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.
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"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 2023
We have had a very good but busy weekend. Our Christmas Fair on Saturday made £1,000. Thanks to Stewart who donated £28.00 to
round up the figure. The tables were brimming with lovely crafts and hand made gifts of all kinds. The soup sold out, everyone saying
the 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 good
cause. Thank you to everyone who made items for sale, gave up their time to man stalls, or helped us set tables out and pack up
afterwards. 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 who
called in on Saturday to give us bags of hand towels. We use so many. The
hedgehogs roll themselves up in them to sleep and their prickles soon completely
ruin a towel. They last us about three months before they are so tatty we have to
throw them out or use them as cleaning cloths. Constant laundering does not help
either. 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 hedgehogs
that need sponsoring so please think about doing this to help cover the cost of
keeping these animals over the winter. A new hog in this week weighs just over
200 grams. This cold snap would surely have killed him. Some of our bigger hogs
are thinking of hibernating now which is good for them and for us. Once they are
asleep they just need dried food replenishing once a week but we only have eight
or 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 was
worth living and tucked into his food. He has pelleted, so everything seems to be working alright internally. By the mess he has made of
his cage and the room, food is passing through his digestive system well!! On Sunday we decided he was fit enough to move up to the
undercover aviary. He has feathers missing from his wing and he had hardly any tail feathers. When we went to put him in a carrier to
move 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 undercover
aviary 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 able
to 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 need
to 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 very
grateful 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 Goff
23rd November 2023
Nearly 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, very
underweight and some very sick. We are doing the best we can for them but several have died almost as soon as they arrived. We have
ten 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 try
to 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 lot
still 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 must
thank our manager Jackie and Barbara, her assistant. They have both worked so hard and have been helping Kay, me and Jake who are
the volunteers on Sunday by doing a morning shift in turns. They are really working above and beyond our expectations, so thank you
girls. It is really hard going at the moment and we are getting older (and feel it) dealing with so many hedgehogs. The outside pens are
all 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 we
really do appreciate it.
Last Friday we had a musical Evening at the Radio Rooms, It was a super evening
and was the idea of our Chairman Walter, we have to thank Jimmy Banks, who
organised 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 the
Steve Morrison on the stage at the Radio Rooms. Thank you to all who took part. We
had a wonderful evening and raised £298.00 in total.
Last week I wrote about a Woodcock that had been brought in but there was
something awry with last weeks article and some part was cut out. Sadly the bird
died 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 bird
was in perfect condition, not thin and feathers all good and we could give it time to
recover from concussion, but when we checked the bird over there was something
wrong with its legs. It was sent up to the Vet for an X-ray and although it had no
fractures they suspected catastrophic damage to the sciatic nerve and that it would
not 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 the
sun 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 of
choice this year.
Jackie and the afternoon volunteers have been preparing for our Christmas Fair which is on Saturday 25th November at The Berwick
Baptist 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 Goff
16th November 2023
Another week and still hedgehogs are coming in. Some quite small ones and others around 4-500 grams. Far too small to hibernate and
with 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 are
still inside, we took three more in. Sadly one died within minutes of arriving and another had suffered some sort of stroke as it was
examined. 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 around
360grams, so was admitted, given a heat pad and bowl of food which it was already tucking into when I moved on to cleaning again. The
hogs are increasing in number and we are just thankful that we have the Hogwards Shed for them as they get bigger and are able to
hibernate for a while.
Barbara has been busy taking photographs of the new ones coming in ready for
them to be sponsored. Please help us this way if you can, it costs such a lot to buy
food and launder towels daily for so many little hedgehogs. We have a few outside
hutches that the hogs move to in the hope that they will start to hibernate but the
weather has been too mild to get them off to sleep yet and as these hutches are
hard to clean we may decide to move them all into the Hogwards shed. At least this
will mean that the volunteers are in the dry when they clean out the hogs and the
are not having to get down to ground level in the wet as we do with the outside
huts. Many of us volunteers have difficulty getting up, once we get down. Thank you
to everyone bringing in food for the hogs it is very welcome.
