My name is Ben Cox and I am a Bird Team member and the Events Coordinator here at the Hawk Conservancy Trust. My time at the Trust is nearing its end and I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you my story and journey of working here.

First of all I would like to say a huge thank you to the Trust as a whole: I have been so blessed to have worked alongside so many incredible people and Birds in my time here. The organisation has given me so much over the years, from priceless experience to essential life skills and some phenomenal memories that will stay with me for the rest of my life. This place will always hold a very special place in my heart and I will never forget it.

Let me rewind the clock to 17 years ago, when I was 10 years old and had my first visit at the Hawk Conservancy Trust. I always had a keen passion for wildlife and nature in general, my heroes growing up were Steve Irwin and David Attenborough. Once I visited the Trust I knew, in that moment, that birds of prey were the animals I wanted to work with. The way that the Bird Team were working with the birds and the majesty of the birds themselves was just mesmerising. After that visit all I wanted to do was work at the Trust, all I ever talked about were birds of prey and all the facts and figures that came with them. Between the ages of 11 – 13 years old I was fortunate enough to take part in the after school club that ran at the time at the Trust. There were roughly ten of us each week, and this was a fantastic opportunity to spend more time at the Trust. It also gave me the opportunity to build relationships with the team that worked there. These were extremely good times and I learnt so much.

I continued to visit the Trust regularly and kept in close contact with the team that worked there. It was my absolute delight that when I turned 16 years old I got an offer to have a seasonal position during the summer holidays that year. I, of course, jumped at the opportunity and absolutely thrived. This really solidified for me that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, it was an epic summer and yet again I gained so much priceless experience from this position. At the end of my seasonal position I had the absolute privilege of receiving an offer to be the next Bird Team Apprentice.

At 17 years old I started in this role – it was everything I hoped for and more. I was able to be a part of the Bird Team doing all the things I had dreamed about for such a long time. I learnt so much during these three years, things like commentating demonstrations, training birds, flying birds in demonstrations and running experience days. I managed to finish my apprenticeship with a level 2 and level 3 extended diploma qualification, which I was overjoyed with. At the end of my apprenticeship I got offered a permanent contract as a member of the Bird Team. This gave me a feeling of elation, all my hard work and persistence had paid off and I was fully “fledged” in my bird of prey career.

At this point in my career I had a fantastic opportunity to move into on-site accommodation, so not only did I have my dream job I also was able to call it my home too. From the ages of 19 – 23 I loved my Bird Team position and took every opportunity that came my way. I became Head of the Middle Section here at the Trust, trained quite a few birds and had one of the best experiences of my life, which was a work trip to South Africa to actively help to monitor African White-backed Vultures. It was a trip that I will never forget and I will be forever grateful to the Trust for allowing me the chance to go. I had been talking about and advocating for these incredible birds for such a long time, so having the opportunity to go out and help with my own two hands was just amazing and an indescribable feeling!

At 24, I became the Events Coordinator alongside my Bird Team member role too. I have adored this role and it has been a fantastic bit of progression. I really enjoy organising events and seeing the whole process through from the very first creative meeting, discussing what we could do for an event, to the planning stage and then seeing the event come to life for real (for potentially up to 600 people at times!) is an unbelievable feeling.

I have been fortunate enough to be a part of so many incredible events here at the Trust. One of the highlights for me has to be the first ever event I ran on my own which was an Owls by Moonlight evening. Our Sunset at the Trust evening events have also been a huge highlight for me as this was the first event that I led with creating the concept for, of course I had lots of help from all the other departments and the team here at the Trust to bring this vision to life. A moment I will never forget is flying Chaucer the Lanner Falcon on the first of these events, to a piece of music that I absolutely adore, with a glorious summer sunset in the background. Finally, being a part of all of our big fundraising events has been really exciting. I have been lucky enough to be a part of many big roles in these events over the years – often getting dressed up to look like a particular character! My biggest highlight had to be “Flight at the Movies” in 2022, where I had four costume changes during the show! Although this was a challenge, it was also extremely exciting and successful.

