We are delighted to be working with the Cameron Bespolka Trust who have kindly agreed to support some exciting educational projects.  The Cameron Bespolka Trust is a charity that has been set up in memory of Cameron and his passion for wildlife. Cameron was a young naturalist who loved nature and in particular birds.  He spent much of his time exploring the outdoors and visited the Hawk Conservancy Trust on many occasions where he loved getting close to the birds here, whatever the weather!

The main aim of the Cameron Bespolka Trust is to inspire and encourage young people to love and appreciate wildlife and our environment, which is a shared aim of ours at the Hawk Conservancy Trust.  We need young conservationists of the future to help us achieve our mission – the conservation of birds of prey and their habitats.

In his memory, the Cameron Bespolka Trust are funding some opportunities at the Hawk Conservancy Trust that are open to teenagers and young people to discover the wonderful world of birds of prey and nature and encourage a career and or long-term passion in conserving them.

The Cameron Bespolka Trust will enable two internships within our Conservation, Research and Education department.  The internships will offer hands-on experience with public engagement and education for conservation, fieldwork, analysis, and science communication while supporting the Trust’s on-site biodiversity work.

The Cameron Bespolka Trust will also support our Explore Nature programme in 2025.  Explore Nature is a programme that invites senior school students and community groups to spend a day the Hawk Conservancy Trust to attend workshops, career exploration, and displays. It aims to encourage young people, who simply may not get the opportunity otherwise, to connect with nature.

We are excited about the new partnership and look forward to working together in the future.

A new bird of prey flying display is being launched just in time for the Easter holidays!

The new ‘Woodland Wonders’ flying display will take flight daily from Saturday 5 April, following extensive remodelling work within our Woodland Arena. It will bring to life the quintessential British woodland environment and highlight its importance as a habitat for the many species of wildlife it supports.

Multiple birds of prey will take to the air as stunningly choreographed music, special effects and narration give visitors a close-up view of life deep among the trees. Some may feel the breeze of an owl’s wings brushing incredibly close overhead – perhaps those of a Tawny Owl, Barn Owl or even a Little Owl – so named as the smallest species of owl living wild in the UK.

Speaking about the new display, our Deputy Head of Living Collection Tom Morath said: “The team has been working on Woodland Wonders for months now and we can’t wait to share it with our visitors.  Set within our beautiful woodland, this is the most intimate of the three very different flying displays we offer every day. With its new features and captivating storytelling, Woodland Wonders reveals more than ever before about fascinating birds of prey here in the UK.  Our visitors can learn about the challenges these birds face, and how the Trust’s British conservation projects improve our knowledge of these species, helping us to conserve them. Ultimately, we try to ensure all our visitors leave feeling uplifted, more aware and inspired to support birds of prey.”

“We’ve really spread our creative wings for Woodland Wonders.  The team of staff and volunteers have worked incredibly hard to make this our most immersive experience to date – expanding the seating for new and dynamic viewing angles and even creating a charming waterfall and stream as a backdrop to the stunning skills displayed by our wonderful birds.”

Many of you will have seen last year’s arrival of Little Owl chicks Cheddar and Mozzarella and Barn Owl chicks Lulu and Brie.  All four are now fully grown and ready to take flight in the new display when it opens at the start of April.

We’re delighted to share that Bird Team member Jennie Marshall has passed her Level 3 Zookeeper and Aquarist Apprenticeship with flying colours! A very well-deserved accolade for nearly two years of hard work. We chatted with Jennie to reflect on her time working towards this qualification, the skills she’s learnt along the way, and close bond with one particular bird she’s bonded with through it all…

I started at the Hawk Conservancy Trust in October 2021, where I began my Level 2 Apprenticeship qualification. After completing this, I then began my Zookeeper & Aquarist Level 3 Qualification in February last year, and after completing this in October this year I am now a fully qualified keeper!

Throughout my Apprenticeship I’ve really enjoyed learning how to care for the birds across all sections here at the Trust. As well as learning how to care for the birds in their aviaries, I love working with the birds during our flying displays, and learning about the ways of working with them and the training techniques that take place.

