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 June 2025 I always look forward to going into the Rollo Centre after a few weeks away to see how the sick residents are improving and what new mammals and birds have been admitted whilst I’ve been away.  At this time of year things change quite significantly as the last of the hedgehogs are released and we move into the summer bird season.  I returned from holiday for my Thursday shift having missed three weeks and the first thing I saw was a tawny owl in the Longridge aviary.  I assumed it was the adult tawny we had in, or a new admission, but was stunned to hear it was the tawny owlet that I had been holding and hand feeding on my last visit - it is now a fully feathered juvenile and able to fly very competently up and down.  Amazing how quickly they develop.  It likes to sit out in the aviary watching what is going on. The second tawny owlet that came in during my absence was very lively this morning, hopping about, it can feed itself and is able to jump up on to the perch that is in its box in the Claw and Talon room.  It’s quite a character and tries to interact with us and was very engaging on the Open Day, peeping through the bars and bobbing its head around. There is also a group of six mallard ducklings that came in two weeks ago as tiny balls and are now quite big and looking much more like ducks.  They had some tough love from Pat yesterday and had to spend their first night outside last night.  They did fine, sleeping in a little hut with a fleece and each other to keep them warm.  They were given a shallow dish of water this morning to splash about in which proved very popular, it will be taken away later in the afternoon so that they are dry for overnight and don’t catch a chill.  The ducklings are quite wary of humans and run inside their house when we approach which is a good thing as they are bonded to each other and not to us, they move around as a tightly knit group. There are now eight herring gull chicks staying with us housed in three groups of two, two and four as they came in at different times and are different sizes.  Gull chicks are quite unusual looking and not easily recognisable unless you have seen them before.  They were very vocal this morning and their call probably gives them away as gulls rather than their appearance.  At the Open Day last week, the younger children were fascinated by them.  These young bird admissions mean that the two new Brinsea incubators are being well used and we are really pleased with them. There is one wood pigeon which, before my holiday, was in a small box inside, and it is now outside in the Lomax Aviary.  It cannot get about very well and was sitting on a plant pot down the far end but it looked like it had spent the night on top of the hutch that is in the aviary, which is a good sign that it is starting to regain strength and be able to get up a bit higher. Finally, a call for donations.  If anybody has any cat food going spare, perhaps that your cat has decided isn’t its preferred brand, we would welcome it for all of these young birds.  I expect many more will be coming through the door in the next few weeks. Gill Powell 5th June 2025 Thank you to everyone who came along to our Open Day on Saturday. We raised just over £800.00. Jackie will be phoning raffle winners so they can collect their prizes. The day was a great success and we were lucky that the rain held off. I must thank Jackie and her crew of volunteers, who got everything ready for the day. Brian who keeps our grass cut and garden looking tidy and Ian who tries to keep up with all the repairs. The ‘Gull chicks falling off roof’ season has begun. We always seem to have a windy couple of days just as Berwick’s gulls eggs hatch. We have six in as I write on Monday so by the time this is being read probably a lot more. A couple were very tiny not long hatched so we were able to try our new incubator/critical care cubes. These units warm up and keep tiny chicks warm while they can be hand fed. The picture shows two little gull chicks warming up. Gulls soon learn to peck up themselves, we can then transfer them to a cage with others about the same size, using a heat pad where they will cuddle up together. We have to keep little ones away from the slightly larger ones or they will be bullied. Once they are big enough to go outside and more equal in size, they all go in the small pond pen together. It was nice to have something in our new Brinsea units so that we can show the equipment we are using to help care for young wildlife. The Mallard Ducklings are ready to move outside. They are not little round balls of down now but proper duck shaped. When ducklings are not reared by their mother they cannot be allowed to get too wet as their feathers are not waterproofed. When the mother duck covers them, she proofs the babies. This is why our ducklings only get a small dish of water, and even this they will try to climb in. They just naturally want to get in the water. As they are well over two weeks old now they will be proofing themselves as they preen, so can have a little more water. I think everyone enjoyed seeing our smallest baby Tawny Owl. He is very pale grey and extremely fluffy. When we arrive in the morning he moves to the corner of the cage to watch what we are doing. His head moves from side to side and he blinks very slowly as he keeps a check on what we are doing. When his cage is cleaned and he has to be picked up and moved he angrily clicks at us to let us know he doesn’t like it. When he is replaced in his clean cage he lowers his head and moves it from side to side keeping us in his sights all the time, just like the adults do. He is growing as he should be and eating all his food. Our older, young Tawny Owl still has fluff but is flying well and using all the room he has in the Longridge Aviary. We know that as we have to clean up his mess from every corner, every morning. He now has a bath which he uses almost daily too. He looks so skinny when he is wet, all his fluff plastered to his body. Tawny Owls all like to have a good bath. We rarely have a time when we have no hedgehogs. We still have six that are in need of a bit of extra care, so thank you to everyone continuing to bring us dog food, towels etc. Pat Goff 29th May 2025 This week the picture shows six little Mallard ducklings that have lost their mum. These little ducklings soon get picked off by crows and seagulls if they lose contact with mum. They were only about twenty four hours old when they arrived on Tuesday last week. They needed to be put under the brooder to keep them warm. It is now six days later and they run around their cage, gobble up their food, have a drink and go back to sleep under their artificial mum. Every day they seem to grow. The legs on the brooder have to be raised to keep the heat just right. These are relatively easy birds to rear as they are not fed by their parents but can peck up by themselves. This is not the case with other fledglings. Please, try to leave any baby bird that is sitting looking lost. Nine times out of ten the adults will not be far away, trying to keep their eyes on several young birds, only having recently left their nest. The babies will call and the parents can find them, even if they have taken their eyes off them for a few minutes. When they are brought in to us it is very difficult for us, as these youngsters will refuse to take food from us, become traumatised when kept in a cage, and often die of the stress. Very young babies will take food from anyone, but these older babies just won’t do so. If at all possible please leave fledglings where they are. Their parents will find them. Recently we took in two pigeon squabs that I brought home to feed. They did very well and I took them back to the Rollo Centre to go in an aviary as soon as they were pecking up for themselves. They were still very ‘downy’ so they lived in the aviary for a few week, building up their muscles, and having plenty of safe flying space. The Lomax Aviary has a new roof, thanks to Ian who has done so much repair work for us. When the pigeons were ready to go, we opened the aviary door, leaving food inside so the youngsters could return if they were hungry. We have plenty of small trees and shrubs in the garden at the Centre for birds. We are pretty sure they have left completely now so it was a very successful release. We had a lovely surprise on Wednesday when a very nice lady called at the Centre with gift bag full of goodies for us. I had spoken to her on the phone and told her of the progress of the two little pigeons she had brought in, and she had called with gifts for us. It is so nice when people thank us. It makes it all worthwhile. We would do it anyway but just a simple thank you helps us enormously. I must admit, the chocolate goodies, donation of £20, and wine in the gift bag helped raise our spirits too. On Saturday 31st May 10.30 a.m. to 2 p.m. we are holding our Open Day. Come along to David Rollo Centre, Ramparts Berwick Upon Tweed. TD15 1TU.  See the baby Tawny Owls, and check out improvements we are making, and try your luck on our Tombola, or buy a raffle ticket. There are crafts and other sales items. Lovely rolls and cakes to have with a cup of tea or coffee.  Do come along, meet us and Errol Tawny Owl, who loves an Open Day. He loves seeing visitors, he is very nosy and likes to know what is going on at the Centre. Do come and visit. Pat Goff