It is safe to say that my time at the Trust has been sensational, and as I go onto my next venture in life I certainly will not be a stranger. The Hawk Conservancy Trust means so much to me and it’s a place I couldn’t stay away from for too long. I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to all of you for all of your continued support for the Trust,  the birds that are in our care, and supporting our work to conserve them. I would also like to say a huge thank you to the most incredible team at the Trust – I have made friends for life and have memories to last a lifetime. I am truly so lucky. I will miss a lot about the Trust however this is not the end, until the next time we meet take care and keep spreading the word about this incredible place and the magnificent birds that call it home.

Many thanks, Ben Cox

While we’ve been closed, our team have been busy caring for our birds, and preparing the Trust for another jam-packed year! We checked in with Bird Team member Katy Barnes about working with our birds over winter.

“It has been a busy winter on the Lower Section of the Hawk Conservancy Trust! Every year during this closed period, we have a good spring clean here at the Trust, making sure we’re ready for another fun year.

The Lower Section of the Trust is often one of the first places visitors explore when they visit. It’s where one of our biggest aviaries is – known to many as the ‘Vulture Restaurant’. It’s the aviary that our breeding African White-backed Vultures call home. Each winter, we give this aviary a massive clear out ahead of their breeding season, where they are left much to their own devices! All of the vultures are moved to their holiday aviaries while the Bird Team carry out this deep clean. This involves installing lovely new perching branches for the birds to use – it’s always quite a feat to find branches big enough for these large birds! We completely clear out their nesting areas too, and give them lots of natural materials ready to decorate their nests however they see fit.

This aviary is also used as a holiday aviary for some of our other vultures while their own aviaries are being prepared for the season. This year, we had two very special guests staying – our breeding pair of White-headed Vultures, Angus and Satara! They stayed with us here on the Lower Section while the finishing touches were made to their new aviary in at the Top of the Trust. They are such an awesome pair, and it was a privilege to care for them alongside our other vultures. They are now happily settled into their new aviary, which looks absolutely fantastic! We are hopeful for another successful year of breeding for these birds to help boost their numbers as part of European Ex-Situ Breeding Programmes (EEP’s).

Speaking of vultures, one of our most iconic vultures has been trying out a new home here with us on the Lower Section – Boe the Egyptian Vulture! She’s actually moved in with our Northern Bald Ibis Rafiki, and the pair seem to be getting on very well. They both have their own inside areas, with their own heat lamps; I like to describe them as birds that are happy to share a living space, but not a bedroom! They have a really fun dynamic –Rafiki is very enthusiastic, whereas Boe is calm and serene. During one of the Winter VIP Experiences I hosted last month, two of my lucky guests got the amazing opportunity to go inside this aviary and meet these two characters. Rafiki was so excited, he spent much of the time selecting the perfect stick to present as a gift to them – which they were delighted to be gifted and kept hold of!

Another larger than life character that lives on the Lower Section is our internet-famous Secretary Bird, Angola. While we’re not in the summer season, Angola takes a nice, long rest period over the winter. To make sure he keeps physically and mentally fit, we work with him through different forms of enrichment and training. This year, Angola has begun Target Training – a method of training where Angola will touch a part of his body to a target so it can be inspected for health checks and general care. In return, he gets a very tasty treat. This is Angola’s first time using this training method, and mine too, so we’re learning together! Despite his size and power, Angola can actually be quite a gentle bird, and can be a bit nervous of new things. Despite this, he’s not been phased by this new part of his routine – in fact he’s quite indifferent to it! A problem I was not expecting to encounter. So much of this training though is building up our strong bond, so he is relaxed and trusting of me and the seemingly-odd things I do to keep him healthy. We’ll keep you updated on his progress as our training continues.”

