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... 16th January 2025 Firstly I must thank Gill who wrote a super column for me last week. It is good to have a different perspective on the work that is going on down the Rollo Centre. I think Gill must have inspired at least one person as we have a new volunteer starting on Monday. It is not always clean work dealing with wildlife and sometimes extra care is needed to keep volunteers safe. We took in a Tawny Owl on Sunday, found in the middle of the road. We could find no visible injuries and we think he may have been caught in the downdraught from a lorry. He is a red Tawny (always bad tempered) and happy to lunge with his talons. We are hoping he just needs a few days R. & R. and he can go back to the wild. We also are caring for a couple of pigeons with head trauma, one flew into a window and he now seems to be much better but the other one that suffered an injury under his wing is not doing so well, but we can give him a bit of time yet. Sadly, a Barn Owl that was brought in after being found grounded had been attacked by crows and had lost an eye as well as having head wounds. He had to be put to sleep. The Kestrel still has not lost the wax sheath on his tail feathers which is very concerning. The ringer is going to ask avian Veterinary advice. Our fifty hedgehogs are now being moved to their winter hibernating quarters in Hogwards Shed. Currently there are ten in the Shed all asleep. I think if the weather increases in temperature some may wake for a day or two. There are also sixteen in the big room which I can tell you is freezing cold. These hogs have all reached safe hibernating weights and are sleeping for a day or two and then waking. They seem to do this for a while before they decide its time for hibernation proper. They all have nice big straw beds out here so they can make themselves a proper nest. The remaining 24 hogs are either in the towers cages coming up to weight (they all seem to be very slow growing to us this year) or still too small to leave their heat pads behind. We are currently trying different sorts of food to get these poor doers going. They get so far, say up to four or five hundred grams, then they stop eating and go down again in weight. We are doing as much as we can for them but some I fear, are not going to make it. I does feel very frustrating not knowing why things are not going well. Out of our fifty hogs there are just four or five that are worrying us. I am hoping to have my second eye operated on very soon and Gill has suggested we write about the animals that came in during the same period last year. When looking back it is easy to forget just how many casualties we have dealt with. She is happy to help me with this and I will certainly be grateful.  I just want to thank the very nice people who come along every Sunday and leave us a tray of dog food, we very much appreciate it. Its great that you think of the things we need and get them for us. We use loads of scourers and someone put a pack of them in our donations box recently. Very useful and gratefully received. Thank you. Pat Goff 9th January 2025 I have been volunteering at the Rollo Centre for just over three years now, since November 2021, and I am also a member of the committee and a trustee.  Having had a career as an accountant in various businesses, working at the trust has been a breath of fresh air - not much in the way of office politics to worry about and definitely no need to wear a suit or high heels!  My regular spot is Thursday mornings, and I generally start my shift concentrating on the outside birds before moving in to help with the hedgehogs which, at this time of year, take most of the time.  I would say birds are my passion and it is really lovely being able to get up close to the wild birds and to observe their behaviours. At the end of August, I was lucky enough to go out with Barbara to recover a kestrel from a farm near Berwick.  The resident of the farm called in worried about it, she had been watching it from a distance for a few days, it was sitting on a pigeon carcass that it was guarding but didn’t seem able to fly.  It isn’t Rollo Centre policy to go out to rescue animals or birds and usually they have to be brought into the Centre for us to help them, but the lady was scared of birds so wasn’t able to pick it up and her home isn’t far away, so we made an exception.  The rescue wasn’t very challenging, Barbara popped a net over the top of it and I picked it up!  It’s a youngster that we now think is a male due to his colourings. He started out his recovery in the Claw and Talon room in a small cage so he could be monitored closely, he had no obvious injuries but had been moulting heavily.  After three weeks he had put on some weight and was moved to the Longridge aviary.  He was very wary, sitting perfectly still whilst anybody was around and during the September Open Day he sat still, with his foot on his food, for several hours until it was over -  quite remarkable and something I expect we all wish our pets or children would choose to do!  As he didn’t move, a lot of our visitors didn’t even realise he was sitting there. He was moved to the Long Flight outside once it became available in October and now, 16 weeks or so since he first arrived, he is flying really well.  We need to keep an eye on him whilst we are cleaning up to make sure he isn’t flying low overhead as we stand up.  He has a habit of hiding his meals around the aviary, a natural instinct to preserve food for when he needs it but not really necessary when we provide him with two chicks a day. When bird feathers grow, particularly the long flight feathers, they grow inside protective sheaths like tubes that fall off once the growth is complete and the feathers unfurl.  For some reason with this kestrel, the sheaths on the tail feathers have been very slow to disintegrate and his tail is still partly wrapped up, so he is staying with us until they are free and he is able to perform the characteristic hovering that kestrels do when hunting for prey.  If the weather stays mild, we hope to release him in the near future and I very much hope it’s a Thursday so I can return him to the rescue spot and watch him go on his way. Gill Powell 2nd January 2025 This is the time of year when we look back at what has happened in 2024.  The Trust seems to see more and more injured and sick wildlife each year. The Trust was initially set up to deal with oiled swans on the River Tweed. Now such incidents are very rare. During the last few years our work has been the rearing of orphan Cygnets, as well as a few injured adults. The picture shows last winter on the Big Pond with growing cygnets. This winter we have no young swans in our care, the Big Pond is empty. These thoughts bring me to the sad news that in November we heard of the death of Barrie Mortimer from Ayton. Barrie was one of the original members of the Trust and was for several years acting Chairman. He was known as ‘The Swan Man’ locally. Swans were his passion. He kept very detailed records of Darvic numbers and could always tell us the life history of a swan when it came in to us. He used to help with the annual ringing of Swans on the Tweed. He was one of the main swan washers when there were oiled birds needing cleaning. He pushed the local council to let us have a strip of Land at the side of our site which was never kept tidy by council workmen. The council finally agreed and Barrie sealed the deal. This strip of land was later fenced and two large aviaries built on the strip. He also dealt with the R.S.P.C.A. so that we were recognised as a Wildlife Rehabilitation Unit, but still keeping the Trust independent of the  R.S.P.C.A. We still adhere to the standards for establishments like ours set out by that body. Barrie enjoyed going to the Annual Swan Conventions where he tirelessly worked for the protection of wildlife in the countryside. We are later in 2025 to enclose another part of the strip of land Barrie helped us to obtain and we will name this aviary in his honour as The Mortimer Aviary. The reduction of the number of swans in our care has become more and more noticeable as years have passed. We now spend for more time with hedgehogs. Most of the space indoors is used for hedgehogs. In the recovery room are the small or sick hedgehogs in the Big Room the ones that are waiting to get to the correct weight either to be released in the summer or to hibernate in the winter. Sleeping hedgehogs have their own shed which can accommodate 30 hedgehogs at a push. 2023/4 winter the shed was full to bursting. The way we are at the moment 2024/5 may break the record again. The rest of the space is used for increasing numbers of Birds of Prey with R.T.A. injuries, young and orphan birds, a lot of Herring Gull chicks, and a few other mammals. We do not differentiate between any sort of wild life Bird of Prey or Pigeon we do our best for them all. We could not do this work without the help given by so many generous people, who have been donating not just cash but week on week bringing newspapers, various sorts of food for casualties, towels, raffle prizes and craft items.  Fords the Bakers save their brown bread for us, and several ladies make fleecy heat pad covers for us.  Our staff and volunteers have worked so hard coming in whatever the weather to do their shift. So a huge thank you to them all.  As I am still not seeing very well so another volunteer Gill is writing next weeks column. Pat Goff