Education, education, education!

Education has always been one of our core aims here at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, but since hiring a dedicated Education Officer in 2020, this has been taken to a new level.

During the various lockdowns, Education Officer, Susan Jones, worked from home to create free resources and learning materials available from our website. She also launched our Virtual Sessions, which allowed us to deliver learning opportunities while we were closed to visitors.

Our All About Owls fact sheets are free to download from the website

Susan keeps diligent records of all of the sessions she delivers and events she attends on our behalf and having totted up the totals from 2021, can announce that we reached over 3000 individuals last year!

Of these, over 1300 were via Virtual Sessions to 25 different schools, colleges or groups. Most of these booked an All About Owls session, which covers fun facts about Owls and often features a live owl. Several also booked our Pellet Detectives session, where Susan demonstrated how to dissect a pellet and showed some of the things they might find. Some of these were done live, with the class dissecting their pellets during the session, which allowed them to ask questions about their findings during the session.
Although most of our Virtual Sessions were to schools known to us from the local area who were unable to arrange an in person visit due to Covid, we were able to reach several schools, groups and colleges from further afield, including a cluster of schools and youth groups in Oxfordshire, a college in the North West, a secondary school in London, an English School in Belgium and two youth groups in Oman!

Pellet Detectives proved to be a popular activity for our Virtual Sessions.

“Particularly enjoyed seeing the owl, learning new facts and the interaction between Susan and the children. You pitched the session at the right level and spoke slowly and clearly. Thank you!”
— ACE Brussels

Our Education Team attended 11 schools and youth groups locally to deliver engaging learning sessions as part of our Outreach Visits. In addition to these, we attended 2 events hosted by Suffolk Libraries over the summer holidays as part of their Summer Reading Challenge, as well as attending 3 local events to raise awareness about our work. We visited 3 local care homes with our Owls to provide some therapy for residents. Susan also delivered a presentation to a local interest group.

Susan and Bethany delivering an All About Owls session to a youth group

“The Sanctuary was asked to provide an activity throughout the day of special events for all groups on two separate days. Each activity was perfectly tailored to each age and ability group. The children loved hearing about the work of the Owl Sanctuary and enjoyed the practical and active nature of the sessions. The staff’s knowledge and enthusiasm for owl pellet dissection was clear to see and the older pupils were mesmerised by the hour spent pulling the pellets apart.”
— Littlegarth School

Our Education Team also organised a range of activities for schools and groups visiting us last year. 11 schools, 5 Home Education groups and 1 youth group visited us and enjoyed guided walks, flying displays, meerkat talks, trails and activities around the site.

Young visitors exploring the Centre, using our Safari Trail booklet to identify the birds they find

“We enjoyed everything! The children had a fabulous time!”
— Mendham Primary School

We also delivered our first All About Owls course for Home Educating families, which saw them learning about habitats, food chains, supersenses, conservation and having a go at becoming Pellet Detectives. These sessions were delivered through a variety of activities which suited the different learners, including discussions, crafts, practical work and group work.

Parents and children engaging with the activities in our All About Owls Course for home educating families

“What made it a success for my son was the combination of material he found really interesting with a no pressure approach.”

2022 is already looking more “normal” with several local schools and uniformed groups booking visits to us before Easter. In addition to school education sessions, we will be running two Home Education Courses before Easter.

We are pleased to be involved with the Big Hoot Trail in Ipswich and are looking forward to working with them over the summer to deliver activities at a variety of events. We will also be attending the Suffolk Farm and Country Fair in April.

We look forward to seeing the finished Hoots around Ipswich this summer

Susan has several ideas she’d like to work on this year, including more focus on our Hospital and Rescue work for educational groups, encouraging creativity on visits through art, photography and writing, as well as continuing to build relationships with local schools, groups and like-minded organisations.

Ringing Buzzards

Readers will have seen that we’ve recently had four Buzzards admitted to our Raptor Hospital. As they were all improving and set for release imminently, we invited Dr Hugh Hanmer from the British Trust for Ornithology to come and ring them under licence.

Ringing birds is the process whereby a small metal ring with a unique alpha-numeric code is attached to the birds leg. This is the equivalent to us wearing a bracelet or watch, so does not impact on the day to day lives of the birds once released. Should a bird be found with a ring (caught by another ringer, or found injured or dead), the finder can report it to the relevant scheme (in the UK, run by the British Trust for Ornithology) and find out more details about where the bird has come from, how old it is and any changes it its condition.

Not many Buzzards are ringed as part of the scheme, due to their large size and ability to escape most normal catching methods, so to be able to ring four on the same day gave us the chance to have a closer look and compare the individuals. We have provisionally sexed them during the ringing process, however there is so much overlap between male and female biometrics, that we won’t be entering this when we submit the ringing data. The only way to know for certain is during the breeding season, as females will develop a brood patch to help incubate the eggs.

The first Buzzard to be ringed was found starving but had been supplementary fed before being brought to us. From the size of her feet, we had a good guess she was a female. Biometric measurements taken as part of the ringing process showed that although her wing was a little short, her hind claw was at the top end of a female measurement. Checking her moult patterns, she turned out to be a third year bird (hatched in 2020), which was clearly shown by the new and old flight feathers.

The second Buzzard to be ringed was the young emaciated bird that we weren’t sure would survive. This bird was much smaller than the first and the measurements suggested he was a male. His wing feathers showed he was a second year bird (hatched 2021) but was probably the “runt” of the clutch, as there were stress lines in most of his flight feathers, showing a lack of nutrition while they were growing. He also had a juvenile tail with continuous barring to the tip, pale fringes on his wing feathers and the lovely heart shapes on his undertail feathers. This youngster still has a lot to learn but we are hopefully that with a soft release from a local hack site, he will make it.

