First Signs Of Spring

The mornings are getting light that little bit earlier, the evenings are drawing in that little bit later and the garden birds are singing their hearts out at waking and roosting times, sure signs that perhaps spring is shaking out her floral skirt once more.

Here at the Sanctuary too it’s time to prepare for the advent of new life and indeed some of our residents are getting suspiciously broody. With this in mind, Andy has begun to prepare the nestboxes up in the aviaries of some of our paired birds.

Come On Down! Taiga gets comfy as he tries to entice his mate to share the billet

Our Great Grey owls are definitely feeling very broody and it took Taiga (the male) mere minutes before he had settled himself comfortably into their nestbox. He sat there calling softly to Napoleon (rather strange name for a girl, but there you go) who almost flew to join him, landing on the perch above the nest box. Clearly she’s not quite ready to accept his amorous advances just yet, but love is definitely in the air.

Fred surveys his refurbished nesting box

Fred the American Kestrel was quite impressed with his and Paula’s nestbox too and he sat for quite a while giving it contemplative looks. Meanwhile, Huron our Great Horned owl was most certainly getting in the mood and called and paraded his charms most beautifully for us when we passed by his aviary.

Huron struts his stuff in demonstrative fashion

The Southern Boobook owls Tasmin and Darwin looked on with interest as their nestbox was returned to its usual place in the corner of their aviary. Andy made sure they had plenty of stones in their box, as Boobooks like to make a shallow scrape to lay their eggs in. Boobook owls only have one brood per season and tend to lay between 2 & 5 round, pale white eggs at 2 to 3 nightly intervals. The eggs are incubated solely by the female, for anything from 26 to 33 days, during which time she will be fed by her mate. Once hatched, the chicks are totally helpless and dependent on their parents, so both the mother and the father feed them and sometimes will even enlist the help of a second female. Young Boobooks fledge when they are five to six weeks old, but stay with their parents for another two to three months until they can hunt for themselves.

Last year our birds produced 29 young in total, so here’s hoping we hear the patter of many tiny talons again this year!

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Red Squirrel Residence

Since the advent of our new baby Red Squirrels back in June last year, head falconer Matt has been working on designs for a new enclosure. With an increased colony size and the possibility of breeding more youngsters this year from unrelated pairs, it’s important that we have the requisite space so that we can manage the family groups appropriately.

Head Falconer Matt has been hard at it creating the foundations for a new Red Squirrel pen to house our expanding colony, some of which are donated to controlled wildlife release programmes in Wales

Red Squirrels are lively, inquisitive creatures and so it’s essential that they are encouraged to develop naturally and have the opportunity to demonstrate the behaviours that they would in the wild. As with the original pen, the new enclosure will be especially high to encourage climbing, with bushes & branches, trees & logs for them to scamper around, much as there would be in a natural woodland environment.

Work has already begun and the footings have now been dug, so we’ll keep you posted with how things progress over the next few weeks.

Conservation, Creation & Biodiversity

Our woodland walk not only houses our Red Squirrels and chipmunks, but also a variety of other wildlife, including the many birds that regularly visit the feeders strategically placed outside the bird hide. This is a good time of year for a tidy up and a bit of TLC, so Andy has been working hard doing just that.

Andy constructed a few dead hedges in our woodland walk, laying down the natural detritus to form a prospective home for all sorts of local insect wildlife

Over the last couple of weeks, using the natural wastage that occurs in the woodland, Andy has been creating new ‘hedging’ to adorn parts of the walkway. This serves two purposes (apart from utilising rather than wasting natural resources) as it helps to provide an attractive feature and, more importantly, will help to encourage an even greater diversity of insect wildlife to make our woodland walk its habitat. This in turn will hopefully encourage more birds to visit – perhaps even species we haven’t yet seen here before!

In addition to his hedging exploits, Andy has also been selectively coppicing, which is a traditional method of woodland management. Trees naturally shed unnecessary branches in order to extend their lives, a procedure called ‘retrenchment’. Coppicing mimics this natural process by taking advantage of the fact that many trees make new growth from the stump or roots if cut down. This exercise resets the ageing process and lengthens the life of the tree.

Andy coppiced the small woodland area at the Sanctuary to make way for fresh growth and more light

There are other benefits too from the careful coppicing of trees, which, as you would expect, provides areas of greater light intensity where other plants are then able to flourish. This in turn opens up greater possibilities in terms of animal biodiversity, as many animals are dependent on plants other than the trees that grow in a woodland.

Remember to keep up with our blog for further developments at the Sanctuary and you can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Better still, why not come and see for yourself? – we look forward to your visit!

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The Heavy Mob

Undoubtedly, if you’ve read our blogs before, you’ll know that the Sanctuary is a bit like the Forth Railway Bridge, in constant need of repair, updating and sometimes good old fashioned replacement. Rain, snow, frost and the vigorous winds of Suffolk have all played their part in continually undermining the fabric of our substantially wooden structures, none moreso than one particular block of owl aviaries which - being on the edge of the wide open spaces of our flying ground - bear the brunt of our brisk nor' westerlies!

Being a charity, the tremendous support we receive from donors to help us maintain the centre in good order is vital and therefore we were very grateful last year to be given a donation specifically for restoring this particular suite of aviaries.

They were definitely beginning to look somewhat dilapidated and so, having planned, costed, drawn up the blueprints and sourced materials, Andy and the team began digging the footings.  The concrete arrived with perfect timing late in January, the whole 4m very kindly donated by Eastern Concrete, to whom we are once again indebted for their continued & generous support!

Many thanks go too, to our regular volunteer Pete Ruddy who generously donated his time to lay all the blocks for the aviaries’ foundations. 

The Heavy Mob (our benefactors Eastern Concrete) trucked in a weight 4m of the grey stuff which then all had to be barrowed in by hand

Andy feeds in the last of the concrete footings by hand - phew!

Our friend and faithful volunteer Pete had muscles on his muscles when he'd finished with the building blocks

Once the team had barrowed the concrete into the footings, Dean set about levelling it whilst the rest of the gang began proofing & painting wood in anticipation of the erection of all seven new aviaries, which should be completed in a few week's time, providing 5-star accommodation for all of our flying demonstration owls, including the newest member – Cecil the Spectacled Owl.

Oh, Lucky Man! One of the residents of the new Owl Block will be Cecil, our Spectacled Owl, who contrives to look more handsome by the day!

