Latest News Avian 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. For those unable to read these items, and those living outside the Berwick area, here are the last few editions... 22nd May 2025 Thank you so much Gill for writing the last few weeks jottings for me. I hope readers have enjoyed having a different perspective on the goings on at the David Rollo Centre. As I have not written for a few weeks I will do a quick catch-up on what is happening. Every year we seem to get a particular species of wildlife needing care. This year (apart from hedgehogs) it has been owls. We have one Tawny Owl in the big flight. He came in with a gash under one wing. He has been treated with antibiotics and the wing is healing nicely. He is building up strength again before release. This will probably be another week. It takes a long time to build up strength after a week or so cage rest to make sure wounds heal properly. A Barn Owl is occupying the undercover aviary. He got caught up and broke and bent some of his wing feathers. He was very underweight when admitted. He must have been hampered by his damaged wing for several days and not been able to find food. He had to be fed a little at a time to begin with but now he is eating normal amounts and gaining weight. The Vet trimmed the damaged ones so they were not hampering the bird when perching. He won’t be able to be released until new feathers grow in. He is able to fly a little which will keep his strength up using his wing muscles.   He can certainly fly enough to get to his box where he stays hidden all day. The Longridge indoor aviary is currently home to a young Tawny Owl. He came in a couple of weeks ago after he was found grounded on a very busy dog walking path. Needing hand feeding at first, he soon started eating for himself. He is now flying but his landings are not very stylish. After he has straightened himself on a perch he looks quite proud of himself. The picture this week shows Jackie moving him from his ‘Claw and Talon’ cage to the aviary. He is still very fluffy. We had one other very tiny Owlet in a few days ago. He also needs hand feeding. We are getting him Vet checked this week as he is not too steady on his feet. I will catch up on details next week. Hedgehogs are nearly all away, but they are also still coming in. The poor little one that had strimmer wounds to his head is now healed up after several weeks of daily cleaning and treating her wound. I am pleased that we are not treating it any more as the last few times she was getting very cross with us and lunged at me and bit my finger whilst I was cleaning her wound. We did feel guilty as she knew when we took her out of her cage what was going to happen. Even though she was given pain killers it must have been sore. Thankfully the tight Avian Influenza restrictions have lifted slightly in Northumberland. We still have to be very careful not to bring the disease onto our premises. We are trying to obtain test kits so that we can check any new arrivals for the disease but they are very expensive and will have to be used wisely. We are busy now preparing for Open Day which is on Saturday 31st May, 10.30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Do come and have a look round at the work Ian has been busy with, renovating pens and aviaries. All the usual stalls and refreshments I will tell you about next time. Pat Goff 15th May 2025 This week we had another successful rescue of a mallard duck and her family.  We assume the duck was leading her substantial brood of 14 ducklings down to the water but took a wrong turn and ended up in the top car park of The Chandlery in Berwick.  A team from the Trust, led by Jackie, slowly herded the little flock into a box and they were taken to the river to swim away.  So nice to be able to keep the family together and not have to bring any ducklings into the Rollo Centre.  If you are interested, there is a lovely little video of the release on Facebook. Last week was The British Hedgehog Preservation Society “Hedgehog Awareness Week” aiming to highlight the problems that hedgehogs face and how to help them.  This year the slogan was to “Give hedgehogs the edge”, asking for people to leave the edges of their gardens as havens for wildlife.  You can do this by leaving piles of logs or leaves in the borders and wild edges that will attract insects as food for the hedgehogs and provide some shelter.  With this in mind, it feels like a good time to update on the hedgehogs that were under our care over the winter.  So far, as of my shift on Thursday, twenty-seven have been released with a further thirteen ready to go in the coming week.  There are only five remaining in the big room, five in the shed and twelve in the hutches outside.  So, by the end of May all those that are at weight and fit to go will be away to enjoy the summer and find a mate!  There are just two under more intensive care in the back room.  