The third Buzzard to be ringed was the one seen falling from a roof rack. This individual was very pale, and we joked that he may have been stuck in the roof rack all the way from Cornwall, where pale morphs are more common. Unfortunately, he didn’t already have a ring to tell us these details, so he was given a ring in the hope that if he finds his way “home” he may be found and we’ll have a better idea of where he may have come from. This bird was also aged as a second year male, and had a similar tail pattern and pale fringing as the previous Buzzard.

The fourth Buzzard to be ringed was the darker one which came in starving due to an infection. We had already put her down as a female, due to her size, and knew she was an adult because of her behaviour - she would posture and hold her wings out in a threat display whenever she saw us, even when delivering food. This is good, as it shows that they are not habituated with humans and means that they are more likely to avoid humans when released. After being given a ring, we confirmed that she was a third year bird, although she had a different moult pattern to the first.

The two adult Buzzards will be released over the next week or so near where they were found. The two youngsters are awaiting construction of their release pens but they will also be released in the near future. In the meantime, they are getting a free stay in our Hospital with plenty of food and space in the aviaries to start building up muscle condition in preparation for their release back to the wild.

Starving Buzzards

Over the Christmas and New Year period, we have taken in four Buzzards, all in various states of starvation.

The first was a young bird (hatched last year) which was severely emaciated and was found grubbing in a field. Grubbing is where Buzzards will “hunt” for invertebrates on the ground, and is often associated with weakened birds who don’t have the energy to fly. Thankfully, this youngster still had an appetite and devoured all the food we gave him. Thanks to our dedicated team providing round the clock care, he pulled through and is now gaining weight. This suggests that he hasn’t learnt how to hunt properly, so once he’s gained sufficient weight we will find a suitable hack release site for him.

This young bird still displays juvenile behaviours

The second Buzzard to come in was an older female. She was also underweight, and upon arrival, we discovered that she had a healed broken wing. But after a flight assessment, it appears that this has healed and was not affecting her flight, so we suspect she had a bacterial infection. She received treatment for this and has put on weight. This girl is clearly experienced and is showing us that she is quite capable of looking after herself, so we will be releasing her soon.

This darker female is older and more experienced.

The third Buzzard was another youngster who we suspect had also not had much experience hunting for his own food. This bird had been found locally in a starving condition but was being supplementary fed by well meaning people. This is not recommended as the birds become reliant on people for food rather than going to find it for themselves, and can sometimes lead to aggressive behaviours if you forget to feed them one day. It also makes the birds lazy, and this bird was actually a good weight when it came in, although had no muscle condition. After a quick assessment, he was placed in an aviary and is now building up fitness before release. This youngster will also be ideal for a hack release if we can find a suitable location.

This youngster is being monitored after being found starving.

The fourth Buzzard was brought in after being witnessed falling from a roofrack of a travelling vehicle. Thankfully, the people driving behind stopped to pick it up and brought it straight to us. We have no idea how far it had travelled before becoming loose and escaping, but it was very lucky not to have any serious injuries. After a couple of days under observation, it was moved to one of our larger aviaries where we’ll continue to monitor it for any lasting damage.

A pale morph Buzzard that was seen falling from a travelling vehicle

To have so many Buzzards in at the same time is rather unusual, and certainly we have seen more Buzzards brought into the Raptor Hospital in the past 12 months than in previous years. This suggests that the local population is experiencing a boom, which has certainly been noted by staff and volunteers driving to and from work.

The weather can play a part in hunting success of raptors, and the mild and relatively dry winter should have made life easier. However, this might also have allowed weaker individuals to survive when otherwise they would have perished in the damp weather and first frosts we usually get in October and November. Whilst it’s never nice to think about death, natural selection and survival of the fittest do have an important role to play. If every chick survives, there would not be enough food to sustain the population, and we fear that this may be the cause of our increased admissions.

The British Trust for Ornithology produces a BirdTrends report each year. In 2020 they noted that Buzzards number between 67-85,000 pairs across the UK and have shown a rapid increase in population in the last few decades. This is believed to be linked with reduced persecution and increased food availability (with rabbit population recovering from myxomatosis).

These four Buzzards will be ringed before release as part of the BTO ringing scheme.

Kickstart Volunteers lend a hand

Over the winter months, we have had a new building project happening at the back of our flying ground. The creation of new aviary space for our flying team takes us one step closer to free-lofting all of our birds and reducing the need to tether them for prolonged periods, as per best practice guidelines.

Although from the outside, the work looks complete, internally there is still a lot to be done to make this area safe for our birds.

So when the Museum of East Anglian Rural Life got in touch to ask if we had any volunteer opportunities for their Kickstart group, we jumped at the chance to have some extra help.

Kickstart is a Government scheme to provide new job placements for under 24s at this time of high youth unemployment. It gives young people a chance to gain work experience in a variety of interesting roles. The Museum for East Anglian Rural Life offers roles for in Collections Conservation Assistants, Exhibitions Assistants and Digitisation and Library Assistants, each playing an valuable part to the Museums work.

On a sunny but chilly morning in January, the group arrived to help us move gravel into the new aviaries. This is an ideal substrate for aviaries as it is easy to keep clean, doesn’t get waterlogged and allows for plant to be grown inside the aviaries as enrichment for the birds.

Tom, from the Museum said:
”It’s been great getting my hands dirty and I wish I didn’t have to go back to office work this afternoon! I’ve really enjoyed myself!”

Beckie, our Volunteer Co-ordinators says:
”We are very grateful to the Kickstart volunteers for offering to spend the day helping us work on our new aviaries. They worked really hard to move the gravel and make sure that there was a good covering inside the aviaries ready for the birds to move in. Supporting young people to get work skills such as time-keeping, communication, team work and practical skills such as using tools is really important for the future of the workforce, no matter what career or industry they choose to pursue.”

2021 - A Year In Review

As we approach the end of 2021, we thought we should review some of the key stories from the past twelve months.

We are forever grateful to our supporters, both local and further afield, who have continued to support us throughout the past twelve months. By sponsoring our birds for yourselves, friends and family, making donations to our appeals, purchasing items from our Wishlist, nominating us for grants and awards, sharing our posts on social media and visiting us in person, you are the reason we can continue to do what we do, so THANK YOU!

