Over his time working at the Hawk Conservancy Trust, Bird Team member Mike Riley has worked alongside a number of Variable Hawks. If you’ve visited the Trust recently, you may have seen him working with one of our younger hawks, Cooper. But Mike was also lucky enough to work with Cooper’s mum, Mace! We caught up with Mike to hear all about his bond with these wonderful birds: ‘I’d like to talk about a species of bird I’m really fond of here at the Hawk Conservancy Trust. It’s the Variable Hawk (Geranoaetus polyosoma), which you may also know as the […]
TV wildlife presenter, zoologist and conservationist Megan McCubbin has officially opened a new annexe at the National Bird of Prey HospitalTM near Andover, Hampshire – increasing the facility’s capacity to care for injured and sick birds of prey. The new annexe has been built to expand capacity, so there is potential to treat and rehabilitate more than 200 orphaned, injured and sick birds of prey each year. Birds are often brought to the facility by members of the public or transferred from other wildlife centres and the patients are predominantly victims of road traffic accidents; youngsters that have fallen from […]
After moving to the Hawk Conservancy Trust nearly a year and a half ago, Bird Team member Owen Lincoln has been fascinated by the wildlife that appears once the doors close and the Trust grounds go quiet. Join Owen as he tells us what it’s like to experience nature in the evenings when living onsite: ‘Since moving to the Hawk Conservancy Trust roughly 15 months ago, I think it’s safe to say I’ve settled in and found my feet! Living on site has certainly helped that process, and it’s a bizarre thing calling where you work home, but it most […]
On this episode Hannah and Tom take a walk around the grounds of the Hawk Conservancy Trust after hours with Mark Ison, Bird Team member and Ecologist, to carry out a survey of the wild bat species that live on site. We learn more about these fascinating flying mammals and how to identify some of the common species found in the UK. Sadly, this is Hannah’s last episode as she is leaving the Trust for a new position, so we bid her a reluctant but fond farewell! Hannah and Tom reminisce about her time at the Trust, and Hannah tells […]
In mid-July temperatures soared, and we closed our doors to ensure the safety of our visitors, staff and birds. To keep our birds cool, our dedicated Bird Team helped the birds handle the heat. We caught up with Katy Barnes from the Bird Team, who told us about the fun ideas they came up with to keep our birds cool: ‘During the recent heatwave the Bird Team here at the Hawk Conservancy Trust did everything we could to ensure our birds were safe and comfortable in the unusual weather. Some of the methods we used for this also doubled up […]
Thursday 4 August 2022 is International Owl Awareness Day, and here at the Hawk Conservancy Trust we think owls are a hoot! Everyday we celebrate the wonderful world of owls. Woodland Owls Display If you’ve ever wanted to get close to owls, our Woodland Owls display is your chance! Witness an array of beautiful owls skim silently over your head and discover more about these beautiful creatures in this intimate demonstration. See our owls display their unique hunting and flying skills as they glide around the Silver Birch trees in our peaceful Woodland Arena, landing closer than you might […]
We’ve recently welcomed two passionate interns onto our Conservation and Research team – meet Melanie Gelderd and Fern Brown! We caught up with Melanie and Fern to find out more about them, and the work they’ve been diving into on their first month at the Hawk Conservancy Trust:
We are extremely proud of the work we do in the National Bird of Prey Hospital™. Hospital Manager Cedric Robert, along with other dedicated staff members and volunteers, work tirelessly to ensure all the birds get the highest level of care possible, and the best chance at survival when they are released back into the wild. So far, 2022 has been no exception, and Cedric and the team are very busy as always. May and June are particularly busy months as it is the height of the breeding season for Tawny Owls, when many chicks are hatching. Tawny Owl chicks […]
During the summer season, our daily timetable changes and our summer flying displays begin. This means the stars of our winter displays get a well-deserved rest during this time. Pike the Black Vulture and his girlfriend Chips are fan favourites in our winter display – World of Birds of Prey. Pike in particular is known to get a little distracted during show time, and will often wander into the crowd exploring the audiences’ shoes! Other than that, Pike and Chips are pretty inseparable. They have been together throughout their entire lives. As you may have guessed, Pike is the more […]
On Saturday June 25, we held our biggest fundraising event of the year. More than 500 guests enjoyed a spectacular evening of birds flying to iconic movie soundtracks, performed live by the English Wild Orchestra and singer Ayesha Pike. Guided by the evening’s commentators, Bird Team members Tom Morath and Ben Cox, our guests were transported into scenes from iconic movies. The evening kicked off on a high, with our Barn Owls quartering Reg’s Wildflower Meadow to the magical Harry Potter theme tune. Enthusiastic as ever, Ben may have gotten a little bit too into character here! The audience were […]
