Debenham Library - When Susan heard about this event, she knew just what was needed. Since starting at the Sanctuary, she has been excited to deliver history themed sessions relating to the world of falconry. However, these have not been chosen by groups. Susan tasked our maintenance team to build her a cadge (a wooden frame that birds would have been carried on during hunting days) and raided the old equipment box to find suitable items that could be handled by visitors to this event. The Companye of Merrie Folke also attended with a variety of themed stalls, which allowed Susan to learn more about the Cunning Man and his wares, the Barbers Surgeon and his methods of fixing ailments and had a go at some Tudor games.

Lots of releases for Hospital patients!

After a super busy baby season in our Raptor Hospital, the past month has been spent managing all of our hack sites across the area.

At the start of August we opened the door to our local Barn Owl hack pen. These two Barn Owlets arrived having been found outside their nests and needed some time to finish growing their feathers. Once we were happy that they could fly, they were moved to the temporary hack pen where they could get used to life in the wild while still contained. After a few weeks we were happy with their progress (monitored via our camera traps) and opened the door, releasing them onto the nearby farmland.

These two seemed reluctant to leave the immediate area around the hack pen, and were seen returning to the pen for a few nights after their release. We received a message from the farmer who saw them both using one of his nestboxes further down the track, which he was very pleased with as this was an unoccupied box in an area with a plentiful supply of rodents!

This hack pen wasn’t empty for very long though. Once we were satisfied that the Barn Owls had vacated the area, a Little Owl was moved in. This Little Owl arrived quite late in the season for a bird so young, and was found starving and dehydrated. We suspect it had struggled to find food following the heatwaves, with the ground so dry there are few suitably nutritional insects around for young Owls to search for while they build up capacity to hunt for rodents.

After some good meals with us, it was moved into the vacant hack pen and after a week or so we opened the door to give it freedom. As you can see from the video, it was very keen to leave, and we have captured no further footage of it on our cameras.

Releasing young birds in groups can help with their long term survival as they give each other confidence and watch for different hunting strategies. Two of our group of Kestrels were almost certainly related (picked up within a few hours of each other from Stowupland), while all the others were unrelated.
After spending time in our largest aviary in the Hospital, they were moved to one of our new hack pens which is very spacious. We were able to monitor them on remote cameras and saw evidence of them hunting for insects and small rodents inside the pen. After a few weeks, we were pleased to invite Ben and Rob from Spirit of the Wild, who brought one of them to us after it was found in a carpark, to help release the group.

Not all birds need to go into a hack pen before release. This adult Tawny Owl was found on the roadside suffering from concussion. Upon assessment, we discovered that she was also missing a toe! This appeared to be an old injury and as she was in good body condition, clearly wasn’t hampering her survival. After a few days with us she showed signs of making a full recovery from her vehicle collision and our falconer Dolly was able to return her to a woodland near where she was found.

Once again, we want to extend our sincere thanks to all the landowners and managers who give us permission to release on their land. We are also very grateful to the Lord Belstead Charitable Trust, Geofffrey Burton Charitable Trust and Mrs L D Rope Charitable Trust for their funding and support which has allowed us to build new hack pens this year, enabling us to take in more birds than usual and give them the best possible chance at long term survival.

Hoot Hike completed

Our Education Officer Susan recently completed the Hoot Hike to raise funds for St Elizabeth Hospice.

Susan has been involved with the Ipswich Art Trail since we were first approached by St Elizabeth Hospice to provide educational resources for the campaign. She met with our chosen artist Amy Bourbon on several occasions to discuss our sponsored Hoot, officially named Owl See You In My Dreams but also known as Billy and was lucky to see him be brought to life at the Hold in Ipswich when Amy spent 10 days creating Billy and Kal (aka Kaleidoscope Owl sponsored by Ashtons Legal).

With the summer fast disappearing, Susan, her partner Hugh (who supervises our ringing activities) and their two collies Wish and Freya embarked on an urban adventure to find the Hoots. They started at Christchurch Park at the famous Mabel tree, then meandered their way through the town, ticking off the Hoots along the way. They were also joined by their mascot Meerkat Simon, and a special knitted Owl donated by a supporter and fondly nicknamed Billyson due to the uncanny similarity!
Over the course of 6 hours they saw 42 of the 50 Hoots and made lots of other Hoot finders smile as the menagerie posed for photos with each Hoot.