January

We started the year in lockdown, due to the double whammy of Covid and Avian Influenza.

The hospital saw a few cases, including this Sparrowhawk who had flown into a window and was unable to stand. She had swelling on her spine, so the team fashioned a sling to support her body weight while she was given food and medication. After a week or two she was supporting herself and transferred into an aviary so we could monitor her for any long term damage. Once assessed by our vet, she was deemed ready for release again.

Sparrowhawk in a sling to support her weight

February

February started COLD and we had several Snow Days where staff and volunteers from further afield were unable to get in. Thankfully, some of our staff live locally and were able to attend to the needs of our birds, animals and care for our Raptor Hospital patients too.

Keeper Beckie trudging through the snow to look after the animals.

Keeper Nick clearing snow from the doorway to the Falconers Hut.

Ruby, our Rüppells Griffon Vulture not enjoying the snow!

We had an interesting story when a pair of Kestrels were found inside a holiday property over Valentines weekend. They must have gone down the chimney thinking it was a suitable place to build a nest, but ended up locked inside the bedroom until the owner found them. The birds, named Romeo and Juliet, were dehydrated, but otherwise in good condition and after a few days in the Hospital they were returned to the garden of the property, where a nestbox had been installed for them to use.

Romeo, the male Kestrel just before release

While we were in Lockdown, some of our staff took the opportunity to train as Dementia Friends, to better support any visitors who require some additional help.

Catherine, one of our Shop staff and Susan our Education Officer are now Dementia Friends

March

Two Barn Owls were released in March, following long stays in the Raptor Hospital. Sticky was found stuck to a glue trap, which damaged her feathers so much that she was with us for over 18 months while she replaced her plumage. Holewing spent 10 months with us after being found stuck on a barbed wire fence. The metal had punctured his wing and this took some time to repair, then regain muscle fitness. The two were paired together for release, as Holewing was an older bird and Sticky was a youngster. These two birds were the first to be ringed in recent years before their release. By ringing rehab birds, we have a chance of finding out if our releases are successful, as we hope that these birds will be found breeding in a nestbox somewhere local in future years.

Our Education Officer Susan (who is also a bird ringer) measuring the wing length of one of the Barn Owls while ringing.

March also saw the completion of our major winter building project, as our new breeding block was finished. This off show block of aviaries allows our birds some peace and quiet away from visitors. We also took advantage of us still being closed to work on some of the older aviaries. Mir, our Steppe Eagle, is an original resident, and her aviary was looking a bit tired, so she was temporarily relocated while we replaced the mesh and built up one side to provide her with a bit more shelter from the weather.

One of our original aviaries got a make over while we were closed to visitors.

To help furnish the new aviaries, we were delighted to receive some native trees and shrubs donated by Botanica Plant Nursery in Campsey Ashe and Sandy Lane Nursery in Wattisfield, as well as some cut timber from local tree surgeons, Special Branch Tree Services.

Rufus with Cecil our Spectacled Owl, inspecting one of the new donated trees.

Large trunks like this make perfect perches in our aviaries!

April

As Covid restrictions were lifted, the Hospital saw a massive increase in the number of birds brought in after vehicle collisions. This included a Kestrel, Tawny Owl, Little Owl and a couple of Barn Owls all within a few days of eachother. Interestingly, one of the Barn Owls was wearing a metal ring on his leg, which allowed us to find out where he’d come from. He’d been ringed as a chick in 2012 near Boxford, making him almost 9 years old, earning him the nickname “Grandad Owl”. Thankfully, these birds all recovered from their injuries and were released after a short stay in the Hospital.

One of the Tawny Owls with eye damage following a collision with a vehicle

We used the services of our specialist avian vet Dr Elliot Simpson from Aquila Veterinary Services to check that all of our Hospital Birds are in good health before release. In April, he performed surgery on a Kestrel which we named Cowlick, as she was found being licked by cows on the floor of a barn. Unfortunately, this bird had an infection in her foot, which didn’t clear up after medication so Elliott had to operate to remove the infected tissue. After a few weeks under observation, she was deemed fit for release and returned back to the farm where she had been found.

We were pleased to be allowed to reopen to visitors following months of lockdown. Our staff, volunteers and birds had certainly missed having visitors, and with the weather improving, our displays became the focus of our activities each day. For some of our younger birds, this was their first experience of having an audience!

Head Falconer Rufus with Boris, our Lockdown Ashy-faced Owl… he soon got used to having an audience and by the end of the summer was delighting our visitors with his flying!

May

May saw our Education Team return to face to face teaching, with several outreach visits to local schools and youth groups. Susan was ably assisted on these visits by Bethany as they delivered our All About Owls session, Pellet Detectives activity and read a number of popular owl-themed children’s books.

Susan and Bethany delivering a session to children at The Hive

Another visit from Dr Elliott Simpson, this time to treat a Buzzard which had a case of frounce, a yeast infection which causes difficulty swallowing.

Dr Elliott Simpson checking the condition of a Buzzard that was brought in with frounce.

June

In June, we were awarded the Learning Outside The Classroom Quality Badge, to recognise our commitment to providing a safe educational experience for schools and groups visiting us at the Centre.

We also took on two new Trainees, Dolly and Jade. They were both volunteers prior to gaining employment with us, and have become valuable members of the team, helping with all aspects of our work, including training birds, helping with the Raptor Hospital and school bookings. We also celebrated National Volunteers Week with social media posts about some of our Volunteers.

Volunteer Sarah raking the Meerkat enclosure, while they supervise!

The first batch of young Owls were released in June, as three Tawny Owls found separately were put into our hack pen near where one of them was found. Although initially reluctant to leave, by the morning all three had vacated but were seen in the area for a few weeks following their release.

