Latest NewsAvian Influenza (Bird Flu) Sadly bird flu is now moving on from sea birds, to other species of birds, including geese, ducks and swans, and the Trust is receiving many calls from the public spotting sick birds. There is no treatment available and sick birds will often die within a day of showing symptoms. We cannot rescue or accept sick birds at the Centre as this would compromise those birds already in our care and could lead to the Centre being forced to shut down.Our advice, painful as it is to give, is to leave the bird and let nature take its course. Do not touch a dead bird or let a dog near it. The local Council is responsible for collecting them in a controlled manner. In some cases you may report findings to DEFRA on 03459 335577 or visit their web site for detailed advice here.***************************"Swan Notes" News items written by Trust members and volunteers and usually appearing in the “Berwick Advertiser" newspaper each week. Unfortunately, sister newspaper the “Berwickshire News” are no longer following suit. For those unable to read these items, and those living outside the Berwick area, here are the last few editions... 30th November 2023We have had a very good but busy weekend. Our Christmas Fair on Saturday made £1,000. Thanks to Stewart who donated £28.00 toround up the figure. The tables were brimming with lovely crafts and hand made gifts of all kinds. The soup sold out, everyone sayingthe smell was making them hungry. There is a lovely soft seating area to relax in at the Baptist Church and shoppers enjoyed the break.We did not think we had as many people through the door as usual but those that came were happy to spend their money in a goodcause. Thank you to everyone who made items for sale, gave up their time to man stalls, or helped us set tables out and pack upafterwards. Thanks to Jackie and Barbara who did most of the organising and worked so hard.Hedgehogs are still coming in fast. We now have fifty. Thank you to all those whocalled in on Saturday to give us bags of hand towels. We use so many. Thehedgehogs roll themselves up in them to sleep and their prickles soon completelyruin a towel. They last us about three months before they are so tatty we have tothrow them out or use them as cleaning cloths. Constant laundering does not helpeither. We have found towels the best thing to use, other rehabilitation centres use other things like shredded paper or torn up newspapers. We still have hedgehogsthat need sponsoring so please think about doing this to help cover the cost ofkeeping these animals over the winter. A new hog in this week weighs just over200 grams. This cold snap would surely have killed him. Some of our bigger hogsare thinking of hibernating now which is good for them and for us. Once they areasleep they just need dried food replenishing once a week but we only have eightor so heavy enough to be able to hibernate. We had a lovely Buzzard brought in last week. He had a damaged wing and leg but no fractures we could feel. He did not eat for several days in the ‘Claw and Talon’room and sat in brooding misery but then he must have decided that life wasworth living and tucked into his food. He has pelleted, so everything seems to be working alright internally. By the mess he has made ofhis cage and the room, food is passing through his digestive system well!! On Sunday we decided he was fit enough to move up to theundercover aviary. He has feathers missing from his wing and he had hardly any tail feathers. When we went to put him in a carrier tomove him, he took his chance and leapt to the floor of the room where I was able to take the photo. When he arrived at the undercoveraviary we took him out of the carrier, where he had left the last remaining feather of his tail. We have not seen him fly yet but he is ableto move both wings so this is a good sign. He can stay in this aviary for a few weeks to get himself back to fitness. Then he will just needto grow a few more feathers.I would also like to thank the Ford and Etal Estates who have had their Christmas Market and have made collections for us. We are verygrateful and hope the market was a great success.Next week one of our volunteers, my brother, Terry is writing the jottings as I shall be away for a few weeks.Pat Goff23rd November 2023Nearly at the end of another month and we are just as busy as ever. We have 48 hedgehogs in our care, they are still arriving, veryunderweight and some very sick. We are doing the best we can for them but several have died almost as soon as they arrived. We haveten in the Hogwards Shed. These are big enough to hibernate but are still eating. The weather not cold enough yet to make them want to sleep. The others are all inside. The smallest 125 grams, the larger ones around 600 grams. They all have to stay warm so they don’t tryto sleep when they are too small. We like them to be 750 grams as they lose about 100 grams during hibernation. We have such a lotstill on heat pads and it is difficult to get all the washing done daily, especially on a Sunday when we only do half a day. Here I mustthank our manager Jackie and Barbara, her assistant. They have both worked so hard and have been helping Kay, me and Jake who arethe volunteers on Sunday by doing a morning shift in turns. They are