The winter months bring a change to our timetable, and with it our flying team of winter birds takes to the skies. On this team is one of our biggest birds – Saxon the Golden Eagle. She is a sensitive girl, and is very particular about who she chooses to work with on our team, so when newest Bird Team member Hugo Wilson was given the opportunity to work with her, it was ‘a dream come true’…

‘I started working alongside Saxon during the closed period last winter – it was a real honour when I was asked by our Head of Flying Birds, Mike Riley, if I’d like to give working with her a go. Saxon is a sensitive bird, and can be choosy about who she wants to work with. Golden Eagles are right up there as one of my absolute favourite species of birds of prey, and I always thought how amazing it would be to work with one. So this really was a dream come true moment!

Saxon’s favourite person on the Bird Team is Cedric Robert. She also has a soft spot for James Knight and Ben Cox, so it was a team effort from these three in the first stages of my working relationship with Saxon. Cedric began by flying her in Reg’s Wildflower Meadow, and I would call her over to my glove to see if she even fancied landing with me. Once she had done that a few times, it was the seal of approval from her to continue. The next step was for James and Mike to work with her, and let me call her in with her dinner. Once we had that down to a T, the next step was to fly her all on my own, with the team watching to make sure it all went well – which it did!

Apart from Kiara, our Stellar’s Sea Eagle, Saxon is the largest bird on our flying team during the winter months. Being such a large bird she is incredibly powerful. She has the crushing strength in her talons estimated to be somewhere between 500-700 PSI (pounds per square inch). To give you come context, that’s roughly similar to the biting power of a lion’s jaw!

That all being said, Saxon is genuinely a really sweet character, and a real pleasure to work alongside. Sometimes, just like all of us, she can wake up in the mornings on the wrong side of the nest! On these days, I am patient and allow her the time she needs until she’s ready, much like me after a coffee.  I am in awe of her strength and can feel it on my gloved hand. Even through the protective leather, I can feel her power. I definitely have a healthy respect for her power and size, and absolutely love working with her.

Saxon is one of the oldest birds of our team, at an amazing 33 years old. Golden Eagles can soar at incredible heights, but by the time she joined the Trust team at 20 years old she has already established her flying style, and therefore she does fly slightly differently to other Golden Eagles.  Seeing her take off over Reg’s Wildflower Meadow is an amazing chance to see this species up close – especially as the sun just begins to set!

If you wanted to spot a Golden Eagle in the UK, heading up to Scotland would be your best bet. However, this may change in years to come. The Eagle Reintroduction Project that Dr Matt Stevens, our UK Projects Manager, has consulted on is looking at the potential of reintroducing these amazing birds across other areas in the UK. Watch this space for more updates on this exciting proposal!’

Last year, we were overjoyed to welcome Matilda, our first Hooded Vulture chick to hatch here at the Trust. Now at over a year old, she’s really coming in to her own. Bird Team member Owen Lincoln has began working alongside Matilda, helping her to take her first wingbeats towards joining our flying team – which he tells us all about in this month’s Bird Team Blog!

“Hello readers,

It’s with great privilege that I am writing this article all about my work alongside our Hooded Vulture chick from 2023, Matilda. Or, commonly known to the Bird Team as ‘Tilly’.

Over my near eight year career of working with birds, I have been lucky to be tasked with training a wide array of different species and family groups – ranging from Hornbills, to owls and eagles and most things in-between. However, I was yet to work with a vulture, let alone the first Hooded Vulture ever to hatch at the Hawk Conservancy Trust!

When I started working with Matilda she was around about a year of age, after living with her parents in an off-show aviary, where she would learn vital social skills from her parents. This is really important, as she will hopefully be moving in with our main team of Hooded Vultures soon, and will need to find her place within that group.

Matilda came to live with me on the section of the Trust I look after, called the Middle Section, which allowed plenty of opportunity for her to get used to me and the daily life of the Trust around her.

Once she was settled, I began going into her aviary to begin building our bond.  She was initially, understandably a bit wary of me, and was not keen to come and eat food from my glove. This continued for a few days before something clicked. Patience is always required and I realised with Matilda, that when I either sat or lay down in her aviary with food in my outstretched glove, giving her the chance to build up her confidence, she came to me when she was ready. Eventually Matilda’s fascination with my glove became apparent, as more time went on spent together, she would later comfortably hop to my outstretched glove for a tasty morsel.