The three Tawny Owlets when they first arrived

July

A different species of young Owl came to us in July, in the shape of Little Owls. Christian Bale, as he was named, had unfortunately got himself tangled up in baler twine around a bale of hay, and had been transported from the field to the farm yard before being found. Thankfully, there was no lasting damage and the next day two more were brought in, having been found abandoned locally and covered in fly eggs and maggots. Before the end of the week, a fourth Little Owl arrived, who was found out in the open, and we suspect that he was stolen from the nest by a stoat or weasel, who was disturbed and dropped him in the middle of the field. Once these babies had been assessed and we were sure they would all be ok, they were released locally in someone’s garden, where they could be provided with food for as long as was necessary for them to disperse.

Little Owlets in the Hack Pen ready for release

With the start of the Summer holidays, visitor numbers soared. We operated a pre-booking system to have some control on numbers and this was well received by visitors, some of whom were still understandably nervous about being out and about following months of isolation. Our Admin staff did a great job of dealing with the bookings and welcomed everyone to the Sanctuary with a big smile, even if they were hidden by masks. Our staff and volunteers outside worked hard to ensure that the whole Sanctuary was kept in tip-top condition and to remind visitors of the social distancing rules.

Incoming! Cecil our Spectacled Owl didn’t adhere to social distancing when flying low over the audience’s heads!

Rafiki, our African Spotted Eagle Owl, wowing the crowds during our popular flying displays

Jack/ Rose, one of our Hooded Vultures, demonstrating just how beautiful Vultures can be1

August

Our popular Photography days with wildlife photographer Paul Sawer ran throughout the summer, and were blessed with good weather.

As the good weather continued throughout the summer holidays, we introduced some new elements to our flying displays, including a Food Chain game which gets the whole audience participating, even if they don’t volunteer to go up the front!

Falconers Rob and Tim leading the audience in our Food Chain game.

Our Hack Pen has been put to good use this year, and in August it was relocated to another area to avoid over-populating the immediate area with released birds. The first residents at the new location was a group of four Tawny Owls, two adults who had been with us for some time and two juveniles who had been placed into the adults care to avoid imprinting. Before release, these birds were ringed so that we might hear where they end up if they are found at a later date.

Farmer Sam with his family and one of the Tawny Owls about to go into the Hack Pen.

September

The start of September saw the return of our British Sign Language Day. Whilst we always support those visitors who require additional support to enjoy a visit to us, on this day all of our talks and displays are accompanied by a BSL interpreter.

Natalie, our BSL interpreter, signing for the deaf visitors while Bramble flies past.

We had a number of patients in the Raptor Hospital in September, which required some specialist advice from Dr Elliott Simpson. This included a window collision Sparrowhawk which had concussion, a Little Owl with a mysterious infection and a young Kestrel which for some unknown reason, won’t fly!

Jess holding a Sparrowhawk in the Raptor Hospital while Dr Elliot Simpson gives it a check over.

September saw a number of Buzzards brought into the Hospital, which gave us an opportunity to do some ringing training before they were released.

Dr Hugh Hanmer from the British Trust for Ornithology taking some measurements from the Buzzard while it was being ringed under licence.

Trainee Jade assisted Education Officer Susan at an all day event in Bury St Edmunds. Public engagement is an important skill for trainees to learn and Jade was a natural at talking to all the young visitors to our stall and answering their questions about our birds.

Trainee Jade with Auckland, meeting young people at an event in Bury St Edmunds.

We also welcomed a team from AXA, who came in to help us for the day. They helped Gary, from our Maintenance team, rebuild the bird hide in the Woodland Walk.

The team from AXA with Gary, one of our Maintenance team, having completed their team building volunteer day.

October

In October, we celebrated World Postcard Day with our Meerkats, who received postcards from all around the world!

One of our Meerkats reading a postcard from the USA

Due to being over subscribed during the summer holidays, we ran some additional dates for our Young Falconers Course over the half term break.

Falconer Tim with Rio, our male Kestrel and one of the Young Falconers

Our Trainees were given the opportunity to deliver some of our displays, as visitor numbers were lower in the autumn months,

Trainee Dolly, working with Cecil while falconer Tim keeps an eye on things.

Our Education Officer spent a weekend attending the virtual International Zoo Educators Conference. This was a fantastic opportunity to learn from conservation educators from around the world about new methods of engaging learners and visitors with conservation messages.

An International delegation for the virtual conference

November

We had a surprise visit from our local Waitrose store, who donated some money to our Raptor Hospital.

(L-R) Jennie, our Fundraiser, Jenny from Waitrose Ipswich, Jess, who runs our Raptor Hospital, Lincoln, our Bald Eagle and Maz, our General Manager, accepting the donation from their “Give a Little Love” Campaign.

Jess was able to purchase a new microscope for the Raptor Hospital using donations from Shadwell Charities Committee and Animal Survival International. This has already been used to screen incoming patients for parasites such as worms, as well as diagnosing digestive issues, which has allowed us to treat them quicker.

Jess checking samples for parasites and abnormalities on our new microscope.

Following discussions, we were pleased to welcome some Conservation Kickstart trainees from the Museum of East Anglian Life for a visit to learn more about our work. This will hopefully lead to them supporting our Rescue and Rehab work by providing a supported hack release site within the grounds of the Museum in Stowmarket.

Jess with Lincoln our Bald Eagle, talking to some of the trainees from the Museum

We started working on a new project for next year, with the help of local film-maker Paul Studdy. This will provide us with footage of our birds to use for educational sessions, social media and website posts as well as to share with a wider audience some of the amazing birds that we have here.

Bandit, one of our young Great Grey Owls being filmed for a new project.

We received a call from Marine Wildlife Rescue about a Short-eared Owl that had been found on a vessel working on an offshore wind farm. As a specialist Raptor Rescue Hospital, we were able to take it in for treatment and to assess the damage. After a short stay with us, it was given the all clear by Dr Elliot Simpson and ringed before being released back near the coast where it was found.

Short-eared Owls are not a very common species to have in rescue - this was only our second in 25 years!

