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... 27th March 2025 Firstly, this week, a date for your diary.  On Easter Saturday, 19th April, we are holding a fundraising event in the office to raise money towards a much needed, portable, intensive care unit. This piece of kit will mean we can transport very young hedgehogs and birds at a stable temperature between people’s homes and the Centre giving them a much better chance of survival.  The incubator is light and compact and can be plugged into the car power to keep it warm during any journey. It can also be used at the Centre.  These units are not cheap hence the fundraising event.  There will be stalls and a tombola, and we would love to see you on the day.  Any donations of gifts and chocolate for the event will, as always, be gratefully received. If you are unable to attend but would like to donate, please do visit our website or call in.  We will be holding our usual Open Day with access inside the Centre later in the year when there are more animals and birds for visitors to see. Sadly, the cygnet who has been with us for a few weeks has had to be euthanised. It was taken up to the vet on Thursday for an x-ray to see if it would be possible to operate on its injured foot but the vet did not think it could be corrected sufficiently to give it a good and pain free quality of life.  We had been giving it pain medication and keeping it comfortable hoping the time would help the healing process, including the first for me of washing its bottom last week, but it still could not stand and on this occasion, we couldn’t help in the longer term. The cygnet, which was from Eyemouth, had been attacked by its father, the Cob swan. This is a natural behaviour which happens because the parents want to drive the grown youngsters away and reclaim the couple’s territory ready to start a new family. The process usually involves some aggressive chasing and a few bites but this youngster got harsher treatment which was distressing for the people that observed the attack and seems such a waste after all the efforts by the parents to get it to the large size that it had reached. On a happier note, the barn owl that came in at the beginning of February and was recently moved to the long flight, is now flying well and an appointment has been made for the bird ringer to come.  It has made great progress during the last seven weeks, it came in underweight and limping slightly with a strange turn up at the end of its right wing from an earlier injury.  As well as attaching the ring, the ringer will also have a good look at the owl in flight and help us to decide whether it is ready to go. The hedgehogs have seemed quite confused this week, the warm days and cold nights have given their brains mixed signals about whether it is time to wake up.  A few had been out into the dining room of the hutch and thrown the dried food around before eating the mealworms and retiring back to their beds. The staff and volunteers are making the most of the quieter time to deep clean the aviaries and boxes at the Rollo Centre ready for the spring and summer busy season.  The birds are already nesting with reports of young starting to emerge further south in the country, so it won’t be long before we start to see an increase in admissions. Gill Powell 20th March 2025 The picture this week shows our Hogwards Shed with all the cages occupied with what should be sleeping hedgehogs. The cages are checked every day. Sometimes a hog will wake for a night or two and then go back to sleep. They may decide to have a snack on the dry hedgehog food and have a drink. We always make sure each little hut has food and water available. Last week the warm spell of weather ensured that some of the hogs woke up, perhaps thinking spring had arrived. The frosts of the following few days sent most of them back to sleep again. Most of the feeding and cleaning time at the moment is taken up by tending to the fifty three hogs we have in our care. Only seven are in a warm room as they are not heavy enough or fit enough to allow them to hibernate yet. The hogs in the big room, where it is very cold, (icy blast through door while we are working) some hogs are still wide awake and eating every scrap of their food. We are very grateful for all the cans of food you are bringing and the newspapers, mealworms and the odd packet of biscuits for the volunteers which are very welcome! I must thank the ladies of Scremerston Knit and Knatter group who save newspapers for us and so neatly folded and ready for use. We have very good news of the Barn Owl with some damage to a wing. We have been monitoring the bird and thanks to a camera we were able to see that it was able to rise from the ground and fly to a perch. We had previously noted that it was shimmying up the wire of the cage to reach a perch and we worried just how well it was recovering. It just needed a bit of time to build up a bit of strength after having cage rest to heal the injury. The owl was moved yesterday into the big flight aviary which will give the bird all the space it needs to build up to full strength before release. The Cygnet we have in from Eyemouth has been giving us cause for concern. It was beaten up, either by dad, or another Cob that has moved in the area. Very hungry and sorry for itself when it came in. It looked O.K. but weak. When it would not stand the following day we could see nothing wrong on examining the bird. A day or two later we found a swelling at the top of the foot. Water birds can’t be taken in to the Vet so we decided to give antibiotics and painkillers, and keep the bird in isolation before getting a Vet to check it out. The result on x-ray was that the bird had a dislocated toe. The Vet said the joint could not be fixed and we had two choices. One was to amputate the toe, which would take a long time to heal and success doubtful or leave it as it was and let the bones fuse in the position they are in now. This would take a little time and the bird may limp but should have use of both webbed feet when in the water. We thought the second option was better for the bird. Now on antibiotics and painkiller to help we hope the bird will recover. Still not able to stand but on a nice area of grass, we can only hope time will work.  I will update next time. Pat Goff 13th March 2025 As Pat mentioned last week, the kestrel that has been with us since last August was ready for release and Thursday was a good day for it, beautiful and sunny with a calm forecast promised for the next few days.  Having helped bring the kestrel in back in the summer, I was happy that the release was happening on my work morning, and I could see it successfully on its way.  Given its pale colouring, it was most likely a female although initially we thought male!  With spring on its way, she had been becoming more agitated and unsettled when volunteers went into the aviary to do the feeding and cleaning, and was ready to return to the wild.  I first wrote about this bird in November, and you may recall that it was rescued from farmland near Berwick where it was sitting on a pigeon carcass and was not able to fly, this could have been because it was at the end of a major moult as it didn’t have any obvious injuries and was quite alert.  It weighed 198g which wasn’t a bad weight so had been lucky to secure the pigeon that it had been feeding on for a few days.  The reason it has been with us for a number of months is that we were waiting for its tail feathers to fill out and for milder weather.  Whilst the tail feathers are growing, they are covered by protective sheaths like tubes that fall off once the growth is complete and the feathers unfurl but this process took a while so, even though she could fly fairly well, she would not have been able to hover and hunt effectively. Wary of the net, she did a few laps before we were able to capture her so that she could be put in the box and driven back to the farmland for release.  It took a few moments for her to assess what was going on but then she was away, flying out towards a row of trees and settling in the branches out of sight.  There is quite a wide variety of foods that kestrels can eat from small mammals and birds to insects and worms and there should be plenty of foodstuffs in the area.  We also made sure she had her breakfast before setting out. A bit of “googling” reveals that kestrels are the UK’s most common falcon although numbers have declined since the 1970’s and they are on the RSPB amber list with an estimated 46,000 pairs in the UK.  The characteristic hovering that the birds do led to the kestrel’s ancient name of ‘windhover’.  While performing this hovering, kestrels keep their head still and their eyes fixed on the ground, adjusting their tail and wings to hold position, before dropping down to catch a vole or other small mammal.  Her food whilst she was with us was two chicks a day but more often than not. she would hide one of them in the aviary somewhere, behind a log or in a corner.  This behaviour of storing food is exhibited in the wild if they have a successful hunting day and catch more mice or voles than they need.  The mortality rate in the first year is high, at around 70%, so it’s satisfying we were able to help this youngster through a tricky patch and hope she will do well. Pat will give an update on the Barn Owl next time. Thank you for your continued support in helping the local wildlife. Gill Powell