Over recent months, we have received a number of casualties into the hospital which are suspected of being involved in Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs).
This Barn Owl was found on the side of a road. She arrived last week with no obvious signs of injury, but will be kept in for monitoring. Otherwise, she was in good condition, so we think she was just unlucky in choosing her hunting grounds the day she was brought in.
This Barn Owl arrived after a suspected RTA. The staining on her feathers is from her nares (or nostrils), and is similar to a nosebleed so not thought to be serious.
We also have a Buzzard in the hospital which arrived with obvious head trauma, again, after a suspected collision with a vehicle. After some monitoring in an aviary, our vet determined it may have a condition known as uveitis, which can cause pain in the eye. This can usually be treated successfully, and we are hopeful that both our current Road Rescues will make full recoveries and be released into the wild soon.
This Buzzard was brought in with head injuries and is being monitored in our aviaries.
Britain has enough roads to wrap around the Earth 10 times (247,000 miles!). A recent report shows that over 70% of Britain falls within 700m of a road, causing impacts such as noise, light and chemical pollution, as well as the more obvious risk of collisions.
(https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16899-x)
Some wildlife appears to have adapted to live life in the fast lane, especially scavengers such as Red Kites, Crows and Foxes, who will treat busy roads almost like a buffet, feasting on those unable to get out of the way quickly enough. These animals are known to be intelligent and adaptable, and there have been reports that in social species one individual will warn others of oncoming traffic so they can get out of the way.
Others have struggled to adapt. Hedgehogs were recently reclassified as Vulnerable to Extinction due to their population decline, and one of the main reasons for this is RTAs, with roads cutting up the landscape, making it hard for hedgehogs to move around. Hedgehogs main defence is to roll up in a ball, which unfortunately does not stand up against cars and lorries. They can also struggle with kerbs, so having crossed the road safely, they may be unable to escape the other side into the safety of the verge or hedge.
For land based animals, one way to help is to create wildlife bridges over or tunnels under roads. This is mostly done in America and continenal Europe, although in Scotland, some roads have rope bridges across to help Red Squirrels move around, and every year hundreds of volunteers will help amphibians around the UK to cross roads between their hibernation sites and their breeding ponds. National Geographic have covered this several times, with the most recent article on this topic here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/04/wildlife-overpasses-underpasses-make-animals-people-safer/
Roadside raptors are a familiar sight in East Anglia, but they have mixed fortunes living close to roads. Road verges are a perfect place for small rodents to live, as they are relatively protected from predators due to the traffic. This makes them ideal places for raptors to hunt, and Kestrels are commonly seen perched on poles or hovering alongside roads waiting for a mouse to emerge. While Kestrels are mobile enough to get out of the way, other birds, such as Barn Owls can get caught up in the slipstream of passing vehicles and thrown into oncoming traffic.
An unfortunate Barn Owl, killed on the road. Photo by Mike Toms.
Project Splatter is a citizen science project based at Cardiff University which records roadkill around the UK. Their figures for 2019 show that 285 Birds of Prey were recorded around the UK, with 36 in East Anglia. Of these 43 were Barn Owls nationwide, with 8 found in East Anglia. Interestingly, they also revealed that the figures up to July 2020 show that 60 Barn Owls have been recorded around the UK this year, out of 143 Birds of Prey in total. This could be for a number of reasons, and they are currently working on a report looking at the impact of Lockdown on roadkill.
For more information about Project Splatter, please visit:
https://projectsplatter.co.uk/
You can report your roadkill sightings via the website or their social media channels.