December

Our Keepers attended a training day with Suffolk Prickles in preparation for our first guests at the Hedgehog Hotel this winter. The day involved learning how to handle hedgehogs and assess them for the various issues they might have. We are very much looking forward to supporting Suffolk Prickles by helping to look after hedgehogs which are not of sufficient weight to hibernate successfully. They will be provided with food and warmth throughout the winter with us, before being released in the Spring.

This Hedgehog will need to regrow it’s prickles before being released.

All year we have been plugging our Amazon Wishlist on social media. We have been so happy to receive items donated by our followers, and each item has been put to good use, whether that’s enrichment toys for the birds, gardening tools or supplies for our Raptor Hospital. Early December it felt a bit like Christmas had come early when we received a trail camera to help us monitor our birds behaviour when we’re not watching. Then a few days before Christmas, we received another selection of items for the Raptor Hospital, Hedgehog Hotel, tools for the falconers to use and a big box of chocolates (not on the list but very much appreciated!)

Christmas came early with all these WishList donations from supporters arriving one weekend.

Trainee Jade getting very excited about receiving some items from our Wish List!

Christmas delivery

As we approach Christmas, delivery drivers are working overtime to ensure that our gifts and groceries arrive in time for the big day.

Over the weekend, we received a call from a concerned Morrisons delivery driver, who had found a Barn Owl stuck inside the space of the green plastic casing above the cab of his van. Quite how the Owl found itself in this predicament is beyond us, but after carefully extracting the bird, it was brought to us for a check over.

The Owl was found in the plastic casing above the cab of the van - as you can see, not really a suitable place for an Owl to be!

Thankfully, there appear to be no broken bones, but it does have some soreness to a wing, for which it received some pain relief. Although the Owl wasn’t overly thin, it was very dehydrated, so we also gave it some rehydration solution. Within a few hours it was looking a bit perkier, and was feeding itself, so we are hopeful it will make a full recovery.

The Barn Owl has received some pain relief and will hopefully make a full recovery.

Something Prickly is coming soon...

Two of our keepers, Nick & Jennie spent a morning in early December at Suffolk Prickles Hedgehog Rescue at Stonham Aspal, to finish their Level One Hedgehog Care training, which was delayed due to the pandemic. 

The course entails learning about some basic ecology needs such as nests building, hedgehog activity during the year, what hedgehogs eat and 'normal' hedgehog behaviour. Under the watchful eye of Paula they mastered their Hog handling skills, from lively juveniles, up to some large adults. Paula also tested them on how to read a hog’s body language to determine its health issues and possible problems.

Hedgehog handling is a key part of the course

 They then helped the volunteer on duty with cleaning out the hog’s boxes, putting out food and water and the most important bit - weighing the hogs! It really highlighted the importance of the daily weight checks, as some had lost weight overnight and some had gained. This can be due to the weather conditions or a sign of getting better (if weight gained) after medication course has finished.

These young Hedgehoglets are tucking into their food after being rescued.

We will be working in partnership with Suffolk Prickles, with the Hedgehog Hotel at SOS being the last step of their recovery, offering both inside shelter and outside space to forage naturally as they rehabilitate before being released back into the wild on their home ranges where they were found if possible.

Our Hedgehog Hotel will soon have some guests.

 Strange items will start appearing on our Amazon wish list soon, and will be shared with Suffolk Prickles also a registered charity so we can help each other to help more Hogs!

Volunteering as a student

Many of our volunteers here at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary are young people looking to gain practical skills and experience to enhance their CVs for the world of work. Animal care is a highly competitive field and jobs are often over-applied for, so having voluntary experience can sometimes help move you nearer the top of the pile. Here’s what one of our Volunteers and Work Experience students, Izzy, had to say.

I am a third-year undergraduate student studying for a BSc Ecology & Wildlife Conservation degree at the University of Reading.

I’ve been a volunteer at SOS for over a year, so when the opportunity arose to do a credited work placement for university, I knew SOS would be the perfect place to undertake this. I thoroughly enjoy volunteering at SOS and strongly believe in the ethos of the setting – wildlife education and direct conservation through the rehabilitation.

Izzy has worked with many of our birds, including our young Ashy-faced Owls

Day to day tasks include feed preparation and distribution, aviary/enclosure cleaning and general site maintenance. There’s a lot of cleaning involved in animal husbandry to keep the animals happy and healthy, but this is one of my favourite jobs as I wholeheartedly believe I am at my happiest in the outdoors when covered in mud, rain, or animal poo! If you are willing get stuck in with the “less glamourous” jobs, then I absolutely recommend volunteering because you more than get out what you put in.

Some of the highlights of my placement have included provisioning enrichment devices, working with critically endangered species, and assisting in the raptor hospital. I developed my animal handling skills in the raptor hospital through safe capture, restraint, and transport of birds. It is an absolute privilege to be able to be able to assist with the care and rehabilitation of sick and injured raptors, knowing that so many are released back into the wild, directly contributing to East Anglia’s populations of wild raptors.

Izzy got to help with some of the Raptor Hospital procedures, including holding birds while they received medication

Creating enrichment for the animals was fun, but quite the challenge! The animals are so intelligent, it certainly makes coming up with new ideas a challenge. Nonetheless, Fred the caracara seemed to particularly enjoy his ‘kerplunk’ style enrichment! I’ve also really enjoyed working on enriching target training exercises with Diamond the silver fox.

Fred with his Kerplunk game

I’ve loved working with the critically endangered vultures: Ruby the Rüppells Griffon Vulture and Jack and Rose the Hooded Vultures. These species are very misunderstood and widely persecuted in the wild, so it has been very important to me to know I am playing a part in their education and conservation.

Alongside typical animal husbandry duties I have greatly improved more specialised skills, such as changing the birds’ equipment, attaching telemetry devices, assisting with the training of the centre birds, and helping with the daily weigh round. I have enjoyed accompanying the trainee falconers on weigh rounds because it’s great opportunity to assess the birds individual characters, behaviours, health, and how that influences diet and nutrition.