As well as working towards joining the flying team, we worked on her in-aviary routine which included helping her feel comfortable with the scales. This is really important as is has allowed me to get an accurate weight and allow for health checks, necessities when flight training a young bird.

Once she mastered jumping to my glove in her aviary, and she felt confident and the bond was building, I knew it was time for our next step. We then moved Matilda to an aviary near our Savannah Arena, whilst still off-show to the daily visitors. This way she could still see all of our team walking by regularly and hear their voices. Plus, the location was also perfect to begin her taking to the skies.

We began by giving young Tilly the opportunity to walk out the aviary door, and hop to my glove each day whilst slowly getting further and further into the Savannah Arena. She’s been an absolute star, and we’re now currently as the stage where at the time of writing this article, Matilda is starting to develop her independent flying skills and confidence.  This is always a rewarding moment when working with any new bird as it really puts all those previous months of work to the test. Seeing this young vulture gain confidence and her bold personality shine through has been a real treat, and I am looking forward to introducing her to all of you throughout the winter season where she will hopefully make her first appearance in our flying displays!

Thanks for reading and I will hopefully see you all in the near future.”

“September is by far one of the best times to come and visit us at the Hawk Conservancy Trust. Although not guaranteed, there seems to be a trend of warm September days as the beginning of autumn sets in. After the excitement and exhilaration of the busy six weeks of the summer holidays, September brings a sense of calm and tranquillity; a perfect remedy to those post summer holiday blues. The Trust is bathed in glorious autumnal sun highlighting the changing colours of the trees and Reg’s’ Wildflower Meadow.

As a member of the Bird Team for many years, September has always been a particularly enjoyable period of the year for myself; it is a time to reflect on some of the highlights of the year so far.

It is always so rewarding nurturing a new member of the team and seeing their true potential unlocked. You may remember seeing the introductory videos with myself and Willow at the beginning of 2024. Willow is now a fully-fledged member of our Woodland Owl demonstration team, her development and growth over the past year has been remarkable. She is a pure joy to work alongside. James Knight from the Bird Team has had similar success with Kiara the Steller’s Sea Eagle. As the first Steller’s Sea Eagle to take to the skies as part of our demonstration team, her presence flying over Reg’s’ Wildflower Meadow is a spectacle. As one of the newest birds to the team, she does not fly everyday so if you do catch her, it is even more of a treat.

Of course, we cannot forget the introduction of our newest members of the team: a pair of Little Owls, Mozzarella and Cheddar. The pair are in the very earliest stages of training and are developing brilliantly; watch this space.

Looking forward to the autumn and winter period, we are looking forward to welcoming our visitors and Members to the exciting events this season brings. Our owl team are getting ready to fly during our popular Owls by Moonlight evenings, so you can witness these awesome predators at their very best. At the end of October the Trust gets spooky for our haunting Owl-O-Ween evenings – a special event for fans of all things spooky!

Then, before we know it, Christmas is here!  This year we have Christmas Owls by Moonlight, Christmas Carols and Owls, Father Christmas Back in Flight and our very popular Christmas Market to look forward too. Our Christmas events tend to book up fast so make sure you book up early to save disappointment.

We look forward to seeing you soon!”

Ryan Stephens, Registrar, Bird Team member.

If you’ve been to one of our flying displays, checked out our social media channels, or have even just been taking a stroll at the Trust, we’d be surprised if you hadn’t encountered Bird Team member and Events Coordinator Ben Cox. Ben’s no stranger to the spotlight, and we’re sure you’ll agree his passion for birds of prey and conserving them is infectious. We caught up with Ben to hear about a different side to his job – being on camera!

“I am extremely lucky to get to do what I absolutely love every single day of the year. The main part of my job is helping to organise all of the wonderful events we do here around the calendar year, flying birds in displays or experience days, commentating our flying displays, and of course the day-to-day care of our amazing birds. However, I would like to share a little insight into another part of my job which I absolutely adore: creating content for our social media platforms.