Keeping Up with the Wider Picture

A couple of weeks ago, we were invited to attend a meeting about the wider benefits of farming in the local area.  We receive a lot of support from local farmers, who often allow us to put up nest boxes on their land or to release rehabilitated wild raptors on their property, so General Manager Andy thought it would be useful and informative for an S.O.S representative to attend.

The evening was hosted by URSUS Consulting, on behalf of Sustainability East (a group including Government Office, Defra, Natural England, NFU & CLA) and as well as ourselves, there were representatives from the local ramblers association, local organic and conventional farmers, country land owners and parish councillors.

The discussion focussed on aspects of concern such as increasing levels of soil erosion and looked ahead to the future priorities in farming in particular relation to food production, irrigation, fuel, wildlife and pest control.

Some changes are already being made, for example Rape fields in the area are now being directly drilled rather than ploughed, which not only cuts the farmers’ fuel costs by 50%, but also means that the stubble from the harvested crop provides an abundance of food for the local wildlife. Current thinking suggests that the future will bring wetter winters and warmer summers, thus giving rise to the need for the conservation of water during the winter to enable effective irrigation during the summer.

Taking care of the countryside will make sure that released raptors - like this fully recuperated Barn Owl who left our charge last week - have a good (natural) home to go back to.

From our point of view, obviously all these factors have an impact on the local wildlife, including birds of prey, which generally speaking are at the top of the food chain.  This in turn helps focus the work we do here at the Sanctuary, especially with regard to the rehabilitation and release of wild raptors.  As it’s really important that we keep our finger on the pulse, it was very useful to be able to add our voice to what’s important to us locally and to take a hand in influencing emerging government policy.

Red Squirrel Residence

Since the advent of our new baby Red Squirrels back in June last year, head falconer Matt has been working on designs for a new enclosure.  With an increased colony size and the possibility of breeding more youngsters this year from unrelated pairs, it’s important that we have the requisite space so that we can manage the family groups appropriately.

Head Falconer Matt has been hard at it creating the foundations for a new Red Squirrel pen to house our expanding colony, some of which are donated to controlled wildlife release programmes in Wales

Red Squirrels are lively, inquisitive creatures and so it’s essential that they are encouraged to develop naturally and have the opportunity to demonstrate the behaviours that they would in the wild.  As with the original pen, the new enclosure will be especially high to encourage climbing, with bushes & branches, trees & logs for them to scamper around, much as there would be in a natural woodland environment.

Work has already begun and the footings have now been dug, so we’ll keep you posted with how things progress over the next few weeks.

Conservation, Creation & Biodiversity

Our woodland walk not only houses our Red Squirrels and chipmunks, but also a variety of other wildlife, including the many birds that regularly visit the feeders strategically placed outside the bird hide.  This is a good time of year for a tidy up and a bit of TLC, so Andy has been working hard doing just that.

Andy constructed a few dead hedges in our woodland walk, laying down the natural detritus to form a prospective home for all sorts of local insect wildlife

Over the last couple of weeks, using the natural wastage that occurs in the woodland, Andy has been creating new ‘hedging’ to adorn parts of the walkway.  This serves two purposes (apart from utilising rather than wasting natural resources) as it helps to provide an attractive feature and, more importantly, will help to encourage an even greater diversity of insect wildlife to make our woodland walk its habitat.  This in turn will hopefully encourage more birds to visit – perhaps even species we haven’t yet seen here before!

In addition to his hedging exploits, Andy has also been selectively coppicing, which is a traditional method of woodland management.  Trees naturally shed unnecessary branches in order to extend their lives, a procedure called ‘retrenchment’.  Coppicing mimics this natural process by taking advantage of the fact that many trees make new growth from the stump or roots if cut down. This exercise resets the ageing process and lengthens the life of the tree.

Andy coppiced the small woodland area at the Sanctuary to make way for fresh growth and more light

There are other benefits too from the careful coppicing of trees, which, as you would expect, provides areas of greater light intensity where other plants are then able to flourish.  This in turn opens up greater possibilities in terms of animal biodiversity, as many animals are dependent on plants other than the trees that grow in a woodland.

Remember to keep up with our blog for further developments at the Sanctuary and you can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.  Better still, why not come and see for yourself? – we look forward to your visit!

The Heavy Mob

Undoubtedly, if you’ve read our blogs before, you’ll know that the Sanctuary is a bit like the Forth Railway Bridge, in constant need of repair, updating and sometimes good old fashioned replacement. Rain, snow, frost and the vigorous winds of Suffolk have all played their part in continually undermining the fabric of our substantially wooden structures, none moreso than one particular block of owl aviaries which - being on the edge of the wide open spaces of our flying ground - bear the brunt of our brisk nor' westerlies!

Being a charity, the tremendous support we receive from donors to help us maintain the centre in good order is vital and therefore we were very grateful last year to be given a donation specifically for restoring this particular suite of aviaries.

They were definitely beginning to look somewhat dilapidated and so, having planned, costed, drawn up the blueprints and sourced materials, Andy and the team began digging the footings.  The concrete arrived with perfect timing late in January, the whole 4m very kindly donated by Eastern Concrete, to whom we are once again indebted for their continued & generous support!

Many thanks go too, to our regular volunteer Pete Ruddy who generously donated his time to lay all the blocks for the aviaries’ foundations. 

The Heavy Mob (our benefactors Eastern Concrete) trucked in a weight 4m of the grey stuff which then all had to be barrowed in by hand

Andy feeds in the last of the concrete footings by hand - phew!

Our friend and faithful volunteer Pete had muscles on his muscles when he'd finished with the building blocks

Once the team had barrowed the concrete into the footings, Dean set about levelling it whilst the rest of the gang began proofing & painting wood in anticipation of the erection of all seven new aviaries, which should be completed in a few week's time, providing 5-star accommodation for all of our flying demonstration owls, including the newest member – Cecil the Spectacled Owl.

Oh, Lucky Man! One of the residents of the new Owl Block will be Cecil, our Spectacled Owl, who contrives to look more handsome by the day!

Keeping Up with the Wider Picture

A couple of weeks ago, we were invited to attend a meeting about the wider benefits of farming in the local area.  We receive a lot of support from local farmers, who often allow us to put up nest boxes on their land or to release rehabilitated wild raptors on their property, so General Manager Andy thought it would be useful and informative for an S.O.S representative to attend.

