Buzzard finds freedom after being nursed back to full health by Berwick wildlife charity

Last week I was telling you about the busy times we have so this week I will start from where I left off.
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At the beginning of April we fetched in a buzzard. He was one of last year’s young and had had a hard time during the winter. He was very thin and out of condition and too weak to fly. He had no injuries but was very hungry.

We keep a freezer for road-kill finds and he was soon eating his way through our stock of rabbits and pheasants.

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When he was fit enough to fly a little we put him in the big aviary where he was able to build up his flight muscles.

A buzzard brought back to full health by Berwick Swan and Wildlife Trust.A buzzard brought back to full health by Berwick Swan and Wildlife Trust.
A buzzard brought back to full health by Berwick Swan and Wildlife Trust.

He wasn’t eating so ravenously by this time, just as well as our stocks of road kill are now very low.

We checked him a couple of weeks ago and decided he was fit and ready to go but we called in the ringer to make sure.

He looked at him and said he was it really good condition so the bird was ringed and Dick took him with the lady that found him, to let him go. She was amazed how well he looked. The picture this week shows him just before he left his crate fully fit and ready to go and quite cross.

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We have just recently had a tiny tawny owl brought in. It needed hand feeding so Kay took it home so that she could feed it at the right times.

Usually owls soon learn to pick up food for themselves but this one is very slow. It also is quite bad tempered and it looked to me like a red tawny and they are always difficult. It is now picking up for itself so is in the Claw and Talon room. In another week it may go into the Longridge indoor aviary to stretch its wings a bit before going outside.

Kay is now busy with some very tiny hedgehog babies only a few days old. She carries them with her like I do with baby birds. They need feeding every hour and a half so it’s a full time job. They are very difficult to rear from this age so I will give a follow up next week. We are just hoping for the best.

A young rabbit has been with us for a few weeks only just able to manage without milk when he came in. He has been kept wild as he only saw us when we cleaned and fed him. Dick released him last week.

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The young pigeons, jackdaws and a crow that were being hand fed last week are now outside in aviaries to learn to be independent and will be released a bit later.

The little cygnets came in and were only seven or eight days old so very small. They have settled into their quarters in the Longridge Aviary. They are eating well and are a happy little group. All babies do much better when there is more than one.

One very sad occasion this week was when a lady brought in an injured kingfisher. It had a smashed up wing joint. It also had some sort of head trauma as it was moving its head from side to side. It was an adult bird and its plumage was brilliantly coloured. It was so sad as nothing could be done for it other than put it to sleep. This is always a horrible decision to have to make but the lady that brought it in also understood the reasons.

We are now preparing for our next open day and AGM which is on Saturday, August 13.

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