We’ve had a busy couple of months in the Hospital, so here are some of the birds that we’ve had in towards the end of the year. Check out our social media channels to see further updates.
Bo Jangles the Sparrowhawk
This young female Sparrowhawk was brought in with a bacterial growth in her mouth, She was in poor condition, suggesting that she had been unable to hunt after leaving her natal territory. After a course of treatment, the team decided that she was unlikely to survive if released immediately, so opted to “man” her, then train her to fly and eventually hunt before giving her freedom. Mat took on the challenge and was impressed with her feisty spirit. She has now been “in training” for a couple of months and doing very well, so Mat hopes to test her flying ability outside over the next few weeks. She has been fitted with breakaway equipment, so that if she does decide to fly off, the equipment will drop from her legs after a short time and pose no danger of entanglement.
Mat with Bo Jangles after her “ordeal” of being ringed.
In preparation for her first outdoor flights, Mat asked Dr Hugh Hanmer from the BTO if she could be ringed. Hugh has been supervising the ringing of our Hospital birds by our team, and Susan was fortunate to have the opportunity.
“I’ve ringed a few Sparrowhawks over the years, but it’s a bit different when they’re wearing equipment! We’ve had to make sure that the ring doesn’t interfere with the equipment, and that the equipment doesn’t rub against the ring. She was a very well behaved Sparrowhawk, although did protest vocally at having her wing measured.
Blinky Tawny Owl
Blinky was feeling a bit sorry for himself when he first arrived.
This young Tawny Owl was brought in having been found in a carpark. He had an eye injury and his left wing was also causing some concern. He’d also, somehow, managed to damage most of his tail feathers! Nicknamed Blinky by the journalist who was visiting at the time to do a piece about our work, he has made slow progress. His eye recovered fairly quickly, but his wing took a lot longer to heal itself due to it being soft tissue damage. He has now received a new tail and been moved to a larger aviary so that the team can monitor his flight and fitness in preparation for release.
Marsh Barn Owl
A sore wing for this Barn Owl
This Barn Owl was found unable to fly by a member of the public. There was no damage, so we administered pain relief and kept him in a quiet aviary for him to recover. Thankfully, it seems to have been bruising, as he was soon doing laps of his small aviary. In order to test his flight properly, we moved him into one of our larger aviaries and installed a camera trap to monitor his progress. He did really well, so was ringed before being released in December.
Pumpkin Spice Tawny Owl
This Tawny Owl was found entangled in netting and had sustained a broken toe. We administered pain relief and opted to monitor the healing. This proved successful and after a few weeks the bird was using the foot to pounce on food and carry it off to a higher perch. This bird was released just before Christmas near where he was found.
Barn Owls hack
We’ve had three late Barn Owlets this year, who have been released locally via one of our hack pens. Due to their young age and inexperience, we will continue to supplementary feed them throughout the winter. The farm where they have been released has a number of Barn Owl boxes nearby, and it’s hoped that they will disperse from the hack pen to take up permanent residence as pest control. Indeed, through our monitoring with trail cameras, we know that these birds are capable of hunting, as they frequently return to the empty feeding post with prey items.
Screenshot of one of the released Barn Owls bringing food back to the hack pen.
Tawny Owls hack
Over the autumn period, we had two Tawny Owls brought in, both with severe head trauma as a result of RTA’s. Once they had recovered they were placed in an outdoor aviary so that we could assess their fitness. With them both being young birds (hatched in 2023), we opted to put them into a hack pen together, so that they could build up fitness before release, and hopefully learn how to hunt. They were moved to a hack pen in a suitable location where we know there are plenty of rodents.
Two Tawnies settling in well to life in the woods
Barn Owl break
This Barn Owl came in over the Christmas period with an injured wing. X-rays confirmed a break but after consulting with our vets, we’ve opted to let it self heal. This bird is proving to be a fighter though, and is a bit of an escape artist, having got past the team twice when they opened the rehab cage door to put food in!
And the last bird of the year is a……
Barn Owl
This Barn Owl was found on a local estate in poor condition. They were picked up by our team and found to be starving, likely due to the bad weather preventing successful hunting. We administered a special liquid diet to slowly get them going again. After a few days of care, this Owl is now self feeding and will soon be ready for release.