The evening was hosted by URSUS Consulting, on behalf of Sustainability East (a group including Government Office, Defra, Natural England, NFU & CLA) and as well as ourselves, there were representatives from the local ramblers association, local organic and conventional farmers, country land owners and parish councillors.

The discussion focussed on aspects of concern such as increasing levels of soil erosion and looked ahead to the future priorities in farming in particular relation to food production, irrigation, fuel, wildlife and pest control.

Some changes are already being made, for example Rape fields in the area are now being directly drilled rather than ploughed, which not only cuts the farmers’ fuel costs by 50%, but also means that the stubble from the harvested crop provides an abundance of food for the local wildlife. Current thinking suggests that the future will bring wetter winters and warmer summers, thus giving rise to the need for the conservation of water during the winter to enable effective irrigation during the summer.

Taking care of the countryside will make sure that released raptors - like this fully recuperated Barn Owl who left our charge last week - have a good (natural) home to go back to.

From our point of view, obviously all these factors have an impact on the local wildlife, including birds of prey, which generally speaking are at the top of the food chain.  This in turn helps focus the work we do here at the Sanctuary, especially with regard to the rehabilitation and release of wild raptors.  As it’s really important that we keep our finger on the pulse, it was very useful to be able to add our voice to what’s important to us locally and to take a hand in influencing emerging government policy.

---

A Year In Review

In our last blog, we were pleased to report on some very successful results from our hospital’s raptor rehabilitation program for 2010.  The year just gone was an eventful one in lots of ways and we thought it would be an idea to recapture one or two of its highlights.

The beginning of the year saw the completion of the new falconers’ huts, providing new, updated mews, food preparation room, weighing room, incubator room and general office.  Now, a year later and decked out with all the requisite falconery paraphernalia, they have seen us through blazing summer sun and wintry blasts and still look as good as new and are functioning well for the purposes intended.

Spring is always an exhilarating time, when the Sanctuary starts to come back to life. There’s definitely a buzz in the air as the flying display team birds are reclaimed, ready for the summer season and preparations are made for the new catalogue of events. We're a couple of weeks off from that for this year, but it won't be long before that feeling of anticipation returns to the Sanctuary.

Finding his wings - our spectacular spectacled owl (sorry) is getting to grips with flying free

We had an exciting program of events in 2010, beginning with our popular Mother’s Day photo-sessions in March and an Easter week full of events for visitors, the young ones in particular.  All through July and the summer holidays, we ran our ‘Summer Sunday Specials’, including the Funforce Crew teaching circus tricks like hula-hooping, tightrope walking, plate spinning and limbo dancing.  We also had brilliant Bouncy Castle Days, face painting and lots of good old fashioned fun with Punch and Judy - all providing some additional entertainment for the families who who made a day of it in the company of our owls and other fascinating birds of prey.

Undoubtedly our most popular and remarkable extra attraction, however, was Jenny’s Ark Pet Zoo, who set up camp with us periodically through the holidays.  Jenny has an astonishing array of animals, everything from giant millipedes, to inquisitive goats and even our youngest visitors can’t resist the chance to hold a slithering boa or feed the ever-ravenous rare sheep.  Our older visitors are also by no means immune to the draw of the wild and who doesn’t like a quiet cuddle with a cute, fluffy bunny?  We have had many enquiries about Jenny’s Ark since her last visit back in August and are pleased to announce that she and her entourage are once again firmly on our list of events for this year!

Jenny of Jenny's Ark Pet Zoo with one of her closest friends...

Of course, no summer visit to the Sanctuary would be complete without the superb flying displays, where visitors have the chance to see some of the world’s most stunning birds of prey stretch their wings as they swoop, stoop, glide & soar in the skies over Stonham. Displays begin on April the 9th this year, but visitors can also see the falconers exercising the birds daily as they up their fitness levels during the next couple of months.

Pleased to Meet You (1) The two Red Kite chicks born at the centre early last year...

Pleased to Meet You (2) Andy and one of the youngsters a little later in the year - "My, how you've grown!"

We also attended a number of outshows last year, which gave us a great opportunity to tell people about the Sanctuary and its work and to hand out information about the importance of raptor conservation.  Many people have never seen a bird of prey up close and we tend to spend most of a day out answering questions and posing for pictures.  (Not us of course, just the superb birds in our charge!)

Our education team worked hard to update the education package last yar and the response by teachers and children was really positive and enthusiastic.  Our new teacher pack was also very well received, providing lots of fun and informative activities for kids and plenty of information for teachers. (there can be downloaded from this website - see here for details.

A Year In Review

In our last blog, we were pleased to report on some very successful results from our hospital’s raptor rehabilitation program for 2010.  The year just gone was an eventful one in lots of ways and we thought it would be an idea to recapture one or two of its highlights.

The beginning of the year saw the completion of the new falconers’ huts, providing new, updated mews, food preparation room, weighing room, incubator room and general office.  Now, a year later and decked out with all the requisite falconery paraphernalia, they have seen us through blazing summer sun and wintry blasts and still look as good as new and are functioning well for the purposes intended.

Spring is always an exhilarating time, when the Sanctuary starts to come back to life. There’s definitely a buzz in the air as the flying display team birds are reclaimed, ready for the summer season and preparations are made for the new catalogue of events. We're a couple of weeks off from that for this year, but it won't be long before that feeling of anticipation returns to the Sanctuary.

Finding his wings - our spectacular spectacled owl (sorry) is getting to grips with flying free

We had an exciting program of events in 2010, beginning with our popular Mother’s Day photo-sessions in March and an Easter week full of events for visitors, the young ones in particular.  All through July and the summer holidays, we ran our ‘Summer Sunday Specials’, including the Funforce Crew teaching circus tricks like hula-hooping, tightrope walking, plate spinning and limbo dancing.  We also had brilliant Bouncy Castle Days, face painting and lots of good old fashioned fun with Punch and Judy - all providing some additional entertainment for the families who who made a day of it in the company of our owls and other fascinating birds of prey.

Undoubtedly our most popular and remarkable extra attraction, however, was Jenny’s Ark Pet Zoo, who set up camp with us periodically through the holidays.  Jenny has an astonishing array of animals, everything from giant millipedes, to inquisitive goats and even our youngest visitors can’t resist the chance to hold a slithering boa or feed the ever-ravenous rare sheep.  Our older visitors are also by no means immune to the draw of the wild and who doesn’t like a quiet cuddle with a cute, fluffy bunny?  We have had many enquiries about Jenny’s Ark since her last visit back in August and are pleased to announce that she and her entourage are once again firmly on our list of events for this year!