We are very fortunate here at the Trust to have a phenomenal team made up of many different departments, who all put in their best efforts for the same goal – the conservation of birds of prey. As part of this team we have a fantastic Marketing Department which, among many things, allows us to have a brilliant social media presence and connect with a wide audience around the world. This is absolutely vital for us as we want to spread our message and mission of conserving birds of prey with as many people as we possibly can. Conservation cannot be done in isolation, and we know we cannot achieve our mission alone. We need lots of other people to help us. This is where our social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook are so important for helping to connect with people everywhere.

We want to inspire people into falling in love with birds of prey. Creating content that showcases our birds in the best light is so important to us, as they are the true stars of everything we do. Now it would be no secret to say that even from a young age, I’ve always loved being in front of a camera! So it really is an absolute privilege to share what I love to do with millions of people around the world: promoting birds of prey and educating about the threats they face at every opportunity. I love to share my passion for these amazing animals – they are all just so different and have their own personalities that shine through in our videos and photos.

Although we plan what content we’d like to create, we have found that sometimes the spontaneous moments captured on camera are the best! Recently we have had a video of Angola, our Secretary Bird, and myself that we shared on TikTok go viral. The video is currently sitting at thirteen and a half million views! This has been absolutely mind blowing – some here at the Trust have even given me a new nickname…the “TikTok Sensation”. This situation is a very good example of how powerful social media can be. Through this one video, which is no more than 30 seconds I might add, we have connected with over thirteen million people who have now hopefully discovered our mission and been inspired to help us conserve birds of prey all around the world.

@hawkconservancytrust A sssssuper #FridayFact coming at you from Bird Team member Ben and our amazing Secretary Bird, Angola! 🐍🦎 #secretarybird #birdsofprey #bird #birdtok #birdsoftiktok #animalsoftiktok #hawkconservancytrust #hampshire ♬ Mr. Fox in the Fields – Jenny Lin

It is a very rewarding feeling indeed,  and it’s such a fun part of the job. When you start to film a video with the birds you never quite know what antics they might get up to, which makes it so exciting. I absolutely adore going through all the outtakes I’ve taken over the years – as you can imagine there are rarely one-take-wonders when filming with the birds!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who follow and support us on our social media platforms. It is very much appreciated by all of us here at the Trust, especially the birds we work with, and those that we are doing all we can to conserve in the wild. If you are not following any of our social media then why not?! Get started now; get regular updates on our birds, see sneak peeks and behind the scenes footage all about we are getting up to here at the Trust, and hear about our conservation work all around the world.

Social media is also a fantastic education tool, where you can be inspired by these magnificent birds and discover so many new things that you never knew before. One of my favourite videos to film for social media is our weekly “Friday Fact” – bite-sized facts about a different species of bird of prey every single week. We learn new things every day, so why not join us to find out something new about birds of prey every week?

Keep an eye out for us and I promise we will continue to share our passion about birds of prey with you!”

Last month, we shared the exciting news of our newest arrivals: Little Owls, Cheddar and Mozzarella. Since arriving in May, they are now almost fully grown, and their personalities are really starting to shine! We chatted to Deputy Head of Living Collection, Tom Morath, who has spent much of this past month working alongside this adorable pair, about what it’s like working with them both.

“It’s always an exciting time when we welcome new birds to the Hawk Conservancy Trust and this is especially true when those birds are still just chicks. Over the last few weeks, I’ve had the great privilege of watching two Little Owl owlets change from tiny bundles of white down into fully grown youngsters.

We’ve raised young owls here before of course – many regular visitors will be familiar with birds like Sweeney Todd, our Snowy Owl, Wispa our Boobook Owl and Troy our Tawny Owl for example. Each of these birds have started out life here at the Trust, spending as much time with members of our team here as possible to ensure that, when they grow up, they feel as comfortable and confident around us as possible.