really working above and beyond our expectations, so thank yougirls. It is really hard going at the moment and we are getting older (and feel it) dealing with so many hedgehogs. The outside pens areall so wet at the moment. Last Sunday we said we would have had a job to do all the cleaning and feeding without their help, and wereally do appreciate it. Last Friday we had a musical Evening at the Radio Rooms, It was a super eveningand was the idea of our Chairman Walter, we have to thank Jimmy Banks, whoorganised the musicians. I must say a big thank you to Steve Morrison and his band,and Brian who all made the evening go so well. The picture this week shows theSteve Morrison on the stage at the Radio Rooms. Thank you to all who took part. Wehad a wonderful evening and raised £298.00 in total.Last week I wrote about a Woodcock that had been brought in but there wassomething awry with last weeks article and some part was cut out. Sadly the birddied which was such a shame but it had a head injury and we suspect it’s death was caused by a blood clot. We also had a beautiful Tawny Owl brought in, after it had hit a window. The birdwas in perfect condition, not thin and feathers all good and we could give it time torecover from concussion, but when we checked the bird over there was somethingwrong with its legs. It was sent up to the Vet for an X-ray and although it had nofractures they suspected catastrophic damage to the sciatic nerve and that it wouldnot regain the use of it’s legs. The bird had to be euthanised. Flying into windows has to be one of the biggest killers of birds. When thesun is low seems to be the worst time. Barbara is making a file of all the hogs that need sponsors, and thank you to all that have already chosen their hog. There is plenty ofchoice this year. Jackie and the afternoon volunteers have been preparing for our Christmas Fair which is on Saturday 25th November at The BerwickBaptist Church, Golden Square from 10.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. There is a huge tombola, Wine or Water, Crafts and there are refreshments.Do come along if you can.Pat Goff16th November 2023Another week and still hedgehogs are coming in. Some quite small ones and others around 4-500 grams. Far too small to hibernate andwith the weather turning colder, this is what instinct tells them to do. On Friday when it was full on cleaning the thirty plus hogs that arestill inside, we took three more in. Sadly one died within minutes of arriving and another had suffered some sort of stroke as it wasexamined. It died a few moments later. It was quite an old hog with worn, brown teeth but it was very sad. The final arrival was around360grams, so was admitted, given a heat pad and bowl of food which it was already tucking into when I moved on to cleaning again. Thehogs are increasing in number and we are just thankful that we have the Hogwards Shed for them as they get bigger and are able tohibernate for a while. Barbara has been busy taking photographs of the new ones coming in ready forthem to be sponsored. Please help us this way if you can, it costs such a lot to buyfood and launder towels daily for so many little hedgehogs. We have a few outsidehutches that the hogs move to in the hope that they will start to hibernate but theweather has been too mild to get them off to sleep yet and as these hutches arehard to clean we may decide to move them all into the Hogwards shed. At least thiswill mean that the volunteers are in the dry when they clean out the hogs and theare not having to get down to ground level in the wet as we do with the outsidehuts. Many of us volunteers have difficulty getting up, once we get down. Thank youto everyone bringing in food for the hogs it is very welcome.Please don’t forget our Musical Evening at The Radio Rooms on Friday 17thNovember starting 7 p.m. It should be a great evening with local musicians takingthe first half of the evening. During the interval we shall hold a small raffle for theTrust. The second half features Steve Morrison and his Band with special musicalguests. Entry is free so it should be a very enjoyable evening. We are also preparing for our Christmas Fair which is at Berwick Baptist Church onSaturday 25th November starting 10.30 a.m. - 2.30 p.m. Tombola, Wine or Water, crafts and cards. Our 2024 Calendars will be on saleand we have a huge raffle. You can also sponsor a hedgehog if you wish. There are refreshments available with soup, rolls and mincepies. It is always a lovely friendly atmosphere in the Baptist Church.Whilst we are dealing with hedgehogs and planning the above events, we are also caring for our three Cygnets, whose pen needs hosing and scrubbing daily. We still are caring for a Barn Owl in the Big Flight. Flying well but we are trying to find a spell of weather suitablydry to give him the best chance when he is released. A Kestrel was released last week and went off very well. The assortment of pigeonsand doves are on the point of release too. We are also caring for a Redwing. It came in after hitting a window. We are giving it time in an aviary to see if it will be able to fly. Thereseems to be no fracture, hopefully, it just has to recover from bruising. It had a sore eye also, which seems to be getter better now.Time will tell with this one.Pat Goff