Izzy with one of our Harris Hawks

I have been able to develop animal husbandry skills across a wide range of taxa, including birds of prey, small mammals such as foxes and meerkats, and invertebrates.

I’ve also developed communication and public engagement skills by assisting at meerkat talks - and by jumping around as a grasshopper during food chain demonstrations over summer! Communication and education play a vital role in conservation, so it was a pleasure to be given these opportunities and responsibilities.

Izzy with her presentation about her work placement with us

As much as I adore all the animals, one of the main reasons I love volunteering at SOS is because of the dedication and kindness of the staff; the passion they have for their work and their dedication to my learning has played an invaluable part in my skill development. Working at SOS has enabled me to forge a pathway between my conservation studies and the working world, thoroughly preparing me for my career beyond university.

We are delighted that Izzy also chose to do her dissertation on our Raptor Hospital, and spent part of her summer digitising all of our hospital records, going back over 10 years! This will make it so much easier for future studies to look at patterns and trends in our intakes.

We look forward to sharing the results of her study with you next year, as it is still a work-in-progress.

Ringed and ready for release

With a number of Raptor Hospital patients due for release around the same time, we took the opportunity to invite Dr Hugh Hanmer from the British Trust for Ornithology to come and continue training Jess on how to ring birds. All of these birds were checked and given the all clear by our specialist vet Dr Elliot Simpson prior to being booked for release.

The first bird to be ringed was a Little Owl, which was found beside a road locally. When it arrived it was a very healthy weight of just over 200g, meaning that this was a female (as male Birds of Prey are smaller than females). Having spent some time in one of our outdoor aviaries to monitor for any injuries, we were pleased to find nothing wrong with her.

Jess ringing the Little Owl

Little Owls always appear to be scowling, and this one was no exception. Having said that, she was very well behaved during the ringing process.

The second bird to be ringed was the Kestrel found at a local Tesco. This bird also had no injuries and showed the typical feisty attitude of these mini predators when being ringed.

Jess with the Tesco Kestrel

Lastly, two Barn Owls were ringed together. One of these was picked up on a dual carriageway locally, while the other was found in a recent barn conversion. Both had minor injuries which were treated upon arrival and had made a full recovery. Interestingly, both these Owls were juvenile (hatched this year) females, but had very different plumage.

The two Barn Owls in one of our outdoor aviaries before being rung.

Dr Hugh Hanmer from the British Trust for Ornithology with Jess, studying the feathers on the Barn Owl to determine her age.

All four of these birds are booked for release this week, and we’ll post any footage or updates on our social media channels.

An uncommon patient

At the end of November, we received a call from Marine and Wildlife Rescue , asking if we could take in a Short-eared Owl that they had picked up.

This unfortunate Owl was on its migration from further north (possibly Russia or Scandinavia), where the temperatures have already caused thick snow falls, when it was found entangled in the cables of a wind farm maintenance vessel, off the coast of Felixstowe.

The Owl appears to have tried landing on the cable, but got it’s wing stuck in the oil.

Upon arrival back on land, Dan from Marine and Wildlife Rescue, checked the bird and found no injuries but it was covered in oil from the rigging. When it arrived at our Raptor Hospital, our team carefully washed the affected wing and put the Owl into one of our isolation cages to monitor. There appeared to be no ill effects from its accident and on his regular visit, our specialist vet Dr Elliot Simpson gave the bird a clean bill of health.

Upon arrival, the Owl was not impressed at having to have a bath!

We were thankful to not have to keep it for much longer, as this bird was determined to continue it’s migration and clearly did not take to being held captive, even if for a short time for it’s own good.

We arranged for Dan to collect the Owl to release it on a Suffolk Wildlife Trust Reserve near the coast where it was hopefully heading before its accident. Prior to it being released, we were also able to ask Dr Hugh Hanmer from the British Trust for Ornithology to come and ring the bird. As Short-eared Owls are nomadic and actually go places, it was important to contribute towards the little data there is on them, in the hope that this Owl may be caught by another ringer elsewhere.

During the ringing process, Hugh was able to determine that this was an adult female, so we hope that she will return to her breeding grounds next year and raise more of these beautiful birds.

Before release, the Owl was ringed by a licenced ringer, in the hope that we may find out where it goes.

Barn Conversion dangers

Our favourite Owl is well known for using old farm buildings to nest and roost in, hence why they are called Barn Owls! However, as these buildings have become redundant to agricultural uses, they are often sold off and converted to new homes or businesses. We recently had an interesting case brought into the Hospital, which carries a bit of advice to it’s tale.

We received a call from someone who had found a Barn Owl flying around inside their house. They were able to catch it, put it in a box and bring it to us for assessment, where we discovered it had injuries suggesting it had flown into things in an enclosed space. Upon further discussions with the finder, it turns out that their home was a recent barn conversion, and that prior to them carrying out the work to make the building weathertight, it was a known Barn Owl breeding site.

Barn Owls are a Schedule 1 protected species, which means that their nests are legally protected from disturbance, during the breeding season. Although their breeding season can start as early as March and go through to September or October, during the colder months, Barn Owls will often roost in the same area, sometimes even using the next boxes to shelter from bad weather or stash food for a rainy night.

This Barn Owl had found it’s way into the building via a hole which had been left to install a vent, but then found itself unable to get out.

This Barn Owl was named “Wobbles” as it was a bit disorientated upon arrival. It had sustained some feather damage and some bruising to it’s wing tips, which we were able to give some pain relief for. After a couple of days in our small cages, it was moved to one of our larger aviaries, where it has more space to fly around. Unfortunately, it is still a bit reluctant to fly, so will be under observation for another week before it’s assessed again for release.

We would like to share some advice to anyone converting an old building which may have Barn Owls or other wildlife using the building. Please consider giving them an alternative space, either within or attached to the existing building, or very close by. We can offer free advice on where to locate nestboxes for Birds of Prey if you’re unsure where to begin.