But these Little Owls, along with changes in our working protocols, presented us with a challenge. In order to limit the risk of diseases finding their way into the Trust, we have put in place more thorough processes for any new animals arriving here.

During their initial period, five members of the team started working with them in rotation – making sure that any potential cross contamination between these new owls was kept to minimum by wearing a white lab coat, shoe covers and gloves. We all felt like we were in an episode of Holby City! Luckily for me I was one of them! They needed feeding around the clock with the first being as early at 7am and the latest at around 9pm. It’s an opportunity to consider just how hard the parent birds would have to work in the wild – these Little Owls were regularly consuming one third of their own body weight in food. Imagine having three or even four mouths to feed around the clock. They need to eat so much food because of their fast growth rate – at 2 months they are practically fully grown and as I type this I can’t quite believe that the two owls in the aviary just outside are the same birds I welcomed here as fluff-balls just a few short weeks ago.

Watching them at the very start of their journey (they were just 60 grams when they first arrived here!) was a joy. In the first week they lived in heated accommodation in our Hospital Annex in an ice-cream tub together, surrounded by rolled up towels. At this time, they could only just about keep their eyes open to feed before they would, with a full belly, sleep off their breakfast, lunch, tea or supper. Over time they’ve become more active – graduating from their ice-cream tub to larger accommodation. In a matter of a couple of weeks they could thermoregulate (maintain their own body temperature) and start to explore the big wide world around them. They’ve recently moved into an aviary where you can come to say hello to them after being given a full routine health check by our specialist vet.

At about six weeks old they made their debut – starring in many of our Brilliant Bird Brains sessions. A talk we hold every day in the summer at the Trust, Brilliant Bird Brains offers us the opportunity to present a more intimate deep dive into how we work with one of our birds in particular. It’s usually an individual member of the team (or sometimes a group) that is undertaking a little extra training or could do with a small audience to help them prepare for being in displays. What better way to begin our Little Owl’s lives here as ambassadors for their species.  Our Conservation and Research team focus some of their work with Little Owls.  Dr Matt Stevens, our UK Conservation Biologist, has installed and monitors nest boxes for Little Owls across southern England.  You can read more about this project here.

Over the course of the next few months I hope you can join us as we watch their journey to becoming fully fledged members of our flying team – every member of the Bird Team is excited to be working with them. You can expect to see them beginning to make appearances in the Woodland Owls display as soon as they’re ready – we hope before the end of the summer holidays.”

Photo: Ollie Thompson/Solent News & Photo Agency

If you visited us last summer, you may have been lucky enough to spot Fawkes, our Wahlberg’s Eagle, soaring over Reg’s Wildflower Meadow. She is a beautiful but sensitive bird, and is very selective as to who she chooses to work alongside on our Bird Team. Ronnie Hunter has been working closely with Fawkes since 2022 – carry on reading to hear from Ronnie all about this wonderful bird.

“Wahlberg’s Eagles are Africa’s smallest eagle species and whilst they may not look remarkable from a distance; their beauty is all in the details. Their feathers have a variety of deep chocolate browns and honey beige tones which change and settle as they get older. They’re ‘booted’, meaning their feathers run all the way down their legs and stop just above the feet giving the appearance of wearing trousers! They have a crest that they use as a form of nonverbal communication. Most people will picture a bird’s crest as ornate curled feathers like a cockatoo or elongated feathers creating a crown like a Harpy eagle; the Wahlberg’s Eagle crest is neither of these. Instead, they have just a few feathers on the top of their head that are slightly longer than the rest and when raised, creates a small triangle crest.

Fawkes hatched on the 24 November 2017 weighing in at just 40 grams and was hand reared by Bird Team member Jane Robertson. You can still see Fawkes’ egg shell if you visit the National Bird of Prey Hospital™ during your next visit! Fawkes was hand reared because her parents lost interest in incubation and at the time there were no suitable foster parents available to raise her. She didn’t have an easy start to life: battling mild infections at just a couple of months old, but she soon made a full recovery and joined the flying team.

