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.