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... 22nd January 2026 At this time of year most of our work centres on Hedgehogs. We have 34 in at the moment. Only nine are in the warm room. These hogs have to be kept relatively warm so that they stay awake and eat well. We only have one hog under 600 grams. The others are all just around or coming up to 700 grams. Hopefully all of them will be able to have a short hibernation time before they are released later in the spring. The remaining hogs are either in the big room, where I feel it is colder sometimes than outside, or in the Hibernation shed. All these hogs are over 700 grams. Some sleep for several days then, when we get a warm spell, they wake up and eat for a couple of days. Most of the ones in the shed are asleep. We do have one persistent one who has stayed awake the whole time.  All the hogs are doing well, and we luckily don’t have any that are causing us any worries. We have been spending this quieter time to prepare for the coming of spring and the influx of injured and lost baby birds and animals. Orphans take a lot of care and attention and we want to make sure that we have all the equipment and food supplies to hand when they are needed. Without doubt the hardest work of all is the influx of orphan gull chicks. The problem with Avian Influenza means that we have to keep these youngsters separated from others to stop any infection spreading. Last year we used some plastic play pen type of container for them. These worked very well and kept any infection rate down. We are checking the condition of these pens and may have to buy another one or two, for this spring. This brings me on to an article in the Northumberland Gazette about making it illegal to feed seagulls in Eyemouth. This is being proposed by a Berwickshire Councillor. The photograph that accompanied the report showed the councillor standing in front of our premises with our sign prominently displayed. We know nothing about this councillor or the proposed legislation. No one has contacted us about this article, or the fact that our premises are being displayed. Why was the article even in the Northumbrian, it is about Berwickshire. No-one from our organisation has made any comment to the councillor or the newspaper. Our three cygnets have been thoroughly enjoying being back on the Big Pond. They have hardly left the water in the last few days. During the cold weather a couple of weeks ago the pond froze over and could not be kept clear of ice. We moved the birds to the Small Pond pen, this pond was frozen solid, so it was fenced off and the birds just had buckets of food and water which could be changed frequently. Once the weather turned mild again it took several days to thaw out the Big Pond so that it could be emptied cleaned and refilled. It takes a whole day to fill the pond so the birds had to wait very impatiently. They stood at the fence between the two pond pens looking longingly as the water flowed into the pond. As soon as it was filled they were moved back. They all had a splashing about bath and spruce up. I hope we don’t get too much cold weather this winter or they will back to buckets again for a while. Pat Goff 15th January 2026 The photo of Errol was taken last Thursday morning, it was bitterly cold and he didn’t even want to open his eyes to say hello.  We were joking that they were perhaps frozen shut.  The big pond froze over, and the swans had to be moved out for a couple of days.  Thank goodness it is now a bit milder.     Continuing the New Year look back, as reported last week the trust helped a total of 114 mammals and 364 birds, an increase on 2024 when we admitted 166 mammals and 276 birds.  This number is not spread evenly across the year, with most of the admissions from April through September.  As you would expect, this ties in with the breeding season for young birds and mammals and at the peak, something new was coming in on most days taking our aviaries close to capacity.  At the start of the year, there was a kestrel on site which had been with us since the summer and, of course, the hedgehogs.  The shed was full and there were a large number inside amounting to around 60, many more than the 37 that we have this winter.  January was a very cold month and the wildlife had to cope with storm Eoiwin; quite a few birds were admitted in its wake: three pigeons, two buzzards and a tawny owl became residents.   February and March, on the other hand, were fairly mild and we were able to release the kestrel in March, it had taken many months for its feathers to fully fill out and it was great to see it go on its way.  The quarter also saw a further four barn owls come through the doors. In April, we began to release the hedgehogs continuing through into May.  One of these was the albino that we had from a baby.  It had grown into a lovely big hog despite causing some concerns early on whilst we better understood its special needs, particularly being kept in a darker environment.  We also had the Houdini hedgehog that somehow managed to escape from its hutch in the big room during the night and took the Thursday team quite a long time to find before it was assigned to an outside hutch ready to go on its way.  This month also featured tawny owls with three coming in.  Firstly, there was one that arrived all wet having fallen into dirty water that refused to have a bath to clean its feathers and get rid of the smell.  It was quite angry after its ordeal but flying well so quickly released.  Secondly, an adult tawny came in that had been caught on barbed wire.  It recovered and was later released.  And thirdly, a young tawny came in whose mother and younger sibling had died and we were able to release it fully grown in the autumn. In May we had a lot of ducklings to cope with, two groups of ten with their mothers that we luckily managed to guide safely from their nesting area down to water, and a group of six mallard ducklings that came in as tiny balls and rapidly grew to a healthy set of ducks which were released in early July.  June marked the start of herring gull season with 32 in this month alone.  This year we invested in some big pens to help us separate the gulls into manageable groups.  We were also able to buy some new incubators for the youngest chicks which proved invaluable thanks to donations from our kind supporters. Gill Powell 8th January 2026 The start of the new calendar year, when the Rollo Centre is relatively quiet, feels like a good time to look back across the past twelve months and report on how many animals we have been able to help, remembering that we couldn’t have done it without the generous donations of both time and money given by all our supporters, volunteers and staff. During 2025, we admitted a total of 114 mammals and 364 birds. This is quite a different spread to the previous year when we admitted 166 mammals and 276 birds, and up by 34 in total.  Birds seemed to have got into more trouble this year.  Of course, not all of this number were with us for longer term care.  Some just needed a few nights rest and recuperation, whilst a number were in too poor health to survive for long.  Looking first at the mammals, by far the largest category was the hedgehogs of which we took in 100, this is down from 158 the previous year and is noticeable at the Rollo Centre this winter: we currently have only 37 whereas last year the shed was full.  We also took in one stoat, seven rabbit kits, two leverets, a hare and two mice!  Turning to the birds, it was a busier year in terms of swans with eleven admissions compared to only two in 2024.  Three of those are still with us, they are fully grown and starting to turn whiter.   The biggest category was the herring gulls and there were even more brought in this year than last, with a grand total of 134 coming through the door, up from 127.  This year we purchased some new “playpens” to house them in that made them easier to care for, we could isolate them when they first arrived to check their health, and they were easier to clean.  Pigeons and dove numbers were also well up on the previous year with 70 compared to 50 in 2024.  Many were squabs or juveniles that needed hand rearing until they could pick up their own grain, at which point we had to show some tough love by backing off to “rewild” them ready for release.  There were also 53 garden birds of different varieties and some game birds including two woodcocks.  Sadly, only one of the woodcocks survived, it was with us for a short time while we treated it for a sore eye where it had been clipped by a car.  They don’t cope well in captivity, so it was good it made a quick recovery.  This, for me, was the most interesting admission of the year, I had never seen one before and it was very striking.  And finally, the other bird category which saw an increase this year, and that we have written about across the months, was the raptors up to 31 from 21 which included 20 owls: 14 barn owls and six tawnies.  Is your New Year Resolution to do some volunteering, or to spend less time on your phone, or to try something new?  Then how about volunteering at the Rollo Centre?  We need new volunteers and now is a good time to join when it’s quieter and there is time to learn the ropes before the busy summer period.  Seeing the animals and birds recover and get released is really heartwarming.  If this is something you would like to try, give us a call and come in for a trial, what have you got to lose? Happy New Year to all. Gill Powell