The finder asked us for advice and is now building some nest boxes to provide Wobbles with a safer place to roost before it is released back in the area.


Wurzel Buzzard

Sometimes, birds come in to our Hospital with such a back story, that we have to publish it.

Wurzel was brought in by a local farmer, who saw her get spat out the chute of the combine harvester! Fortunately, the blades weren’t operating at the time, but how she found herself inside the machinery, we have no idea!

Buzzards will often spend time on the ground “grubbing”, which is hunting for worms and other insects. With the relatively mild weather (up until last week) this has been perfect for species which feed on insects, and at certain times of year, insects can make up a large proportion of a Buzzards diet.

However, combine harvesters aren’t known for being particularly speedy, and Buzzards are usually quite quick to get out of the way of large, noisy, scary machinery bearing down on them.

We think that Wurzel may have been in the field grubbing because of another issues, which meant she was unable to get out of the way of the combine before she got caught up. Upon admission, she was showing a tilt to her head, which we think may be a neck injury sustained in the accident. She was in reasonable body weight, but had an interesting lesion in her mouth. Initially, this was thought to be frounce, a yeast infection which causes swelling to the throat and tongue, making it painful for the bird to eat. However, following a visit from our vet Dr Elliott Simpson, it was discovered to be an……. infection. Elliott removed some of the infected tissue to send for analysis and prescribed antibiotics to hopefully clear it up.

We are unsure on the long-term prognosis on this bird, as she still has a pronounced tilt, which we hope will improve given time and rest.



Unexpected item in the bagging area

With the recent stormy weather, many people have been reporting birds in unexpected places.

Last week we received a call from our local vets, asking if we had space for a Kestrel. This bird had been found in one of the metal cages that milk cartons are transported in, round the back of a local Tesco store.

It was taken to the vets, who couldn’t find any obvious injuries, but with Storm Arwen due, it was decided to keep the Kestrel in for a few days to improve it’s chances of surviving.

Now that the weather has settled a bit, we hope to release this Kestrel later this week in a more natural habitat, where there will be plenty of prey for it to hunt and areas to shelter from any future storms.

Joe Volunteer

Volunteers come to us from all walks of life and we are pleased to allow individuals the opportunity to spend time helping us out, in return for learning new skills and knowledge.

Joe joined us a couple of months ago, and volunteers once a week with his support worker Chip. Joe is autistic, and struggles with social situations. However, he loves animals and this really shows in his work.

At home, Joe has a menagerie of animals himself, including snakes, insects and a dog. He has joked about opening up a Zoo himself one day! He enjoys spending time working with our Keepers on the Mammals, and has a soft spot for the Meerkats. Joe is a dab hand at poo picking and spot cleaning the enclosures, and is meticulous with his raking, despite the Meerkats doing their best to make a mess!

Although most of our volunteers join us to help with the birds, we say that they have to earn their time flying the birds, and Joe was fortunate to get his first flying experience with Auckland last week. Auckland is one of our star birds during displays, as her small size means she will frequently fly between visitors and even sit beside them on the benches.

We are not currently doing displays, but visitors are welcome to watch us exercising our birds, and quite a crowd gathered while Joe and Chip were flying Auckland with our trainee Dolly and experienced volunteer Jan. Both the guys did really well with an audience and are looking forward to their next flying opportunity.

Big thanks to Waitrose Ipswich!

We had a lovely surprise visit from Jenny, a member of the Community Matters Team at Waitrose Ipswich this morning.

Many retail outlets have a charity token box in store, where customers can vote for their favourite charity every quarter to receive a donation from the business. Due to the pandemic, most have had to stop this scheme. Waitrose instead asked colleagues to nominate charities according to the sector in which they work as part of this year's "Give a Little Love Campaign.

Jenny nominated us in the Conservation and Animal Welfare category, and was delighted to present us with a cheque for £333!

General Manager Maz says “We were very grateful for the unexpected donation and it will be used towards our Hack Pen Project.”

Hack Pens are used to rehabilitate wild birds before they are released back into the wild, following a stay at our Raptor Hospital. They are located in suitable habitats and allow the birds more space to build up fitness and to get used to the sights and sounds of the local environment. We monitor the Hack Pens using remote cameras to assess when is the best time to open the door and release the birds. We continue to feed the birds at the site until they stop visiting.

Following higher demand for our Hack Pen this year, we are hoping to construct a few more over the winter months which will allow us to have several release pens available for wild birds next year.

(L-R) Jennie, Keeper and Fundraiser, Jenny from Waitrose Ipswich, Jess, Falconer, Lincoln our Bald Eagle and Maz, General Manager.

New microscope for the Raptor Hospital

Here at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, we are always looking for new ways that we can improve our service for the wild birds of prey who are brought into our Raptor Hospital. We have recently acquired a new digital microscope which will allow us to screen samples on site, rather than having to send them off to our local vets. This not only saves us a considerable amount of money, but time, as we appreciate that local vets are very busy helping domestic animals.

Jess, using the new microscope to screen a faecal sample for parasites.

Jess, who runs our Raptor Hospital says:
Having this diagnostic facility means we can triage new patients in the hospital much more thoroughly before administering treatment, and also offer our centre birds regular health checks and triage any new health issues that arise without a wait time. Working alongside Elliot for diagnosis means we can treat issues like parasite burdens and intestinal issues much sooner than if we were to rely on an off-site diagnostic service. In many cases the speed of diagnosis means treatment is much more thorough and successful. It also means we can gather more specific documentation of the health of local wild bird populations too, and the frequency of parasitic and bacterial loads that we see arriving at the centre (and also treat accordingly)

Image taken from the microscope of worm eggs identified in a faecal sample taken from a recent admission.

We are very grateful to Shadwell Charities Committee and Animal Survival International for their kind donations which have enabled us to purchase this equipment from Iolight microscopes and to Elliott Simpson for his continued support in all veterinary matters.