Fawkes is a sensitive eagle. She isn’t very fond of loud noise, bright colours, vehicles or other birds – particularly corvids and buzzards. She also very much decides for herself which members of the Bird Team she is willing to work alongside here at the Trust. When I first started working at the Trust, Fawkes was still figuring out who she would like to work with after her parental figure, Jane, transitioned away from working on site with the birds to a different role offsite. I was very fortunate to have worked closely with a Wahlberg’s Eagle at a previous job so asked if I could test the waters with Fawkes. Turns out the Wahlberg’s Eagle I had previously worked with is Fawkes’ half-sister! Fortunately for me, Fawkes almost instantly accepted me as her new flying partner and over the past couple of years we have been working on Fawkes’ confidence and flying skills. Last year we were often involved in parts of the daily timetable at the Trust, including   ‘Masters of the Sky’, one of our displays. Having been hand reared, Fawkes has had to rely purely on her own instinct when it comes to learning how to fly like an eagle and it takes a long time for some birds to gain confidence in doing so. Even now she sometimes scares herself by flying too fast because she misjudges the wind. Fawkes’ next step this year is to work on developing bonds with other members of the Bird Team so that more of us get to enjoy working with her.

If you’ve ever been lucky enough to step into our burrow on a Meet the Burrowers VIP Encounter, you will have become closer than you might have expected to our cheeky team of Burrowing Owls! Someone who knows these owls better than most is Bird Team member Patrick King, who heads up the Burrowing Owl section at the Trust. We heard from Patrick what it’s like working alongside these mischievous birds.

“No day is quite the same with our wonderful Burrowing Owl squad! As a smaller, more delicate species, our Burrowing Owls have an overnight bay that they can keep warm in. My first job in the morning is to check on the owls – what a way to start the day! I usually walk in, turn the lights on and say good morning to each owl, checking to make sure they’re ready for the day ahead.

At this point in the day they’re really animated – they know breakfast is coming! But first things first, each owl is weighed to make sure they’re as fit and healthy as can be. One by one the owls come out of their bay and sit on the scales before heading into their cosy travel box and tucking into some food.

Once they’ve had time to eat their breakfast, they are picked up in their travel box and carried to their aviary, which I have prepared for them earlier. Once in the aviary, they’re free to chill out and do what they’d like, which is usually having a good dig! Diamondback and Coral have a routine which they seem to enjoy carrying out every day, where they take a dip in their water bowl, drink some water together, and spend a good ten minutes preening!

While they relax in the aviary, I then have the important but unglamorous job of cleaning out their night bays. Burrowing Owls by nature tend to burrow, which means there’s usually a bit of work to do to clean up their mess!

I love working with all of our Burrowing Owls. Amongst the group of six there’s a whole mix of personalities. It’s nice to have the sense that the feeling is mutual – this group seem to have taken a liking to me too, and there’s a mutual trust between us all. They are such quirky little birds, and I could honestly watch them for hours to see all their funny antics. I love watching people meet them all in our Meet the Burrowers VIP Encounters – it’s nice to see how captivated people can be by such little birds.”

Meet Diamondback

“Diamondback is a laid back chap and a really lovely owl. He’s fairly reserved, so keeps himself out of trouble. Often when I am working in their aviary he will come up to say hello, politely getting his beak stuck in to find out what I’m up to. Sometimes he even flies up to land on my shoulder while I am working! His favourite thing to do is explore what’s in the buckets I carry – usually just tidied away sticks and leaves, but it fascinates him nonetheless. Diamondback and Coral are a close pair which is always lovely to see.”

Meet Coral

“I would describe Coral as a bit of a rogue. She is a lovely little owl, but does what she wants and when she wants to do it! Once she’s put her mind to something, there’s no convincing her otherwise. During our Meet the Burrowers VIP Encounters Coral can be one of the most engaging owls, landing all around and on our guests to say hello. However, she can also be completely uninterested, perfectly happy to make a brief appearance before settling down to chew on some grasses. Speaking of which, we have recently discovered her complete fascination for lettuce, which we’re working to capture on camera as it’s just so unique! She does also have a close bond to Diamondback, and looks out for him if Sidewinder gets a bit bolshie.”