Jenny of Jenny's Ark Pet Zoo with one of her closest friends...

Of course, no summer visit to the Sanctuary would be complete without the superb flying displays, where visitors have the chance to see some of the world’s most stunning birds of prey stretch their wings as they swoop, stoop, glide & soar in the skies over Stonham. Displays begin on April the 9th this year, but visitors can also see the falconers exercising the birds daily as they up their fitness levels during the next couple of months.

Pleased to Meet You (1) The two Red Kite chicks born at the centre
early last year...

Pleased to Meet You (2) Andy and one of the youngsters a little later in the year - "My, how you've grown!"

We also attended a number of outshows last year, which gave us a great opportunity to tell people about the Sanctuary and its work and to hand out information about the importance of raptor conservation.  Many people have never seen a bird of prey up close and we tend to spend most of a day out answering questions and posing for pictures.  (Not us of course, just the superb birds in our charge!)

Our education team worked hard to update the education package last yar and the response by teachers and children was really positive and enthusiastic.  Our new teacher pack was also very well received, providing lots of fun and informative activities for kids and plenty of information for teachers. (there can be downloaded from this website - see here for details.

Of the five Red Squirrels born at Stonham last year, two have already been released into the wild as part of the Anglesey Red Squirrel Project

Last, but certainly not least, we had two major surprises last year, which were incredible firsts for the Sanctuary.  One was the arrival of five rumbustuous red squirrels, progeny of a resident pair who form the basis of our breeding colony and two of which have now been released to the organised Red Squirrel release programme on Anglesey: it’s fantastic to be a part of such an important conservation schemes.  Then came the production of our two striking and distinctive Red Kite chicks by their long-time-resident parents, all the more exciting because of their rarity in this particular area. Both are both doing well and will make a special addition to the flying display team as they add to the diversity of raptors demonstrating their individual characteristics and capabilities during these shows.

Ladies who munch - one of Jenny's goats during a popular visit to the Centre during the Summer Holidays

Now we look forward to the year ahead but if you too would like to reflect on times past at S.O.S., all of our previous blogs can be found, year by year, on this website.  The links are situated just below the main page listing. But try nd pay us a visit this year - we look forward to seeing you!

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A belated Happy New Year!

Hi there! Welcome to the S.O.S. Blog for 2011 as we close one year and look forward to new challenges ahead.

We'd like to start by wishing all our supporters, visitors and donors a belated but heartfelt Happy New Year - your help is greatly appreciated and we hope that you will continue to offer your support in the months ahead.

We'd also like to say an extra-special thanks to the un-sung heroes of S.O.S. - the group of loyal volunteers who come into the Sanctuary fair weather and foul to help out with the many necessary repetitious and often grubby jobs around the Centre which enable us to maintain a clean and healthy environment for the birds in our charge.

Without our volunteer brigade, not only would our life be a lot more difficult but our very existence a lot more tenuous, man- and women-power being one of the more costly resources required to keep the place functioning efficiently & effectively. These guys turn up regularly, often more than once a week, to assist in cleaning aviaries, feeding round and lending a helping hand with some of the arduous building & repair jobs, so we'd like to give them a special mention in acknowledgement of their invaluable contribution to S.O.S (in no particular order!):

* Steve *
* Paul *
* Pete *
* Simon *
* Darren *
* Doug *
* Sarah *
* Lynn *
* Allen *

and our two current work-placement helpers from Otley College, the two Katherines & Catherine. Confused? We often are...:-)

We hope - indeed we know - our volunteers enjoy their time in the company of our magnificent birds, and although this is small reward for all the time they put in, we hope it continues to provide sufficient recompense for all their hard work. Thank you.

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2010 Raptor Rehab Results

Although the Sanctuary's raptor hospital generally ticks along quietly behind the scenes, it's an aspect of our operations which has a hugely important role to play and, as always, was kept busy throughout last year.

However we're particularly pleased about the recovery of the birds brought into us last year, of which we were able to release a higher than normal rate successfully back to the wild - all told, during 2010 our falconers attended to 77 sick or injured wild birds of prey brought into to the Sanctuary, of which 48% were re-released. 

This undernourished Kestrel was collected from a local farm a few days into last December's cold snap, when it had been unable to find food because of the deep snow cover.

The biggest cause of wild raptor injury by far - certainly in this area - stems from Road Traffic Accidents and over half of those brought to the Sanctuary year were victims of these RTA’s.

Many of the other birds brought to the Centre have been found in gardens or fields, either suffering from starvation or quite often - especially in the case of Sparrowhawks - having been stunned by flying into a window. Among the other hazards out there awaiting the unsuspecting raptor are getting caught in netting or barbed wire, all sorts of other perilous obstacles such as trains, chimneys & electric pylons - and on one memorable occasion, Sellotape!

This bedraggled Tawny Owl had fallen down a disused chimney - hence the wretched, muddy appearance - and was given a very careful wash-and-brush-up to remove the grime from its plumage

The majority of birds brought into the hospital last year were Tawny Owls and Little Owls, but the number of Barn Owls and Kestrels also exceeded double figures, in addition to nine Sparrowhawks and one Buzzard.

From the total number of raptors brought to the Sanctuary in 2010, the falconers were able to treat, rehabilitate and release nearly half of them, a fantastic result in this context. This is also an opportune moment for us to extend our thanks to the Stowe Veterinary Group, who have been brilliant once again with all the help and assistance they have given us throughout the last year in this and other regards.

Although not listed as injured in our Register, around May time we tend to have a higher proportion of nestlings or youngsters brought in, particularly if they have fallen out of the nest and are looking abandoned!  

An important stage of re-release for wild birds that have been in our care for a while is the 'hack-back' - a process whereby we continue to provide food for the released bird in a secure location, so that it can feed as it recovers its bearings and natural hunting instincts in the wild

2010 Raptor Rehab Results

Although the Sanctuary's raptor hospital generally ticks along quietly behind the scenes, it's an aspect of our operations which has a hugely important role to play and, as always, was kept busy throughout last year.

However we're particularly pleased about the recovery of the birds brought into us last year, of which we were able to release a higher than normal rate successfully back to the wild - all told, during 2010 our falconers attended to 77 sick or injured wild birds of prey brought into to the Sanctuary, of which 48% were re-released.

