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... 28th August 2025 After the influx of baby birds following the storm, and then the preparations for the Open Day, my shift on Thursday felt much calmer than the previous few weeks.  There are still lots of birds being cared for and not much room for new arrivals.  The tawny owl that had been with us from a very young owlet, was released on the 12th of August.  This was a nice success story as it had been rescued from the nest where both its sibling, and a parent, had died.  This release freed up the large flight and meant the remaining birds could all be shuffled around to make room for the youngsters that are being raised offsite and are waiting to come in.  The remaining tawny owl has been moved into the long flight, it is still very inquisitive and wants to be involved with everything, hopefully being in this large aviary will help it to maintain its distance from people.  The pair of barn owl siblings have moved to the Undercover, and another barn owl is in the Longridge.  This has left the Lomax without an owl so that it can hold all of the young pigeons and doves.  There are two young wood pigeons in there this week, and they will soon be joined by four more that are being reared at Pat’s house, and in a few weeks, a further two birds that are being reared by Barbara!  It all takes some keeping track of.  The wood pigeon adult that has been with us for a few weeks was soft released from the Centre this week, which basically means we opened the door but allowed it to come back for feeding if it needed to! There are eleven young gulls outside now, ten herring gulls and one lesser black backed gull which is an unusual arrival for us.  The difference in them is quite subtle, slightly different beaks and the lesser black backed has slightly darker plumage.  It is expected that most of them will be released in the next few days.  The numbers are dropping but we were down to six at one point so the season is probably not over yet. The three cygnets are just starting to look more like swans as their wings are developing and adult feathers are growing.  They are moved each day to spend the morning on the grass by the aviaries so they can graze.  They are now wise to this routine and need to be lured out of the pond with lettuce and rounded up before they can run back to the safety of the water.  Lettuce is their favourite treat, and they get through a lot, so if anybody has any spare from their greenhouse, please do bring them round. There are nineteen hedgehogs with us now, four are outside and will be released shortly.  Nine of the indoor ones are baby hoglets, two were brought in this week from the same litter and found on consecutive days.  A number of them were under 100 grams when they arrived.  If you see any very small hedgehogs out and about during the day, please do bring them in.  Make sure you keep them warm if you keep them overnight, perhaps wrap a towel around a hot water bottle and put them on top of that in a box.   Hedgehogs struggle when there isn’t any rain so please help them through this dry weather by leaving some water out in a bowl on the ground that they can access if they come through your garden. Gill Powell 21st August 2025 When I arrived at the Rollo Centre on Saturday morning to help set up for our Open Day, which was due to start at 10.30 a.m. it was a hive of activity. Volunteers and  staff were full on cleaning and feeding so that all the animals and birds were set for the day before visitors arrived. As I was sorting covers for the top of the freezers and filling the urn to get in heated up an early visitor walked in at 9.15 a.m. She complained that the big room and recovery rooms were very smelly. Volunteers were cleaning out the sixteen hedgehog cages and cutting up fish for the gulls. I must thank Shaun here for his never ending supply of fish during gull season, his supply means we can give the gull chicks plenty of natural, healthy food. It is, however, a messy and smelly job cutting up eight or so large fish, which is done every morning and every afternoon. Hedgehogs too first thing in the morning when we open the doors also do not smell good! This is why we really appreciate the volunteers that we have. It is messy, smelly work. On Saturday the volunteers worked so hard to clean and feed, then rushed off for a quick change and a coffee before returning to man the stalls. Everyone worked with a will, so thanks to all that were helping. If anyone can spare a few afternoon hours once a week we would love to have more volunteers. Do contact Jackie or Barbara on 01289 302882 and get details. It is hard work but we do give you a coffee or tea and a selection of chocolate biscuits at the end of your shift. The day itself was very worthwhile doing. We have so many different animals and birds at the moment there was plenty for everyone to see. Baby birds were having to be fed by hand and I took down the Rabbit Kits that I have been hand rearing at home after their nest had been dug up by a mechanical digger. Two of the litter died the following day but the four in the picture, after a difficult start are, hopefully, doing well. They are being bottle fed three times a day and are now taking the kitten replacement milk much better now. It takes a while for them to accept the teat that is not like mum’s. Their eyes were closed when they came in, at about seven days old.  Now they are coming up to three weeks and are nibbling on hay.  I had to feed them during the Open Day and I had quite an audience around watching. We made around £700, but more importantly, we were able to show people the work that we do and how everyone can help keep our wildlife safe. Thank you to everyone that came and supported us, either on the day or by providing prizes for tombola and raffle or making lovely craft items for sale. We are very grateful. I also have a little Leveret at home to hand rear. This one was very difficult to get going and I think she is still small for her age but is now looking more hare-like. She was so hard to get going that I hardly dare mention her in the jottings in case it was tempting fate but she is doing very well now. This year has been one of the busiest for a long time. We seem to have a never ending stream of casualties arriving. Hopefully baby season is coming to an end and we can all relax a bit. Pat Goff 14th August 2025 It has been another busy week at the Rollo Centre.  Lots of very young birds were brought in following damage to their nests during storm Floris.  New arrivals included: two baby goldfinch, two young doves, a baby sparrow, and four pigeon squabs.  Most of the young ones need hand feeding regularly throughout the day from dawn to dusk which is many hours at this time of year!  They have been spread out amongst Barbara, Jackie and Pat who will be tied up looking after them for a number of days until they start to feed on their own.  The two birds in the photo are the goldfinches which are being looked after by Jackie and in the first few days would only feed if they were held and the food pushed right into their mouths, although these young birds know when they have had enough and won’t take any more.  The young pigeons and doves feed differently and will just keep feeding until their crop is full to bursting, so it takes knowledge and experience to know when they are full.  If they have too much food, it can sit in their crop without being digested where it can go off and may poison the bird.  The trick is to keep feeling how much food is sitting in the crop and judge when to stop.    The aviaries are going to be full once this mixed bunch have grown their feathers!  There was also a starling brought in that had somehow got caught in a fat ball feeder, much to the distress of the bird lover who was feeding it.  Luckily there was no lasting damage and it was soon released back.  Any fat ball feeder with the top missing should not be used. A few weeks ago, two barn owl siblings were brought into the centre where one parent had been killed and the single parent was unable to manage raising them on its own.  One of the youngsters was much smaller and weaker than the other and needed more care, it was being housed in the claw and talon room.  The other was already big enough to feed itself and to fly so it was started off in the Longridge aviary.  I am now pleased to report that the smaller one has grown well and they have been put back together where they seem content, although they are rarely seen during the day unless their box needs to be cleaned out.  They can be checked on at night using the camera that is positioned in the aviary.  In the wild, barn owl pairs and their offspring will stay in the same area for many years.  These two will be released together when they have matured so that they can be a family into the future.  There are still six owls in total in recovery which is a lot for us to have at one time: four barn owls and two tawny owls, plus, of course the resident tawny, Errol. A number of herring gulls were released last week so we are down to a much more manageable 16.  There are still three or four new arrivals each week, but the numbers are definitely dropping as the season moves on, and they are generally big enough now to live outside in the small pond area. Please don’t forget the Open Day and AGM on Saturday 16th August.  From 10:30am to 2pm you are welcome to look around the Rollo Centre and see the birds and mammals in our care.  There will be stalls, tombola, raffle and refreshments.  The AGM will follow at 2:30pm. Gill Powell