Meet Sidewinder

“Sidewinder is definitely the most confident member of the team. He thinks he runs the entire Hawk Conservancy Trust, let alone the Burrowing Owl troop! He is the largest of our Burrowing Owls, and apparently knows it. You’ll often hear him demonstrating his territorial call, showing off to anybody nearby just how amazing he is. Sidewinder certainly lives up to his Burrowing Owl name – he is the biggest digger of the group. He is always working on a new tunnel, and no matter how many times I fill in the holes he makes there’s always another excavation of his to fill in at the end of the day!”

Meet Cottonmouth

“Cottonmouth is a very pleasant lady…when you’re in her good books! Now I’m out of earshot of her I can definitely describe her as a bit of a diva. If my cleaning in the aviary is not up to her standards she’ll make it very clear, gathering all of the missed helicopter seeds and any leaf litter she can find into a little pile to present back to me. She’s very investigative and likes to keep all the plants in their aviary looking to her liking, which in other words means she’ll happily shred and tear all the plants up if I don’t keep an eye on her!”

Meet Rattle and Rainbow

“Rainbow and Rattle are our younger pair of Burrowing Owls. They live in the separate half of the aviary to the rest of the team, as with all siblings there’d be too much arguing if they were all together!

Rattle reminds me very much of a young Sidewinder – an extroverted and dominant little owl. His favourite activity is shredding up the paper that we use to line his night bay. I can only describe his bay each morning as chaos! He shares these digs with Rainbow, who is a little more reserved than him. Not that that doesn’t mean Rainbow won’t often be found at the centre of mischief himself! They are both brilliant owls, and as our younger pair we are working alongside them at their own pace to introduce them onto quieter VIP Encounter sessions, and maybe more into the future!”

Flying in all the way from Ohio, USA, we’re excited to introduce you to the newest member of our Bird Team! Jillian Varner joined us this spring, excited to bring her experience in animal care and conservation to the Trust, and has previously worked as a keeper, educator and animal trainer. We caught up with Jillian to get to know her a bit more…

“Thank you so much for welcoming me onto the Hawk Conservancy Trust team! I am so excited to begin my next adventure with such a wonderful group of people (and birds!).

I graduated from Ohio University in 2014 with a BA in Integrated Language Arts with the intent of teaching English Literature. However, I was drawn back to my first true passion – animals. I began volunteering at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens, eventually taking on a few different positions within their Education Department. This is where I discovered how rewarding it is to teach about the importance of wildlife and conservation (even when a class decides to name a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach after you!).

I then went on to work in the “Surfin’ Safari” display at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. Here I was fortunate to work directly with a variety of species, both as a keeper and trainer. While featuring species such as kangaroos, toucans, and binturongs, the display had another educational aspect as well – the adoption of domestic cats and dogs. To showcase that they are wonderful, capable animals deserving of homes, we would care for these cats and dogs from local shelters, and work with them to learn complex behaviours. Sadly, the show closed due to COVID-19, but we were happily able to place our 25 dogs and 40 cats with loving homes to live out their retirement!

Having recently relocated from the United States to here in England, I am so thankful that I am able to continue working so closely with animals. I am excited to begin working with the birds of prey here at the Hawk Conservancy Trust, and getting to learn about a whole new range of native species! I hope my experience working with other animals will be beneficial for the birds here, and I look forward to learning all I can from the fantastic Bird Team members.

A top priority in each of my previous roles has been inspiring others to protect our wildlife. The focus on conservation and helping people to better appreciate birds like vultures is such an important mission, and the Trust is truly excelling in this area. In the few weeks that I have been here I have already seen such amazing teamwork from the staff and volunteers, and I’m so glad to be a part of this unique and great organisation!”

Be sure to say hello to Jillian if you see her on your next visit to the Trust!