This undernourished Kestrel was collected from a local farm a few days into last December's cold snap, when it had been unable to find food because of the deep snow cover.

The biggest cause of wild raptor injury by far - certainly in this area - stems from Road Traffic Accidents and over half of those brought to the Sanctuary year were victims of these RTA’s.

Many of the other birds brought to the Centre have been found in gardens or fields, either suffering from starvation or quite often - especially in the case of Sparrowhawks - having been stunned by flying into a window. Among the other hazards out there awaiting the unsuspecting raptor are getting caught in netting or barbed wire, all sorts of other perilous obstacles such as trains, chimneys & electric pylons - and on one memorable occasion, Sellotape!

This bedraggled Tawny Owl had fallen down a disused chimney
- hence the wretched, muddy appearance - and was given a very
careful wash-and-brush-up to remove the grime from its plumage

The majority of birds brought into the hospital last year were Tawny Owls and Little Owls, but the number of Barn Owls and Kestrels also exceeded double figures, in addition to nine Sparrowhawks and one Buzzard.

From the total number of raptors brought to the Sanctuary in 2010, the falconers were able to treat, rehabilitate and release nearly half of them, a fantastic result in this context. This is also an opportune moment for us to extend our thanks to the Stowe Veterinary Group, who have been brilliant once again with all the help and assistance they have given us throughout the last year in this and other regards.

Although not listed as injured in our Register, around May time we tend to have a higher proportion of nestlings or youngsters brought in, particularly if they have fallen out of the nest and are looking abandoned!

An important stage of re-release for wild birds that have been in our care for a while is the 'hack-back' - a process whereby we continue to provide food for the released bird in a secure location, so that it can feed as it recovers its bearings and natural hunting instincts in the wild

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Wintery Grips

Along with the rest of the world, it seems, the world recently disappeared into a hazy blur of white. I thought I had a car in my driveway but at times all I could see was an amorphous blob! Apparently, weather determines the seasons and, to aid meteorologists, some bright spark decided in 1780 that each season should have three months. Winter, for meteorologists then, starts on December 1st in the Northern Hemisphere and June 1st in the Southern Hemisphere.

Three MONTHS! After a few hours The Sanctuary was covered in a swathe of white nd we were soon playing ‘Spot the Snowy Owl’... in three months it could be more a case of ‘Spot the Sanctuary’!

For the last few weeks we have had various items of clothing (not to mention falconers) steaming dry over the heaters in the office, the aforementioned having been drenched from head to toe cleaning snow off the aviaries. It’s amazing how much a layer of snow cuts out the light and of course there’s always the worry that if we had a particularly heavy snowfall on top of existing snow, it could cause damage to the aviary roofs. Not the most glamorous of tasks then, but one that has to be done.

On the positive side, the Sanctuary does look stupendously beautiful, not to mention exceptionally serene and tranquil. And the birds don’t mind the snow. Their layers of feathers, especially the downy ones close to the skin, can be fluffed up to keep them nice and warm and, whatever the weather, they can be assured that one of our hardy falconers will make it through the most treacherous of conditions to provide them with a tasty chick or two. (Not, in my opinion, as comforting as a steaming cup of hot chocolate, but then I’m not an owl!)

Hey ho, hey ho! It's off to Wales we go!

No matter how intemperate the weather conditions, the work of the Sanctuary goes on. Regular blog followers may remember that back in mid July we proudly announced the arrival of our Red Squirrel kits (as in baby squirrels rather than the Airfix variety), which have continued to grow and thrive ever since. The key purpose for breeding our Red Squirrels is the opportunity to work with various Red Squirrel regeneration projects, among them ‘The Friends of Anglesey Red Squirrels’, who are successfully re-introducing more Red Squirrels across the island on the north coast of Wales. The kits are now old enough and robust enough to make the long cross-country journey from Suffolk Wales, so just before the now arrrived, Head Falconer Matt spent two days trying to tempt some of them into travelling boxes, so that they could be transported to their new home. By the end of the second day, two of the kits decided they would play ball, but the rest were intent on staying in their nice cosy drey.

Wednesday arrived along with the youngsters’ conveyance, but after several more fruitless hours trying to coax out another kit, Matt gave up and just two of the kits set out on their journey to a new life. Matt then went back to the squirrel enclosure to remove the last box only to find 3 cheeky faces peering at him from its inner depths! What’s the old maxim… ‘never work with children and animals…’?

Well anyway, we hope the kits thrive in their new environment and hopefully we will be able to further our breeding program next year.

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Ferrets and Spooks

After the hustle and bustle of the summer season, the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary settles down to a more peaceful phase. The flying display birds rest their wings for a few months, enjoying a period of well earned relaxation and the falconers don their jackets and gum boots against the wintry weather, tackling the many areas of the Sanctuary that need a little TLC after the busy summer.

One of the first jobs to be undertaken was the erection of a new ferret hut.  The old one was not only looking a little worn but, given that we’re hoping to expand the colony, it seemed a good time to give them a more palatial setting. 

Ferrets are supreme escape artists, so lots of thought was put in to exactly what materials would be needed to keep them safe and secure.  They also love to play, so the new hut comes complete with large playball with exciting holes to explore, drainpipes to run in and out of and a long flexipipe to chase each other through.  And, (something I learnt only just recently) you’ll never guess what ferrets like above all else for those snoozy moments – a hammock!  Lucky ferrets - I’m thinking about moving in myself!

Fundraising Hallowe’en Hoot at the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary

Spooky Tooth & Magic Merlin - two of the guests at our Hallow'een Fundraiser

Although it’s a much quieter time visitor wise, there are one or two highlights, when the Centre briefly springs to life once more in fundraising mode to sustain us through the winter months – Hallowe’en being one of them.  This year, we thought we would go the whole hoot and make a real day of it.  All half term week we ran our tantalising pumpkin trail, with all sorts of hallowe’eny facts scattered around the Sanctuary and prizes for everyone who could answer all the quiz questions.

The 31st October itself dawned grey, but was dry and warm, ideal weather for a special Hallowe’en flying display.   As well as the pumpkin trail, the falconers had hidden bats and spiders all over the Sanctuary for the kids to hunt, with stacks of prizes to be won.  The flying display was, as always, a spectacular event, where Nessa the Red Kite, Becky the Lanner Falcon and Marge the Harris Hawk all showed off their aerial prowess.  A very special extra, was the novice display of one of the Sanctuary’s newest residents – Cecil the Spectacled Owl - there’ll be more about his first flight on our next blog.