If you would like to donate to St Elizabeth Hospice, who support people living with progressive illness across the area, then please click here to sponsor Susan. Any donation you make will be gratefully received.

International Vulture Awareness Day 2022

Here at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, we care about all wildlife, at home and abroad. This International Vulture Awareness Day we have a special day of Vulture themed activities and demonstrations planned, and hope to do some fundraising for a special cause at the same time.

We hope that all of our visitors love Vultures as much as we do, especially if they’ve enjoyed the antics of Jack and Rose our pair of Hooded Vultures and Ruby our Rüppells Griffon Vulture in our afternoon displays or marvelled at Rocky our Turkey Vulture as he sits with his wings spread. However, in their home countries, they’re not doing so well, thanks to people!

A tagged Hooded Vulture surveying the scene at Kartong Bird Observatory.

Our Education Officer Susan was fortunate to visit Gambia in 2020 before starting at the Owl Sanctuary and spent some time at Kartong Bird Observatory, which is in the south of the country. They conduct a variety of surveys to monitor all sorts of birds, including many migrants to the UK, but she was particularly excited to see so many Raptors in the area. During our time there, they successfully caught and ringed under licence several Hooded Vultures to contribute towards the long term monitoring of the local population.

A Hooded Vulture is tagged while school children watch.

For International Vulture Awareness Day this year, Susan decided to run a fundraiser for Kartong Bird Observatory to continue their work with Hooded Vultures. The rings and tags used cost money, as does the equipment used to catch them, or sight them in the field. With support from the rest of the team, they hope to be able to contribute towards purchasing optical equipment for the Kartong field team.

Kartong Bird Observatory not only helps monitor the birds, but provides employment and training to individuals within the local community who wish to learn more about their work. They also help to educate the next generation by inviting them to watch and encouraging them to report any sightings of tagged birds.

Whilst other collections will be running fundraisers for other very worthy organisations around the world, we hope that by supporting a small scale organisation will allow us to share the stories with our visitors and followers of vulture monitoring on the ground and really see our funds make a difference.

On the day (Sat 3rd September) there will be plenty of opportunities for visitors to learn more about these amazing birds. There will be special talks and demonstrations taking place throughout the day, and our Hooded Vultures will take to the skies at 1pm for their daily flights in our display.

In addition to raising awareness about Vultures, throughout September visitors and followers online will have the opportunity to enter a prize draw to win some super special vulture items!

These include:
Meet and greet with Jack and Rose
Felted Hooded Vulture, created by our falconer Dolly
Ruby keyring, created by our trainee Izzy
Rocky keyring, created by our trainee Izzy
Jack keyring, created by our trainee Izzy
Rose keyring, created by our trainee Izzy
Original Art created by Jack and Rose

Jack and Rose with their mini-Vulture, created by falconer Dolly.

Pom-pom keyrings inspired by our four Vultures, created by trainee falconer Izzy.

We’re asking for £2 per entry into this prize draw, which will be drawn on Friday 30th September to give everyone an opportunity to donate to this important cause. If you’d like to take part, you can pay via PayPal to owleducationsuffolk @ gmail.com, but please include your name and contact details, and select paying friends and family so that the full amount goes to the Vultures.

Beautiful Blooms, thanks to Dobbies

Back in June, we announced that we had won the local round of funding from Dobbies Living in the Community. Our appeal was to improve the environment around our Sensory Garden with planting and other accessories.

The first batch of blooms

Jennie, one of our Animal Keepers said:

“After winning the local round of Dobbies Living in the Community , their donation to help bring our sensory garden back to life has been fantastic.

JayJay from the local Woodbridge store has been brilliant - helping us choose the best plants for the area, and delivering the first load in person! We were so surprised to learn that we had 12 months in which to use their support, so we plan on making several visits to the store over the next few months as different plants come into season.

Dobbies support has made all the difference to us, and a little seems to go a long way!”

The first car full arrived in early July, and our team of volunteers got to work planting them in some of the flower beds. We also took delivery of some hanging baskets to brighten up the areas near our entrance.

Volunteers making sure the new plants are put in the right place.

A second delivery of plants arrived mid July, and once again, our volunteers were on hand to get them in the ground and keep them watered.

Staff and volunteers will make sure the flowers get plenty of water during the dry weather.

Due to the dry conditions, we have put further planting on hold until we get some much needed rain to soften the ground a bit. Jennie hopes to get some spring bulbs when they arrive in store, which will accompany the daffodils which already brighten up the Sensory Garden in the early Spring.