This is all good news but does mean there is the job of deep cleaning the hutches hanging over the staff and volunteers!  Thank you to everyone who spotted the hedgehogs that needed help and that has recently collected them to return them back to the outdoors. The two tawny owls that I wrote about last week are continuing to do well.  The adult one is now in the Undercover Aviary, and I’m happy to say, is able to fly a short distance now that it’s wing injury is healing.  It sits high up in the corner making itself as thin as possible and closing its eyes so we might not notice it there.  The youngster is eating well and clacks crossly at us when we pick it up for feeding.  We also now have a barn owl that was admitted on Wednesday. It was found in the road and has badly damaged wing tips.  It is very underweight at just 188 grams but had eaten its first meal during the night on Wednesday which was a good sign.  It has to be fed back up to weight slowly at first so that it can properly digest the food. There are two pigeons in the JD Aviary that are growing up nicely.  They were reared from squabs by Pat at her home before being brought up to the Centre.  It’s good that they are a pair and can look out for each other.  They are quite independent and always fly down the end away from the door when we go in and sit on the swing together waiting for us to finish.  I expect they will soon be ready for release. Thank you to everyone that came to spend some money at our table at the charity sale in Wooler last Saturday. A total of £181.00 was raised. We hope to use this money to buy Avian Influenza test kits. Gill Powell 8th May 2025 This week at the Rollo Centre the admissions have featured the tawny owl with three coming in.  Firstly, there was the one mentioned in last week's jottings that arrived all wet having fallen into dirty water.  It dried out but refused to have a bath to clean its feathers and get rid of the smell.  It was quite angry after its ordeal so, given that it was flying well, we thought it best to release it as soon as possible and it has gone on its way.  Secondly, an adult tawny came in that had been caught on barbed wire.  It has a nasty cut at the top of its wing but it is starting to heal.  And thirdly, a young tawny came in whose mother and younger sibling had died.  That one is hungry and during its first night it ate two mice which is a good sign, so we are hopeful it will do well. Given these three lovely birds, I thought it would be nice to share some facts about the tawny owl from the book: The Owl: A Biography, by Stephen Moss, following on from the barn owl information a few weeks ago.  The tawny owl is the most common type in Britain, with an estimated 50,000 breeding pairs but it is almost entirely nocturnal and not often seen.  It is, however, often heard as it is the species of owl that makes the famous tu-whit tu-whoo - although this sound is actually a pair of birds talking to one another, with the male saying tu- whoo and the female responding tu-whit in between his calls.  The tawny owl mainly breeds in woodland and its rich, chestnut brown plumage is mottled with light and dark streaks that help it stay camouflaged.   They are found across much of Europe and Asia, from Portugal in the west to the Indian sub-continent in the East, with an estimated one to three million individuals, at least a third of them in Europe. Of all our owls, they are the most sedentary staying put all year round, and during their whole lifetime rarely travelling more than a few kilometres from where they were born.  They have a very small hunting area of only 12-20 hectares, far smaller than the barn owl which in winter can cover 5,000 hectares.  This helps them to know where the best feeding spots are to hunt in the darkness.  They mainly eat small mammals but given the chance will eat anything in reach from small birds, bats and frogs to insects.  They have shortish rounded wings which enable them to fly through woodland avoiding the obstacles.  Tawny owls are aggressive predators and have been known to attack humans who in advertently enter their territory when they have young, occasionally striking people on the head. They are early nesters, laying two or three eggs, sometimes as early as February but usually during March or April.  The female sits on the nest, like most species of owl, and they hatch at different times so the first born has the best chance of surviving in years where food is more scarce.  The young are looked after by their parents for a very long time, as long as six months, but they are very vulnerable when they leave the nest.  Less than one in three make their first birthday, and if they make this they live about four years.  Tawny owls despite their numbers, are on the amber list and need any help we can give.  They struggle with light pollution from urbanisation and with the reduction in dense forest areas. Gill Powell