As a finishing touch, after the flying display, General Manager Andy had the tricky task of judging the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary's fearsome fancy dress competition.  It was a tough call to choose between all the wizards, witches, skeletons and zombies and a rather appealing pumpkin, but finally the winners were selected and very scary they were too!  The following day, we received a super letter from one of the winners thanking us for his prize.  All in all an excellent day, thoroughly enjoyed by all.

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Waifs and Strays

On our last blog, we wrote about the exciting events going on at the Sanctuary over the hallowe’en period. On Hallowe’en Sunday itself however, as well as the pumpkin trail and fancy dress, there was some additional tension behind the scenes, but not for such a good reason.

Paula, our American Kestrel, recently went walkabout - to the consternation of us, and twitchers nationwide!

Back in mid-August, we told you about a very special little lady who came to reside at the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, our female American Kestrel Paula. As anyone who has seen an American Kestrel knows, they are really tiny, usually weighing in at around 3oz – as small, if not smaller than some of our native songbirds.

All our resident birds live in spacious aviaries, with plenty of foliage to roost and nest in. This can mean, though, that the birds aren’t always easy to spot and so it was that when one of our volunteers went to clean out Paula’s aviary, she slipped over his shoulder and out of the door before anyone could stop her.

Paula isn’t one of the flying display birds, otherwise it would have been much easier to tempt her back to the glove. As it was the falconers tracked her through our local village, trying desperately to entice her to come down, but General Manager Andy soon came to the conclusion that they were just in danger of driving her further away. With much reluctance, they decided to call it a day in the hope that she would find her way back when she was hungry.

A couple of days passed and there was no sign of her, but on Wednesday morning, the phone began to run red hot at the Sanctuary, with numerous sightings of an immature female Kestrel at Landguard Nature Reserve over on the East coast. The fact that the bird was wearing a yellow ring confirmed that this could well be Paula.

Conservation Officer Dean was very quickly on the phone to one of the bird ringers at the reserve getting directions and made his way to Languard with all haste. A number of twitchers had spotted the Kestrel by this time, which thankfully made it easy for Dean to locate her once he arrived at the reserve. She was obviously quite hungry, as she showed considerable interest in the food he offered her from the glove, but she was still intent on being coy. However, as luck would have it, there were some strategically placed mist nets on the reserve, which are used for safely catching birds so that they can be ringed and, specifically at this time of year, for checking on migratory wading birds. Paula flew off straight into one of these and was soon back in Deans’ safe hands once more.

Paula's mate, Fred, appeared pretty concerned and kept a watching brief for the return of is partner

With Paula safely tucked up in her travel box, Dean returned to the Sanctuary, where Paula was given a thorough health check to make sure she hadn’t sustained any injury throughout her adventure. Her lovesick boyfriend Fred had been calling for Paula since her escape, so he was very happy when at last they were reunited in their aviary once more.

Although only the tiniest of birds, Paula nevertheless made a pretty big splash in the national Press with her story - for more click here to see how The Daily Telegraph reported it.

One Short-Eared Owl - Far From Home!

Betwixt & between, this Short Eared Owl pitched up on an oil rig in the middle of the North Sea

A couple of days later, we received an interesting e-mail from Stewart Green who works on a ConocoPhillips Oil Rig way out in the North Sea, about 50 miles east of Scarborough. He attached a photo of an Owl that had landed on the rig earlier in the day and the question was, what sort of Owl was it? We were able to verify that it was a Short Eared Owl, a long, long way from it's natural habitat of marshlands and moorlands, where - unusually for an owl - it is a ground-dweller.

We have heard nothing since but hoped that it managed to return to terra firma in the UK or somewhere in Europe without too much hassle - whereever it set foot again, no doubt it was one tired owl by then! For more on the Short Eared Owl, click here.

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Helping Hands

Throughout the year, we receive calls and emails asking for help or information on a variety of natural history subjects, ranging from what to do with an injured owl to whether we can help with underweight hedgehogs.  

Hedgehogs of course aren’t really our field, but we ‘know a man who can’ and very good at it he is too – but that’s another story. We even had a call from a gentleman the other day who had bought a parrot and, at 70 years old, was finding it rather a strain every time the bird let out a random, raucous squawk.  It just so happens that our Chief Fundraiser Maz has connections in that line, so she was able to offer assistance.  Whatever the problem, we will try to help wherever we can.

Of course, our general manager Andy is a bit of a dab hand when it comes to bird of prey species, so he is usually the first port of call when we receive enquiries asking us to identify the subject of the photos we receive by email.  This week the task in hand was a bird photographed on the South Kent coast and it didn't take Andy long to pronounce that the bird in question was an immature Peregrine Falcon; obviously its youth had caused the uncertainty in identification.

This immature Peregrine Falcon was spotted on the Kent coast this week

We also received an email from slightly further afield - Rangoon in Burma - where Matthew had found a Spotted Owlet in his garden.  When he found it, it was on the ground being mobbed by crows and the overwhelmed bird seemed unphased when Matthew approached it. Concerned, Matthew picked the owl up and put it in a large box in his shed. Apparently there had been a big storm the previous night, which may have had something to do with the owl’s rather dazed condition.  Matthew was pretty certain the owl was uninjured and wanted some advice as to what he should do next - the only place within reach for him was a zoo, which he thought might be inappropriate.

A Spotted Owl like this one was found dazed & confused in a Burmese garden...Photo: G.M. Garg

Andy's advice to Matthew was first to look for any signs of obvious injury and, if there are none, to keep the bird quiet in its box for a couple of days.  It may well just need a period of recuperation if it was battered about a bit in the storm.  Feed it some raw meat and see how it seems in a couple of days.  If the bird appears to be OK, the best thing would then be to release it as close to where you found it as possible.
 
However, if there are concerns that the owl is injured and have no local vet to take it to, it would be advisable to take it to the zoo. as they will certainly have a vet who can assess its injuries and take the appropriate action.  Although the situation may be different depending on your global location, in England vets have a duty of care to look after wild animals without charge.  