Tail-less Tawny

A few weeks ago we had an unusual case with a Tawny Owl. When he arrived, it was evident he had suffered some kind of head trauma as the eyes were bruised and swollen. However, Jess was surprised to find he was also missing his tail and had a puncture wound under his wing, suggesting that he had been caught by a predator or had been caught up somewhere.

In the hospital we are able to check the health of the raptors eyes by using an opthalmoscope to bounce light to the back of the eye, and detect any issues there may be. Many birds could be released with serious eye issues resulting in partial or full blindness that are often missed, due to the nature of the injury, and it is not always apparent there is an issue until you take a look at the eye more closely.

As you can see here the first eye looks cloudy, but upon scoping it is evident there is trauma to the retina and bruising that could result in partial blindness - compared to the second eye which looks much more normal and has a distinct pinky hue to the retina which is far healthier. Anti inflammatory medication can help the healing process, but during this time the eye health must be monitored for signs of decline or improvement.

New tail feathers growing out. All bird feathers grow "in pin" which protects the blood supply to the feather as it grows. The keratin sheath falls away as the feather reaches its full length, revealing the fresh plume.

After a couple of weeks in our care with plenty of food, he started to regrow his tail feathers. His eyes have cleared a bit, but one is still a bit cloudy, so we’re waiting a bit longer to see if his vision is compromised long term. He has been moved to a larger outdoor aviary to give him space to fly around and build up some fitness again, and we are monitoring him closely.

Spirit of the Wild Kestrel

Although we have been super busy with our own patients at the Raptor Hospital, we are always happy to help out other rescues and rehabbers when needed.

A few weeks ago we were contacted by Ben at Spirit of the Wild, who had a young Kestrel they had been looking after. It was found on the ground near a car park, so they went over with ladders in the hope to be able to return the chick back into its nest. However, upon arrival they found out that the parents hadn’t been seen for a while and with no sign of the nest and it getting late, they decided to take the chick back with them to make sure it had a feed.

The young Kestrel was found on the ground, away from the nest which was inaccessible.

The nest was located the next day, but was completely inaccessible, so returning the chick wasn’t an option. Ben estimated the chick was about 3 weeks old, so a few weeks before fledging. Although she apparent good health, she showed no fear of people, which was a concern as there is a high chance that young wild birds will imprint on their caregiver. Ben and his team did a marvellous job rearing this youngster with minimum contact, feeding using tongs from outside the “nest” so she didn’t get too used to seeing people. When she was a bit bigger, they transferred her to an aviary and introduced live prey, in the form of insects, which she pounced on without hesitation. She also mimicked catching the whole (dead) mice she was provided with, which showed that her hunting instinct was still intact and she had a good chance of surviving once released.

With her rescuers

Although the team at Spirit of the Wild have some experience with rescue work, they realised that they did not have the time or resources to give this young Kestrel the best chance in her final stage of rehabilitation. It is great that they put the birds welfare first, so they contacted Jess and asked if we could help.

Jess with the young Kestrel when she arrived with us

Ben arrived with his Kestrel shortly after the first Stowupland Kestrel was brought in, so it was quickly decided that they would be hacked together once ready. We now have 4 young Kestrels in our care (the second Stowupland youngster and a much younger Kestrel), so once these are all ready they will be released together at one of our local hack sites. By releasing the adopted siblings together, they can learn how to be a Kestrel and might even stick together for a little while before dispersing, just like they would in the wild.

Ben’s Kestrel (right) with one of the Stowupland Kestrels.

Helping out other Rescues

Here at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, we pride ourselves on having specialist facilities to treat and release the Birds of Prey which come into our Raptor Hospital.

We recently heard that South Essex Wildlife Hospital had suffered damage from a neighbouring fire, and reached out to see if we could help them at all. They had five young Tawny Owlets that were ready to release, but had nowhere ready for them to go. Thanks to our network of landowners and estate managers across Suffolk, we were able to offer assistance.

They were brought to us last week by Tom who had helped care for the Owlets since they arrived in rescue. After a guided tour of the Sanctuary and a look around our Raptor Hospital, Jess took them out to one of our local hack sites, and it was evident that they were very impressed with our set up.

It is refreshing work with another rescue that cares as deeply about their patients as we do, and completely fine that they wanted to ensure that the birds they have looked after for so long will end their time in rescue in the best possibly set up and with the best care.