Please don’t forget our Musical Evening at The Radio Rooms on Friday 17th
November starting 7 p.m. It should be a great evening with local musicians taking
the first half of the evening. During the interval we shall hold a small raffle for the
Trust. The second half features Steve Morrison and his Band with special musical
guests. 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 on
Saturday 25th November starting 10.30 a.m. - 2.30 p.m. Tombola, Wine or Water, crafts and cards. Our 2024 Calendars will be on sale
and we have a huge raffle. You can also sponsor a hedgehog if you wish. There are refreshments available with soup, rolls and mince
pies. 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 suitably
dry to give him the best chance when he is released. A Kestrel was released last week and went off very well. The assortment of pigeons
and 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. There
seems 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
round up the figure. The tables were brimming with lovely crafts and hand made gifts of all kinds. The soup sold out, everyone saying
the 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 good
cause. Thank you to everyone who made items for sale, gave up their time to man stalls, or helped us set tables out and pack up
afterwards. 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 who
called in on Saturday to give us bags of hand towels. We use so many. The
hedgehogs roll themselves up in them to sleep and their prickles soon completely
ruin a towel. They last us about three months before they are so tatty we have to
throw them out or use them as cleaning cloths. Constant laundering does not help
either. 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 hedgehogs
that need sponsoring so please think about doing this to help cover the cost of
keeping these animals over the winter. A new hog in this week weighs just over
200 grams. This cold snap would surely have killed him. Some of our bigger hogs
are thinking of hibernating now which is good for them and for us. Once they are
asleep they just need dried food replenishing once a week but we only have eight
or 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 was
worth living and tucked into his food. He has pelleted, so everything seems to be working alright internally. By the mess he has made of
his cage and the room, food is passing through his digestive system well!! On Sunday we decided he was fit enough to move up to the
undercover aviary. He has feathers missing from his wing and he had hardly any tail feathers. When we went to put him in a carrier to
move 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 undercover
aviary 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 able
to 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 need
to 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 very
grateful 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 Goff
23rd November 2023
Nearly 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, very
underweight and some very sick. We are doing the best we can for them but several have died almost as soon as they arrived. We have
ten 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 try
to 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 lot
still 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 must
thank our manager Jackie and Barbara, her assistant. They have both worked so hard and have been helping Kay, me and Jake who are
the volunteers on Sunday by doing a morning shift in turns. They are really working above and beyond our expectations, so thank you
girls. It is really hard going at the moment and we are getting older (and feel it) dealing with so many hedgehogs. The outside pens are
all 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 we
really do appreciate it.
Last Friday we had a musical Evening at the Radio Rooms, It was a super evening
and was the idea of our Chairman Walter, we have to thank Jimmy Banks, who
organised 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 the
Steve Morrison on the stage at the Radio Rooms. Thank you to all who took part. We
had a wonderful evening and raised £298.00 in total.
Last week I wrote about a Woodcock that had been brought in but there was
something awry with last weeks article and some part was cut out. Sadly the bird
died 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 bird
was in perfect condition, not thin and feathers all good and we could give it time to
recover from concussion, but when we checked the bird over there was something
wrong with its legs. It was sent up to the Vet for an X-ray and although it had no
fractures they suspected catastrophic damage to the sciatic nerve and that it would
not 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 the
sun 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 of
choice this year.
Jackie and the afternoon volunteers have been preparing for our Christmas Fair which is on Saturday 25th November at The Berwick
Baptist 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 Goff
16th November 2023
Another week and still hedgehogs are coming in. Some quite small ones and others around 4-500 grams. Far too small to hibernate and
with 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 are
still inside, we took three more in. Sadly one died within minutes of arriving and another had suffered some sort of stroke as it was
examined. 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 around
360grams, so was admitted, given a heat pad and bowl of food which it was already tucking into when I moved on to cleaning again. The
hogs are increasing in number and we are just thankful that we have the Hogwards Shed for them as they get bigger and are able to
hibernate for a while.
Barbara has been busy taking photographs of the new ones coming in ready for
them to be sponsored. Please help us this way if you can, it costs such a lot to buy
food and launder towels daily for so many little hedgehogs. We have a few outside
hutches that the hogs move to in the hope that they will start to hibernate but the
weather has been too mild to get them off to sleep yet and as these hutches are
hard to clean we may decide to move them all into the Hogwards shed. At least this
will mean that the volunteers are in the dry when they clean out the hogs and the
are not having to get down to ground level in the wet as we do with the outside
huts. Many of us volunteers have difficulty getting up, once we get down. Thank you
to everyone bringing in food for the hogs it is very welcome.
Please don’t forget our Musical Evening at The Radio Rooms on Friday 17th
November starting 7 p.m. It should be a great evening with local musicians taking
the first half of the evening. During the interval we shall hold a small raffle for the
Trust. The second half features Steve Morrison and his Band with special musical
guests. 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 on
Saturday 25th November starting 10.30 a.m. - 2.30 p.m. Tombola, Wine or Water, crafts and cards. Our 2024 Calendars will be on sale
and we have a huge raffle. You can also sponsor a hedgehog if you wish. There are refreshments available with soup, rolls and mince
pies. 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 suitably
dry to give him the best chance when he is released. A Kestrel was released last week and went off very well. The assortment of pigeons
and 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. There
seems 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