Getting back to Burma, Matthew emailed us shortly after with some good news: "Many thanks for this information, Ashley. I’m happy to say the bird has upped and flown. It was perched on a window ledge in the shed when I arrived back home today; I opened the door and it flew strongly up into nearby trees. Simply dazed after the storm I think, as you mention, so good news all round!"

We all love a happy ending, so it was nice to know the outcome of this story!

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For Justin

Adopting an owl is one way in which our loyal supporters provide the Sanctuary with much needed assistance to help carry on the conservation, rehabilitation and education work that we do here, and maintain the bird hospital and many aviaries which house both our resident birds and those who recuperate here before being returned to the wild. People adopt a bird of prey for a wide variety of reasons and can come to see their chosen adoptee here at the Sanctuary throughout the year.

Recently we received an email from a couple that live in the Isle of Wight and were planning a visit to Suffolk.  They adopted Cobweb the Barn Owl in November 2009 and wondered if it would be possible to pop in to see him.  Adopting Cobweb is especially poignant for them, as they have done so in memory of their son Justin, who bred Barn Owls in Northumberland and, sadly, died of cystic fibrosis in 2006.  Unperturbed by the bitter northerly wind that was whipping around the Centre this week, Alison & John duly arrived to see how Cobweb is getting on and to take a look at the other resident raptors we have  here at the Sanctuary.

At this time of year most of our owls, including Cobweb, are safely tucked up in their aviaries, having a well earned rest if they are members of the flying display team, or getting ready for a much needed winter moult.  We do, however, still have Cecil our young Spectacled Owl in a weathering, getting used to his equipment and to the interested attention of our visitors, so we thought it would be a nice memento for our visitors to have a picture taken with him on the fist. 

Alison meets Cecil…

... who as you can see, has developed somewhat since he came to us just a few weeks ago

Cecil was born in May of this year and has been hand reared here at the Sanctuary, so consequently he’s a very friendly chap, well used to being handled.  He is, of course, a typically inquisitive youngster, wanting to have a good gawp at everything going on around him, but he did manage to stay still just long enough to show off just how stunningly photogenic he is!

We do hope Justin’s parents enjoyed visiting Cobweb and were suitably enchanted by Cecil’s boyish charms and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them and all our dedicated followers for their continued and much appreciated support.

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Andy dons his tutor hat

You might be forgiven for thinking that looking after a few birds of prey would be quite a simple job.  After all, even in the wild raptors spend most of their time sitting around contemplating not very much at all.  But of course here at the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary we have well over 80 birds of prey, from all the five raptor groups and all have different requirements, depending on both their species and their temperament.

Then of course there’s the hospital, where the falconers see all kinds of ailments and injuries.  Knowing how to handle birds under a variety of circumstances can be crucial to their survival!

With this in mind, last week our General Manager Andy welcomed a group of student vet nurses and their tutor to the Sanctuary.  They came from a local veterinary surgery who support the Centre by looking after our resident birds and any injured birds that come in to the hospital.  The students came for the morning to learn about the care and general husbandry of birds of prey, which included aspects such as correct handling, how to hood a bird to keep it calm and how to hold a bird correctly for examination by a vet.

Andy illustrates the intricacies of crop tubing to our guest students

Andy showed the students the Sanctuary’s rehabilitation aviaries and explained about the housing of birds of prey under veterinary treatment. They also had a look at the raptor hospital, where birds are brought initially for examination by a falconer. The students were able to see the equipment necessary for treating injured birds and to learn about the preliminary care birds are given before any necessary trips to the vets. Andy explained about the way records are kept of each bird, which can help to provide an insight into local raptor population trends amongst other things. He also gave a demonstration of crop tubing (see our blog 23/02/09), describing the importance of executing this procedure correctly and clarifying the reasons for needing this treatment - for example, if a bird is extremely weak, it may not have enough energy to digest solid food, which can lead to a nasty and potentially fatal condition called ‘sour crop’.

Hopefully the students had a good and instructive morning – Andy was certainly very pleased with the "thank-you" chocs and a bag of goodies for the hospital that they dropped off later on in the day!

Raptor releases continue

Andy releases one of the two tawnies, one of which
pauses for a quick look round before departure

We have had another two successful releases this week, which is really heart-warming to report.  This time it was a couple of Tawny Owls that thankfully didn’t need to be with us for too long.  They were both victims of RTA’s, one probably having been caught in the slip stream of a car and just requiring some rest and TLC and the other having a damaged eye.  Both recovered fully under the falconers’ watchful care and were released at the edge of a a nearby wooded area.

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Buzzard Bliss

Back in February of this year, we wrote about a male Common Buzzard that was brought in to the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary hospital. It was found locally in the middle of a field and was clearly unable to fly. Veterinary investigations exposed old fractures of the ulna and radius bones in the left wing, which had healed but solidified in the process. For just over seven months, the Buzzard has been monitored and cared for by the falconers in one of the Sanctuary’s rehabilitation aviaries until, finally, on the fourth of this month Andy and Dean deemed it fit and ready to begin its journey back to the wild.

After a well-deserved moult and looking rather fine, the Buzzard was taken out by Andy and Dean for a flight test, to ensure that it was one hundred percent ready to fend and hunt for itself. The flight test was a success, so the Buzzard was boxed up and transported to a nearby country estate for release. Andy had previously contacted the owners of the estate to gain permission for the release, as the area offers the perfect habitat for this species: Common Buzzards like a varied environment, preferably with undulating countryside that provides natural updrafts and thermals for them to soar on. They also like woody areas, with mature trees to nest in and grassland where they can catch a good bounty of mammals and worms.

In the gathering gloom, the fully-recuperated buzzard was freed back to the wild on a local estate

As Andy poised ready to record the moment, Dean let the buzzard go. It immediately flew to the top of a tree to gain its bearings, then turned and flew right over the top of the falconers to a mature pine, followed by a rowdy rabble of crows and jackdaws shouting abuse, not best pleased at having a bird of prey in their midst. The Buzzard spent a couple of minutes perched on the top of the pine and then majestically took off and disappeared out of sight over the valley.

…and more releases pending

As mentioned in last week’s blog, the hospital has been very busy recently. Over the last two weeks alone, we have seen the arrival of two Tawny Owls and two Kestrels, one male and one female – all victims of road traffic accidents! They have all been receiving lots of TLC in the hospital’s rehab aviaries and it’s very heartening to be able to report that, without exception, all are very close to being fit for release. We’ll keep you updated, so watch this space!