A fond farewell to two volunteers

Here at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, we have a team of volunteers who help our falconers and keepers carry out their day to day duties looking after the birds and animals, engaging with visitors and making sure that the Centre is maintained to a high standard.

We have recently said goodbye to two volunteers who have made a big difference since starting with us.

Rosemary Gethin started volunteering with us in March. She soon learnt how to clean out aviaries and prepare food for the birds alongside the gardening and maintenance tasks. Rosemary was particularly keen to provide enrichment for our birds, and spent time working with other volunteers and our trainees to come up with new challenges. Rosemary has now moved away from the area and will be missed.

PJ Harris joined us in April, to complement his university degree by learning practical skills in animal care and management. Always happy to muck in, PJ was a valuable member of our team. He has decided to leave us to concentrate on his studies, but we look forward to welcoming him back outside of term-time.

Volunteer co-ordinator Beckie says “We couldn’t do the work we do if it wasn’t for all of our volunteers. They give their time freely to help our charity and we hope that they gain skills, experience and friends while with us.”

For more information about our volunteer scheme, please click here.

A word with our Trainees

Jade attended the Home Education Fair in Bury St Edmunds to help raise our profile.

Here at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, we like to give young people an opportunity to learn about our work through our Trainee scheme. Every year, we hire a trainee and give them a paid role where they receive on the job training, learning about the varied roles we have here.

General Manager Maz says: “During the course of the year and when space and finances allow, we will seek to add young trainees to the staff on a temporary secondment as it gives them an insight into the realities of working with wildlife. This helps clarify their ambitions as to which area they would like to work in - zoos, veterinary, research, education etc…”

Earlier this year, we interviewed several potential candidates, all of whom were existing volunteers or work experience students. Each had their own merits and the final decision was very hard. In the end, we decided to offer the role part time to two of the candidates.

Dolly had finished her degree in Zoo Biology at Nottingham Trent University and become a volunteer with us while looking for a job. Jade was just finishing her Animal Care course at West Suffolk College Otley campus and had been a work experience student with us for a few months.

Although the girls already knew our routine here from their voluntary work, it was a big step up in their learning and level of responsibility. After guidance from the falconers, they took the lead on working with some of our birds who had not had much socialisation previously. Fred, one of our Crested Caracaras has particularly come out of his shell and loves his enrichment days provided by Dolly, Jade and the volunteers.

They’ve helped with putting together our feed rounds, making sure enough food was taken out the day before to defrost. They also worked out food quantities for each bird, based on their weight in the morning, which the girls took the lead on monitoring.

Jade learning about training young falcons

Starting in June, Dolly and Jade embraced working with all our baby birds, and as the birds grew their flight feathers and began their training to join our flying team, the girls were a big part of getting the babies used to different people flying them. They have worked with our Great Grey Owls Smokey and Bandit, MacKinders Eagle Owls Kali and Kruger, Twiglet the Long-eared Owl, Plop the Barn Owl and Ember the Black Barn Owl.

The girls enjoyed working with the birds during the displays, and helped by releasing birds from their aviaries or boxes and flying the birds amongst the crowds. However, we waited until after the summer holidays to ask them to take on a presenting role, both for the flying displays and our popular Meerkat talks. With support from staff, the girls did their homework and have now delivered several talks about a variety of our birds.

Dolly introducing Boris to young audience members

Quote from Dolly

Dolly presenting part of our flying display with Cecil

I applied for the role to expand my experience & knowledge of bird handling, training, behaviour and health, and have really enjoyed starting to deliver talks in the shows - even though it was scary to begin with! My highlight so far is the work we’ve achieved with Fred the Crested Caracara; he’s sitting on the glove now and loves his training routine & enrichment, whereas he was nervous of us just going in his aviary to begin with. I find it really special that we’ve been able to build relationships with the birds, and see them trusting us. It enables us to share them and engage with guests in displays which I find really rewarding. I’m learning more every day from the falconers and love every minute working with the birds.

Quote from Jade

Jade with Dereck the Harris Hawk

I applied for the position to extend my knowledge of falconry and how to train birds of prey. I have learnt that when it comes to training these amazing creatures it's nowhere near as easy as some people think. The amount of time, patience and dedication that is needed to have these birds respect you is crazy. It's a very delicate process which can help the birds choose their path. It is very rewarding when it all falls into place after all the hard work and the long hours of relationship building. The best part is something that me and Dolly have achieved which is that we have turned around Fred the Crested Caracara’s life completely. He seems so much happier and more confident to be around people and will progress so much more as time goes on for him.

Working with Fred our Crested Caracara has been a highlight for Dolly and Jade.



Barn Owl dilemma

Around this time every year we see an influx of Barn Owls brought into our Raptor Hospital. Many of these are young birds, who have just left their natal territories and are having to learn how to survive without the help of mum and dad.

This young owl came in starving and in poor condition.

As the weather gets colder and more unsettled, these birds may struggle to hunt successfully each night, as Barn Owls are very sensitive to wet and windy conditions. Weighing less than a kilogram (bag if sugar), Barn Owls will be buffetted around by wind and inexperienced (and hungry) birds may sustain injuries as they get thrown into buildings, trees and other landmarks.

This Barn Owl was found near a road with awing injury.

Another factor is that with the clocks going back this weekend, Barn Owls are now more likely to come into contact with vehicles during morning and evening rush-hour. If you are driving in an area with fields and hedges near the road, please slow down for wildlife. Many of the birds that come in having been found on the roadside have not actually made contact with cars or vans, but have been hampered by the tail wind, which can cause them to become disorientated and crash into the ground, sometimes into the path of traffic.

Bird bones are hollow to allow them to fly, but this means they are quite fragile, sometimes resulting in broken bones.

If you find a sick or injured bird of prey, cover it in a towel, blanket or jumper and put it into a well ventilated box which won’t cramp the bird., then call us or take it to your nearest vets. Vets are obliged to treat wildlife for free and will pass them on to wildlife rescues and rehabilitation centres such as us when they are in recovery.