The last month has again be very similar to previous months, although a few more wild birds have arrived at the hospital.  During the last month we have, in fact, received 11 new patients - several with serious wing and shoulder injuries.

These include a Kestrel which was found in the New Forest with a very badly broken wing.  The wing was not treatable and the bird had to be euthanased.   We have seen two Buzzards, one from Hampshire with a broken wing and one from Marlborough with a very large mouth abscess. Both had to be euthanased by our vet.   A couple of Barn Owls were bought in, both from Hampshire.  One died while in the hospital and the other was euthanased  because it also had a bad wing fracture. We also saw a Little Owl found in Andover with a broken shoulder and a Tawny Owl from Hungerford with a badly damaged foot.  Both were not treatable.

Tawny Owl chicks

Last year we received over 20 baby Tawny Owl chicks but, we think because of the cold winter and the poor availability of voles and mice,  owl breeding started much later this year.  We now have four baby Tawny Owl chicks varying in age from 5 to 9 weeks when they became patients.  Three came in from Hampshire and one from Wiltshire.

One of them is camera shy but the photo shows three of them.

They will be kept in the park and released later in the year as part of the ongoing Tawny Owl release monitoring project.

Last month I reported on Beamish our Black Kite who was having treatment for a foot infection.  Beamish has now moved out of the hospital and is in one of our outside aviaries still having medication but is progressing very well.

The park has just received two new owls to add to the collection.  They were hatched at The Nation Birds of Prey Centre in Gloucestershire.  They are a pair of four week old Burrowing Owls.

Burrowing Owl chicks

Burrowing Owls, Athene cuniculana, are about the size of our Little Owls but have much longer legs when fully grown.  They are found in the wild in the west of North America, in central and south America and can occasionally be seen in Cuba and the Caribbean.

They tend to live in open country with bushes and scattered trees, often very dry arid semi dessert.  Males weigh about 130 – 180 grams and females a little heavier, up to 230 grams.  They eat beetles, other insects, spiders and scorpions as well as small mammals and reptiles.  The unusual thing about them which is where they get their name, is that they nest in burrows in the ground often vacated by other animals.  Their burrows can be a metre below the surface and up to 3 metres long.

Mike Wallis.