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Back To The Wild

We have had yet another busy week at the raptor hospital and have some good news to report.  You may remember in a recent blog we informed you about a Barn Owl that came in to the hospital after an unfortunate encounter with a fox.  It’s sometimes tricky to tell initially with owls just how hurt they are, as they have a habit of keeping very, very still if they feel threatened.  It’s not a bad idea if, as an owl, you think moving could get you into more trouble, but it makes it a tad more difficult for us humans to always tell if an owl is in pain or distress.  

However, the falconers were able to establish with this particular young lady that her only real problem was a loss of feathers and no doubt some emotional upset caused by the incident. In reality, all she needed was time to recuperate from her ordeal and to grow back her missing feathers. She stayed with us in one of the Sanctuary’s rehabilitation aviaries for almost a month, to do just that.

Then, a couple of weeks ago we also had another Barn Owl brought in.  This time it was a male bird, which was found just off the main road near to us. It was actually spotted in the rut of a field and seemed unable to fly out of it.  We gave the owl a thorough examination and could find no signs of any physical injury; again, a period of TLC, rest and recuperation were exactly what the doctor ordered and after a fortnight the owl was ready to be released.

One of the released pair in one of the rather ignominious boxes which enable a stress-free journey to the release site

As we had one male and one female Barn Owl ready to go back to the wild, Andy thought it would be the ideal opportunity to do a little match making so he took them both to a local farm which is involved in our owl nest box scheme and offers pastureland, hedgerows and grass margins along the edges of the fields - ideal habitat for Barn Owls to live and hunt - and released them there.  With a little luck this pair may just settle down in time to produce a brood of youngsters next year.

…in a flurry of feathers, off one of them goes…

Onwards & upwards

But the work of the Sanctuary is never done and this week, we had two calls from members of the public who had found injured birds of prey and wanted advice about what to do for them.  Our guidance is always to wrap an injured bird carefully in a towel and either bring it to us if possible, or alternatively take it to one of any number of animal rescue places across the country, where the bird can be assessed and given the requisite care. Failing that, we suggest that an injured bird be taken straight to the nearest veterinary surgery.  This should be free, as vets have a duty of care to injured wild animals.  Once a bird has be treated, then very often the vet will pass it on to places such as the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary to continue the rehabilitation and eventual release.  More about our new patients in our next blog!

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All in a Day’s work

Being a charity, we are always very grateful for the help we get from our loyal supporters. Whether it’s someone kindly leaving the Sanctuary a bequest or offering a helping hand with maintenance work, it all helps us to give our resident birds and our hospital patients the best possible care.

Amongst our regular supporters is Eastern Concrete, sponsors of S.O.S. for the last three years. They have donated a considerable amount of gravel and also footings for new aviaries, not to mention taking time out of their busy schedule to deliver the afore-mentioned.

On the 4th September, Eastern Concrete hosted the grand opening of their new local yard and, as a special thank you for all their support over the years we thought it would be a nice gesture to take a few of the birds of prey along for a couple of hours to help make the day an extra special one.

Maz explains about the various birds we took along to the Eastern Concrete event, to a couple of the young visitors

After work, our fundraiser Maz and head falconer Matt set off with Comet the Peregrine Falcon, Pungu the Bateleur Eagle, Josh the Harris Hawk and Samba, Maz’s European Eagle Owl in tow. The birds were all impeccably behaved and proved to be a great attraction. As well as being a thank you to our hosts, the occasion also provided an opportunity for Maz and Matt to talk to other business people, further helping to raise awareness of the Sanctuary and the work that goes on here.

At the event, Maz met with a gentleman called Barry Fender, who is the General Manager of Bardon Concrete. He was extremely interested in the rehabilitation work that the hospital achieves and was keen to know what he could do to help. Our travel boxes have begun to look somewhat tired and worn of late, so he agreed to donate three boxes of varying sizes, so that the falconers can transport birds in comfort and safety to the vets and back.

The boxes arrived a couple of days ago and very smart they are too! So thank you Barry, we are really chuffed with them and they are certainly much lighter to carry than the old wooden ones!

Inside & out - these splendid new travel boxes will make for safe & secure travelling when our display birds go off-site

Prevention rather than Cure

Meanwhile, back at base, our conservation officer Dean has been hard at work changing the astro-turf on the perches in some of the aviaries. Unfortunately, it needs replacing regularly, so the falconers were chuffed when the Sanctuary was an recent recipient of an anonymous donation of some astro-turf - a timely present! You might think that as long as birds have somewhere to perch, they would be quite happy. If only life were that simple: in captivity, different birds have to have different kinds of perches and the material the perch is made of can be important too. Lack of adequate perching can cause all kinds of problems, one of the grimmest of which is a condition called ‘bumblefoot’.

Dean spent a happy morning replacing astro-turf strips to the perches of thems that needs it.

Bumblefoot is a serious lesion affecting either the ball of the foot or one or more of the toes and it can have potentially devastating consequences. It can be caused by pressure on the foot, rather like a bed sore, where the blood flow has been restricted leading to infection and swelling. In some birds it’s almost impossible to cure, with the bacteria in the tissue simply not responding to treatment, so it really is a case of prevention - in this case, sufficient astro-turf covered perches for those birds to which it is best suited - is better than cure!

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In The Frame

A visitor called Mark contacted us recently and sent us one of the pictures he took at S.O.S. on a visit during the summer. It was such a good picture that we asked for more information about him and how he took it. This was his reply:

"Having recently finished an evening course in digital photography at Suffolk College I wanted to keep practising with different camera set ups and subjects. I find with having two young sons that Suffolk Owl Sanctuary is a great place to spend an afternoon with them and being able to get up close and personal with the birds is an added bonus.

We've been visiting on a regular basis this year and I always bring my camera just in case I'm able to grab a reasonable picture of some of your birds.

The picture I've sent was shot using my Canon EOS400D with a 75-300mm lens. Shutter speed was 1/800th sec to capture the bird in flight although panning the camera had added some motion blur to the wings which I feel adds to the sense of speed rather than catching the bird dead still. Depth of field was set at F5.6 to keep the clouds blurred out and the focus on the subject. 

A small amount of post processing was done to remove the jesses the bird wears and to crop the bird to the centre of the picture."

It all sounds very technical but the end result is a great shot, so congratulations Mark and thanks for 'keeping us in the picture'!

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