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July 2008

Well June has come and gone in a flurry of activity; everyone seems to spend their whole time going at an especially fast pace at this time of year.

The babies in and around the hospital have been keeping Kim (who is in charge of that section of the Trust) on her toes, along with the other staff who take shifts for checking them and feeding them at night.

There are currently two yellow-billed kites, a burrowing owl, a northern hawk owl and a snowy owl, three young Harris’ Hawks, now in an outdoor aviary, and another Harris’ Hawk chick that is being fostered by the pair of yellow billed kites (African cousins to the black kite).

At last count there were fifteen wild tawny owl chicks, soon to be re-released and monitored as part of our ongoing research project. Another research project is the tracking of rehabilitated buzzards from the hospital, and this is currently being carried out by our research assistant, Judy Wrighte, who has been chasing them round the countryside with a telemetry set and a roadmap.

Last month I reported on falconer Cédric Robert and his amazing feat (or should that be feet) in running the Edinburgh Marathon on 25 May. Well he has now got his official time, and discovered that he completed the 26 miles even faster than he first thought, crossing the line in 3hrs 47mins 45secs. The total amount he raised in this endeavour was a fantastic £1,063.75, which will be put towards some of our conservation work. Cédric has asked me to pass on his grateful thanks to all those who sponsored him.

Lou Richie, Editor

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