Mike fitting new cupboards

Michael Wallis tiling in the hospital

When I began working in the hospital, I soon found out that there was much more involved in this aspect of the park than just rehabilitating sick or injured birds; a phenomenal amount of work also takes place behind the scenes throughout the season. The hospital can always be busy and last year was no exception, not only with the number of raptors that came in, but also trying to get the hospital up to scratch, what with tiling the food-prep area, putting up storage cupboards and a mission to repaint the interior.

Our day starts at 8.30am, however we all tend to meet and congregate on the patio before this for a chat and coffee, then its off to our different sections and this for me means the hospital.

Once I've opened up the hospital my first job is to check any patients that I might have in to establish how they have fared overnight, then its time to clean! All my patients are moved to clean bays so I can clean their soiled bays thoroughly with a mixture of F10 (liquid disinfectant) and water. Once the bays are dry they can then be papered and everyone settled back down for the rest of the day.

After clean up duty is finished it's time to feed and to complete the charts for each patient. These charts were introduced to assist with monitoring the patients’ progress and allow any member of staff to see at a glance what is actually happening with each patient, even if I happen to be on a day off!

It's not until the end of the year, when you sit down and tally up the total of wild raptors that have come in, that it becomes clear what kind of numbers you have been dealing with and you think... wow; and it's not only the wild raptors that have been admitted but also any of the park birds requiring attention.

The busy period always tends to be spring and summer, especially with young birds; the rest of the year can be anything from sub-adult to mature birds with various problems.

As you can see from the chart below, once again it was a busy year, with a total of 176 wild raptors being admitted to the park.

HOSPITAL STATISTICS FOR 2005

SPECIES	TOTAL NUMBER	EUTHANIZED OR DIED	RELEASED	% RELEASED
Tawny Owl	63	33	30	48
Barn Owl	20	15	5	25
Short Eared Owl	1	1	0	0
Little Owl	20	5	15	75
Buzzard	25	15	10	40
Kestrel	28	20	8	29
Hobby	1	1	0	0
Red Kite	2	1	1	50
Peregrine Falcon	2	0	2	100
Sparrow Hawk	14	11	3	21
TOTAL for 2005	176	102	74	42

Through the year we managed to return 42% to the wild. However, it is immediately noticeable that the barn owl survival statistics appear to be very low in comparison to the number of birds admitted. This low survival ratio could be mainly due to the higher percentage of birds admitted with more severe injuries, with the majority caused by road traffic accidents where recovery from injuries is far less common.

The Tawny and Little owl survival / return percentage was much higher with many of the admitted birds being juveniles showing far fewer severe injuries. The successful response of these juveniles to warmth, rest and food to build up condition before release increases the return percentage in this area.

This year, ongoing amendments to the hospital statistics will include the addition of GPS co-ordinates for the charts for all releases. We can then establish a local picture of precisely where and when the birds are released.

2005’s release rate at 42% is typical of the average percentage returned seen over the last few years that I have been looking after the Hospital. The number of raptors that we return to the wild tends to be round about 40-45% each year and as I look forward to the new season, I hope as I do each year, for less patients and a higher release rate.