Owlets Gizmo and Hogwart were installed in our farm hack pen and will be monitored via trail cameras for a week or so before being released. This will allow them time to acclimatise to being outdoors, getting used to the sights and sounds of their new home. Once released, the hack pen is situated on the edge of a dense copse of woodland, where we know there is plenty of prey for them to catch.

These Owlets have been followed by a TV Crew, who are filming their progress through their rescue journey. We arranged for Jess to speak with them and explain our release protocols. They will be returning next week to film the release and we will make sure to let everyone know when the programme will air on TV later this year.

The remaining three Owlets will be moving to our Museum hack pen in Stowmarket as soon as it has been vacated by the previous occupants.

We are, once again, very grateful for the generous donations from the Lord Belstead Charitable Trust, Geofffrey Burton Charitable Trust and Mrs L D Rope Charitable Trust to build new hack pens for our Raptor Hospital patients. Without this support, we would not have been able to assist with these birds, as our existing hack pens are all in use by other patients.

Taking to the air

We have a good relationship with several of the local airfields, who often call us for advice when they find Raptors in trouble.

A few weeks ago we received a call from staff at Wattisham airfield to let us know that a young Kestrel had found its way into one of the hangers and was grounded. We called one of our Owlreach volunteers, who happens to work at the airfield and they were able to pick up the bird and bring it to us for a check up.

This young Kestrel still had fluffy down when it first arrived.

Unfortunately, the Kestrel had left the nest prematurely and it’s flight feathers weren’t fully grown. Falconers use the term “in blood” as feathers have a blood supply while they are growing. Once they are fully grown, the blood supply stops. During this time, it’s really important that the feathers don’t get bumped or damaged in any way, as it’s not only painful (like a bruise) but they won’t be able to replace them until next year!
Thankfully, this Kestrel knew that we were trying to help and remained calm during it’s stay with us. It was offered plenty of food to help with the feather growth and give it a good chance of surviving once released.

After a couple of weeks with us, the Kestrel had finished growing it’s feathers and was ready for release.

We were able to ring this youngster while it was staying with us, where we discovered that it was a typical Kestrel with a very feisty attitude! After a couple of weeks in our care, and with some fresh feathers fully formed, it was ready to be released back where it came from.

Some birds don't learn

A couple of weeks ago we shared a blog about a female Buzzard which was found locally having been hit by a vehicle. After a few days with us to recover from concussion, she was released over a mile away from where she was picked up, with plenty of fields and trees and away from the busy main road. Before she was released, we ringed her with a metal BTO ring, so that we might see where she ended up.

Last week, several staff reported a dead Buzzard on the road almost exactly where she had originally been picked up. Jess undertook the task to check, and unfortunately it was the same female, confirmed by the ring number. She had died after another collision with a vehicle and had sustained a broken wing, as well as probable internal damage.

Whilst this is very upsetting for everyone involved with this birds original rescue and care, by ringing her before release, we can at least deduce that this was her territory and that she was just unfortunate to be hit twice in a short period of time.

Roads locally are littered with dead wildlife, and this particular stretch is notorious for birds, as well as mammals. We can all do our bit to help, by slowing down for wildlife.

Barn Owls set for release

We have had a long standing partnership with Broughton Hall Farm near here, and are very thankful to farmer Sam for his efforts to make a living from the land while also making space for wildlife. We have released birds onto his farm in the past, and it was chosen as a suitable release site for two Barn Owlets we’ve been looking after over the past few weeks.

These two have bonded well in our aviaries

Both these young Barn Owls were found outside their separate nests, which is a problem as parent Barn Owls will only feed offspring in the nest. Despite them being returned to the nestboxes, they were soon found on the ground again, which suggests that either the nest had been disturbed by predators, or that the rest of the chicks had fledged and the parents had abandoned the last chicks for some reason.

Neither had any injuries, so were brought to us for some TLC and a few good meals. While they were with us, we asked Dr Hugh Hanmer to ring them, as there is a very good chance that they might be found breeding in a nest box locally next year.

Dr Hugh Hanmer closing a BTO ring around the leg. This is a painless process and is likened to us wearing a watch, but means that this bird is now an individual with a unique code attached to it so it’s life history can be traced should it be found in the future.

Both these Barn Owls still had some feather growth to finish, but now that they are fully feathered and able to fly, they have been moved to the hack pen ready for release.

