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... 12th February 2026 How lovely it has been to see the blue sky and the sun for a couple of days. It seems weeks since we had a nice bright morning, instead of the grey,  dull and wet skies, day after day. Everywhere at the Centre is sodden, the aviaries a soggy muddy mess, the ponds overflowing. A little bit of sunshine and a few dry days will make everything look clean and fresh again. I have noticed at home that the birds are singing at the dawn chorus again. Probably because the day is getting light instead of staying grey twilight. At least it gives the feeling that Spring is just around the corner. We have two Barn Owls in at the moment. One, in the undercover aviary is doing quite well. He is proving David Rollo’s words true. ‘Just give it a bit more time’. A great many of the birds and animals we have come in just do need a bit of time in a safe place with good food to build their strength and they can heal themselves. We never give up on any casualty if we can help it. We are happy to spend time caring for any animal until it is ready for release. Barn Owls have really suffered this winter in the wet weather. They can’t get out to hunt in the rain as their feathers are not waterproof. I think a lot will not have survived the winter. On a happier note, the pigeons of various types and colours are doing quite well. Lost feathers are returning so they should eventually be able to go out in the spring. One that was brought in by Walter only needed a short rest and feed up after being brought in wet and bedraggled. Birds that get in this state are prone to attack by crows and cats. Walter was happy to return a fit, healthy bird to his garden. The Cygnets don’t seem to have suffered at all in the horrible damp. Rain water just runs off their feathers. They don’t seem to notice it at all. All three are looking very well and are a good size and weight to take on the river when it is not so high as it is now. I don’t think Errol (Tawny Owl) has thought much of the wet weather. Some days he sits outside in the rain looking quite depressed and sad. Other days he is undercover and probably happy he has a nice sheltered end to his aviary. The one thing I noticed is he hasn’t used his bath recently so using a good soaking rain shower as an alternative. Our hedgehogs are all well. They are all kept dry and safe when they are asleep. How hedgehogs manage to find somewhere dry and safe to hibernate in the wild in winters like this one. All the hedgerows near me are soaking wet. All the areas in my garden that a hog might choose to hibernate are all sodden. Unless we have a cold snap I think a good many will be waking early this year. Hopefully, the beetles, slugs and snails will have survived to and will provide a decent feast for early risers. Thank you to everyone who has sent us donations. We have had some lovely parcels arrive. I must admit I am not keen on gifts of cleaning things personally, but for the Trust they are a brilliant gift. We get through so many cloths and scourers, gloves and brushes, so thank you so much to the anonymous donors. Pat Goff 5th February 2026 The picture this week shows the swan that is on the beach at Eyemouth. Hopefully, if the weather calms down a little, it will decide to move further along the coast or move on away from the pair of birds that are usually there. We have had a lot of phone calls about this bird but it is quite alright. It is not the best place in the world to be but it is coping. We have been keeping an eye on it and we have taken it some food, although it did not seem very hungry. We will never move a swan unless we absolutely think it necessary. They have a habit of just flying back. We are keeping a watch on this bird and the family group on the river, which is very high at the moment. Last week we took in yet another Barn Owl, this one was very underweight, lying flat in the cage. We left it two chicks overnight, which had gone in the morning. The bird had pelleted and then ate three chicks during the next twenty four hours. It is now standing and although one wing looked low when it came in, we may try him in an aviary to see how fit he is. Barn Owls are finding it very hard to feed this winter. They cannot fly in really wet weather to hunt as they get waterlogged. Unlike other birds they have no waterproofing on their feathers. They will be eating whatever they can find and I think a good few will not survive this constant wet weather. Jackie was telling me that when travelling to Hawick last week she saw a Barn Owl in the middle of the road eating roadkill. These poor birds are bound to suffer this winter. All the hedgehogs are doing well and will hopefully be ready for releasing after Easter sometime. It just depends, sometimes, on when they wake up if they have been hibernating. There doesn’t seem to be any one thing that triggers their wake up signal. Each hog is different. We have also taken in several pigeons Feral, and Wood pigeons, luckily they all came in and their finders sent in supplies of food for them. We have had several bags of grain which is very useful and saves us a good deal of expense. Thank you to these very thoughtful people. We have also received a couple of parcels from Amazon from kind supporters. One contained cleaning cloths, sponges, scourers and brushes,  the other hedgehog food and bird food. The bin we have at Tesco’s is also saving us from buying a lot of extra food for the hedgehogs that are awake. If hedgehogs can’t eat it we can put it by for birds of prey and other young birds. Thanks to all who have donated. We are already busy looking out pictures for our 2027 calendar, (I know it seems too early for us too), we are trying to use pictures of releases to show the successes! Yes, we get a few, the trouble is birds fly out of the boxes with such speed all we get is a blur of feathers and not much else but we have lots of photo’s to go through and we have asked the volunteers if they have any so, hopefully, we will have enough for a calendar. Jackie and Mandy are preparing for Easter by planning a table top sale, using the office as early April could be cold and wet. I will let you have more details soon. Pat Goff 29th January 2026 This is the final look back at 2025 taking us through from the busy month of July to the quiet of December.  The summer months of July and August were dominated by the young gulls with 77 admitted.  With one exception these were herring gulls, with one lesser black backed gull which was an unusual guest for us.  The difference in the youngsters was quite subtle, slightly different beaks and the lesser black backed had slightly darker plumage.  The last of the gulls was not released until early September. The six mallard ducks that came in as small ducklings in mid-May were released in July to a safe place near Ford & Etal, they were with us for about nine weeks.  From this point onwards, the cygnets took over the large pond area, gradually maturing to the stage they are at now, which is very large and turning to white, much more steady on their feet than they were over the summer.  They are now quite possessive of their area, posturing with their wings when we enter to feed them. In August, lots of very young birds were brought in following damage to their nests during storm Floris.  The totals for the month were twenty pigeons and fourteen songbirds.  New arrivals included: two baby goldfinch, two young doves, a baby sparrow, and four pigeon squabs.  Most of them needed hand feeding regularly from dawn to dusk which required a lot of dedication from the team.  Six baby rabbits were brought in during August, though sadly only four survived.  They grew up quickly and were quite a handful, starting out being hand reared at home by Pat before coming to the Rollo Centre.  They moved around their cage incredibly fast, in fact they were so lively that after several unsuccessful attempts at capture we often just cleaned up around them.  They had strong burrowing instincts and hid together in the back of their little house. Nine more owls were admitted in the second half of the year, eight barn and one tawny, taking it to twenty for the year.  The tawny owl that was with us from a very young owlet, was released in August.  This was a nice success story as it had been rescued from the nest where both its sibling and a parent had died.  Despite being very inquisitive and fairly tame as a young owlet, by the time it left us it was behaving like a wild bird.  It was released by a friend of the Trust who left food out for it at first and has seen it a number of times since. In the final three months of the year, the admissions dropped away for most species but there were still a number of pigeons and hedgehogs.  At the end of the year, we were housing two barn owls, the three cygnets, around thirty hedgehogs and a few pigeons including the two wood pigeons that came in as youngsters and are now about ready to go.  It is nice to look back at the variety of different species we have helped across twelve months.  The Swan Trust relies heavily on volunteers and we are looking for more people to help.  If you would like to get involved and can spare a few hours a week, please get in contact with us and arrange a visit.  The work is generally messy but there are opportunities to help in handling the animals and birds if their care requires it.  The hours can be flexible if you need them to be. Gill Powell