Members Newsletter August 2005

The Editors Page

It amazes me how quickly the year goes, it only seems like yesterday we were celebrating the New Year and now we are thinking about organising the Christmas party for this year. It has been an extremely busy time for the hospital with a record number of Little Owls and the hospital has been at capacity for several weeks now. The good news though is that most of the Little Owls have or are going to be re-released back to the wild, along with a Long Eared Owl and several Kestrels. This is the very reason the Raptor Foundation was set-up.

As I mentioned in the last issue I am now the full time maintenance manager and the word full really doesn't cover it. So if there are any members with a few hours to spare and are good at D I Y your help would be much appreciated. You can contact me if the usual way.

Dave Blows
Newsletter Editor

Thoughts of a Junior Raptor

My name is Ben and I have been a Junior Raptor for ten months. I come every four weeks to work with the birds at the Raptor Foundation. To help all the birds that need a good home. As a Junior Raptor the responsibilities are as follows, cleaning out aviaries properly and collecting the pellets from the owls. After the hard part of the work is done you then have a more fun part by flying the birds and getting to know them. I have helped to fly all sorts like Kestrels to Great Horned Eagle Owls, but my favourite bird is Moth a Harris Hawk. I enjoy working at the foundation. My granny and granddad that bring me to the foundation each month also work in the garden whilst I am with the birds.

By Ben Baxter
(Junior Raptor)

Barn Owls under threat

An interesting study into Barn Owls in the South West was carried out over a fifteen-year period. Since the 1930's there has been almost a 70% drop in the number of barn owls. Almost half of which are deaths on the road. Until recently it was thought that the barn owl population would not recover.

Over the last few years' pressure has been put on farmers and highway authorities to help improve the barn owl population. The population did drop as low as 4000 pairs left in the wild, each year they would produce 10,000 young, but 3000 of these were being killed in road accidents alone.

Research has shown that barn owls nesting close to major roads are almost certain to be killed. It also showed that most of those killed were mature birds that had made it through the early years.

Because of disappearing habitats due to barns being converted and intensive farming reducing the number of small mammals barn owls need to feed on, help was needed urgently. More and more people have been helping the cause by putting up nest boxes especially designed for barn owls.

Recent studies have shown that barn owls have been laying their first clutch of eggs several weeks early. This is the most encouraging news for over 20 years. Young barn owls have been learning to fly and hunt for there own food, which is helped by an increased supply of good food.

Anybody wanting information about bird boxes, including designs on how to build your own, watch this space. Plans will be included in the next issue of the newsletter.

By Dave Blows & Trevor Kitchen
(Editor & Volunteer respectively)

Hospital News

May 2005 - July 2005.

We have had great success in the hospital over the last three months with the release of 6 Little Owls, 6 Tawny Owls and a Long Eared Owl too name but a few. We have also released a Swift and a House Martin back to the wild thanks to the help of a volunteer called Sophie Rice. She is currently rearing four more House Martins that will hopefully be released later this month.

Centre News

This year we have had three success stories with breeding birds here at the Raptor Foundation. They are a Lanner Falcon, a Little Owl and a Barn Owl.

Luna the Lanner Falcon was born at the beginning of June and it was decided that he would be hand reared. This task was given to myself (the editor) and it has been fascinating watching him grow. I then begun training Luna starting off manning him down, then moved on to flying him on a creance (training line) and finally at the beginning of August he flew free for the first time. His training will continue until he finally becomes an integral part of our flying team.

Two of our disabled Little Owls, one with a broken wing (mum) and the other blind in one eye (dad) produced an egg and successfully hatched it. Because the parents were disabled it was decided to remove the young chick and hand rear it. Much to Trevors delight he was given the task of naming it, and decided to call it Sweep. Sweep has been out on many shows with Trevor and his wife Patr, and also on several educational talks with our Chief Executive Liz McQuillan.

Our final success this year was a Barn Owl that was born at the end of July. Parents Jason and Zulu have lived together for many years and it was a real surprise when they laid an egg. The baby is now three weeks old and doing well. Its name is still to be decided, as we don't know if it is a boy or girl.

Several weeks ago when Luna was only a few days old Liz was chatting to the parents of one of our junior raptors, she said that it was a shame that we could not save more of the eggs laid at the centre. They then asked why can't you? Liz replied we only have a very old incubator that is unreliable. Liz was then called away, only to be called back to the gift shop later that morning. The parents were standing there with their daughter Samantha and handed Liz a cheque. Will this help buy a new incubator they said, Liz looked at the cheque to see that it was for £500, and said that will buy a good one, thank you. So the Raptor Foundation would like to say thank you to Mrs C M Stevens and her family for such a generous donation.

Mans best friend

Do you think a dog is mans best friend? All the members of ND's K9 Academy think so. Regardless of what mood you are in he will always be very pleased to see you, a dog can provide valuable thinking time if you have a problem, whether it is to do with work or home if you are like me by the time you have taken your dog for a walk you will have sorted it out. You can tell your dog your innermost secrets and they will never repeat them. Now that's what I call a friend!

Training tip

Do a vets check on your dog two or three times a week, this is a simple check of all the things your vet will do. It consists of looking in your dog's eyes, ears and opening there mouth. Check the teeth if they have bad breath this could mean a bad tooth or infection. Then feel down the front legs, examine the paws and between the toes. Next feel under their tummy and down the back legs, again examine the paws. Lift the tail and make sure they are clean.

Why do I need to do this? I can hear you asking. The reason for this is simple, if your dog hurts itself and you then try to examine the injury your dog will not be used to being handled in this manor and will then worry when you touch the part that hurts, there is a good chance you will get bitten. There are other advantages of course when you take your dog to the vets it will be much less stress for your pet and the vet.

Thanks to the Raptor Foundation we have just celebrated our second birthday.