We will hopefully install a trail cam to monitor how they’re getting on, although with so many hack pens to monitor at the moment, resources are a bit low on the ground. We appreciate that asking our supporters for a £50-60 trail camera is a big ask, but did you know that you can also buy us an Amazon gift card for any amount, which we can put together to buy the more expensive equipment. You can view our full WishList here.

Manor Farm Little Owls

We were called about one Little Owl that was found on the ground unable to fly, which is not unusual and follows their natural fledging pattern - however this particular one was weak and there was little evidence over a few days of parents, so he was picked up and brought to us for care . No longer than 24 hours later a second appeared in a similar condition so we can assume there was some potential predation of the nest due to the lack of adults being around.

Luckily the site is located on a huge estate and there were plenty of places these two could be released back into, so after a week of rest and recuperation (and a feed up!) these two were returned to their home in a hack pen to be supported over the coming weeks. Although we mostly look for rural and remote locations for our hack sites, Little Owls are well adapted for living near people, and often nest in walls and roof spaces of buildings. We tucked their hack pen in between some buildings to keep it sheltered but with an open flight path to fields for them to access for hunting when released.

Kestrel Rescue

Last week, we received a call from local vet nurse, Jenny, about a young Kestrel they had picked up. The youngster was extremely thin and dehydrated so was given some liquid support via a crop tube to give her an immediate boost, but it was touch and go for a while. Jess, who runs our Raptor Hospital, stayed late to keep an eye on her and waited until she had taken some small bits of moistened food and had perked up a bit.

Adult males are usually around 190g, with females around 220g. Recent fledglings are often slightly heavier than adults, so 147g was very worrying.

By the morning, she was much stronger and we hoped she was on the road to recovery.

Later that day, we saw a post on social media that two more were found hanging around outside a local fish and chip shop, close to a busy road! (Images below taken by Stowupland residents Mags, Julie and Tom).

Jess went out to try and catch them but was unsuccessful. Thankfully, Jenny was more successful and brought the second Kestrel in to us over the weekend. Unfortunately we suspect she may have been hit by a car as she has a broken jaw. She is able to eat small amounts of food but is unable to tear food at the moment.

Although these two are siblings, due to the injury they are being kept separate for the time being.

Despite our efforts, the third Kestrel was found hit by a car on the road later that day. Whilst it’s upsetting for everyone involved that we were unable to save all of the youngsters, at least we can help two of them. They will stay with us until they are both recovered, then we’ll find a local site to release them at, away from roads.

Donk the Little Owl

Every so often we get a bird brought into our Raptor Hospital and it defies the odds to survive!

Donk when he first arrived, looking very sorry for himself.

This Little Owl came in last week after the finder witnessed it being attacked by a larger bird. It was evident he had a massive cranial trauma causing the entire head to bulge in one location and the eyes to double in size. He was also displaying huge neurological symptoms including body inversion and 'stargazing' (when the head twist and turns on itself, making it look like the bird is staring up at the sky)

Because of this there was no intention of offering solid food as it would risk choking if the swallowing reflex was hindered, so he was started on regular liquid feeds and an intensive treatment to try and reduce the cranial swelling. Miraculously the next morning he had improved, although not able to stand, the swelling had receded and you could see there were some motor improvements so we made the decision to give him a chance.

Still a bit wobby but at least he’s standing by himself

With some incredibly supportive care from the whole team he was fed multiple times throughout the day a mix of liquid feeds and occasional small solid meals (which he started responding to) and each day his motor skills improved. He is now taking food from us unsupported and able to swallow without help, and perch without falling over. Although time will tell if he has permanent damage or not, getting him to the stage where he can start feeding unassisted is a major milestone in his recovery.

Food Museum Owlets released

Three Tawny Owlets ready for release

The Food Museum in Stowmarket installed a hack pen a few months ago and have been assisting us with our rehabilitation of wild birds of prey that have ended up in our Raptor Hospital.

With a large number of Tawny Owlets taking up aviary space, we moved the three largest Owlets to the empty hack site following the release of a Buzzard.

Sarah, Percy and Ginger were moved last month and we installed a trail camera to monitor their behaviour. It was lovely to see them interacting with each other and reacting to the local wildlife, including, we think, hunting for their own prey!

After a few weeks of building their fitness, Tom was pleased to open the hatch to give the Owlets access to the wild. The moment was caught on camera below.

The Museum will continue to feed the Owlets until they stop visiting the site.