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... 11th September 2025 The big news this week, that seems to have cheered everybody up, is that the last batch of gulls has been released down at the local beach.  Fingers crossed that is the last of them for the season, it’s satisfying that we have once again been able to help so many.  No more daily hosing and cutting up fish - a more relaxing time for the staff and volunteers as we move into autumn. A fourth cygnet was brought in this week that had been left behind by its family, perhaps because it was the weaker member of the brood.  It was spotted by two groups of holiday makers hanging around their caravans and they both phoned us up for some advice.  One of the callers had nothing to put the cygnet in for transportation and the other had no car, but Barbara was able to co-ordinate them both. Together they managed to pick it up and wrap it in a blanket to put it in the back of a car and bring it into the centre.  It was checked out by the vet and had nothing obviously wrong with it, it is quite weak but able to stand and feed.  As is common at the moment, things had to be juggled around to accommodate it.  The big pond needed a clean out and refill this week, so the three other cygnets were already occupying the small pond area.  Once the pond was full, they moved back through, and the new cygnet was able to use the small pond.  It can enjoy the water and get some strength back whilst also becoming acquainted with the other three through the fence.  The next time the pond is due for a clean they will be properly introduced to each other and will hopefully be able to live together as one group. The four baby rabbits are growing well and as Pat said last week, they are quite a handful.  They can move around the cage incredibly fast, in fact they were so lively that after several unsuccessful attempts at capture we gave up and cleaned around them!  They tend to hide together in the back of their little house but did all come out with the disturbance allowing us to get the picture of the four of them.  It won’t be long before they are released, the first stage is going to be letting them occupy one of the undercover areas by the big pond This week, there was an amazing number of fourteen pigeons at the centre and if it carries on this way we may have to be renamed!  They are of varying ages and sizes with some pretty much ready for release and some still needing hand feeding.  One of the more grown-up ones thinks it still needs to be hand fed even though it is quite capable of doing it itself.  It tries really hard to get attention from the volunteers, constantly trying to land on their heads and shoulders.  Hard to resist but we’ve all been firmly told to ignore it and it does eventually get on with picking up the corn itself. The owls are all still with us but two or three will hopefully be going in the coming week and then the remaining ones can all be moved around once again to give them more space and outdoor air. We have had a number of donations in the last week including a selection of very useful  cleaning products and a boxful of lettuce, many thanks for all these kind contributions. Gill Powell 4th September 2025 Things are changing rapidly down at the Rollo Centre. We now have birds being released or prepared for release but hedgehogs are arriving daily. Very tiny some of them only just weaned. They are nearly all needing ’First Aid’ treatment to give them a little boost. Kay has been caring for them at home if they still needed milk but the last of those are down at the Centre now. We have around twenty, much earlier than usual. One of the Barn Owls we are caring for was on cage rest for a few weeks as it had a fractured wing that we hoped would mend. Last week we moved it to the Longridge Aviary to give it a little more room and to check if it would manage to use the wing. On Sunday we saw it fly beautifully down the length of the aviary so it is looking really hopeful now. The two little Barn Owl siblings that were rescued when one of the parents was killed, are likely to be released back to where they were found, but they will be offered supplementary food and monitored closely. I think they are due to go next week. The four tiny rabbit kits I was keeping at home to bottle feed are now very lively, very wild little bunnies. I have handled them as little as possible to keep them wild. It is much easier when there is more than one as they then relate to one another rather than the carer. They are a handful to clean out now as they hate being handled, but this is much better for them. They are weaned now and just need to get a bit bigger before they can go back to where they were dug up at only a few days old. I have also been looking after a Leveret at home for about eight weeks. She is still tiny for her age although getting very upset about being restricted by her run outside. There is no way it is possible to tame a hare. She responds to me because I was the one that fed her. It is time she went down into the Lomax Aviary and I saw her no more so that she can forget any human contact. I shall have a peep at her before she is released in a few weeks time. The Cygnets are being moved onto the grass in aviaries for one last feed on the grass while it is still growing well. They are taken to an aviary in the morning to make the most of the grass, then at lunchtime they go back to the pond.  Ian has made a superb job of fencing the big pond it looks great. Thanks Ian. The rest of our time at the moment is hand feeding half a dozen assorted pigeons. Feral  and Wood pigeons. The winds last week took out several nests. Wood Pigeons do not build much of a nest just a couple of crossed sticks. They are always losing babies through the bottom. I had some at home to feed and Barbara took some home. Jackie took some garden birds home to feed. It has been a very busy year. The picture this week was taken in my shed at home. Swallows always nest in there.  I have a cleaning job to do when they leave but they have flown 5,000 miles to come to my shed (and garage) every year I am happy to do it. We leave a garage door open for the birds all summer.  They will all be away soon and autumn will be here. Pat Goff 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