As part of the Apprenticeship, I’ve not just learned about birds of prey, but all types of different animal groups and species, and how to look after them. When we covered mammals, our Miniature Donkeys Mickey and Molly were the focus of my attention for a while! I really enjoyed this – they are such a fun pair of animals to work with, and I look forward to looking after them twice a week when my colleague Ryan Stephens (their best friend) is on his days off.

But, during my time here, there’s one specific bird who I’ve really bonded with…and that’s Burdock the Turkey Vulture! We obviously don’t have favourites here, but Burdock is pretty high up on my list! We’ve worked really closely together since I started at the Trust, both in flying displays and working alongside him on my Apprenticeship.

As part of my qualification, I had to demonstrate training techniques with our birds, so choosing a bird to work with for this was easy! Together, Burdock and I worked so that he would feel comfortable hopping into a transport box. This is a really important thing for our birds to be able to do confidently, as it means if he ever moves aviaries, needs to go to the vets or have a health check, it can be done really smoothly and as easy for them as possible. Burdock is a very inquisitive bird by nature, but can be a bit nervous when new things are introduced into his aviary or his daily routines. This training centred around building on the trust between us, not rushing things and letting him go at his own pace. There was learning for both of us to do!

His first introduction to the travel box was quite positive – he immediately went up to it, and spent time going in, around and jumping on top of it. After investigating it, he seemed content with it being in his aviary. We’ve gone through some trial and error with different training techniques – sometimes he would run into the box before I asked him to, and sometimes he would hop in and would refuse to come back out, seemingly content to stay in there of his own accord! We are currently trying Target Training – a method where Burdock will go to an area indicated by a target and receive his favourite tasty treat when he does so.

I’d like to think the feeling is mutual with Burdock – in fact, he’s made it pretty obvious he’s a a fan of me too! There was a period of time where if Burdock was flying with another member of the team and I was onsite, he would use his fantastic sense of smell to sniff me out! He demonstrated this fantastically once while I was running an Owl Experience session in our Woodland Arena – a gate-crashing Turkey Vulture was a bit of a surprise for everyone! There were times he would fly the entire perimeter of the site to try find me if he thought he could smell me. So I think the favouritism is returned – although I’m not quite sure how to take it really as his species is used to sniffing out rotting carcasses! We’ve now combatted this, but sometimes when he’s out flying I make sure I’m hidden out the way – just in case.

Over the years, our 22 acres have grown and developed into an award-winning visitor attraction, surrounded by wonderous wildlife. Having worked at the Trust for over 20 years, Bird Team Member and Head of Flying Birds Mike Riley has been there for many of these exciting developments. We caught up with Mike to hear all about the next area of the Trust to have a revamp – our Woodland Arena!

“Well autumn is upon us again, and it’s the time of year where some of our birds will rest for the winter months, and some will begin their flying season.

Making sure that our birds are comfortable is our top priority, with any changes we make.  As we swap the birds around to prepare the winter birds for this time of year, we make sure that our team are ready to go for our daily winter flying displays, experience sessions, and Behind-The-Scenes VIP Winter Experiences – as well as their understudy’s should the birds choose they don’t want to fly for whatever reason! This allows them to take it in turns.

As some of you may know, even the slightest change can cause a stir for some of our starring celebrities, especially in the owl world, and we’ve had a number of hurdles to cross already this year. More on that in a little bit!

Not only are we managing this changeover of which birds are flying and who’s resting, we’re also working hard around the Trust. If you’ve been a regular visitor throughout the year, you’ll hopefully have seen that at the start of the 2024 season we started new work in the Woodland Arena. The large pond, which used to be home to our two seals Cockle and Clam way back in the 1960’s, has now been filled in. This gives us a much larger arena to move around in while working with our birds.

You may also have noticed a large concrete structure has appeared at the bottom left of the arena, where work has been in progress for the last couple of months. This is a surprise so I can’t tell you what it is, but what I can say is that it is all part of something new for 2025.

We’re looking to start further work on this during our two closed periods in November and January. As we move into winter, January is always an interesting month for any work that we undertake.  Whatever we’re doing also has to fit around our Winter Woodland lights extravaganza, which runs from Friday 17 January to Sunday 2 February next year.

During these closed periods, working with the birds and their routines continues and we carefully get them used to any changes within the Woodland Arena as the work continues by our amazing team of volunteers. One of our most dedicated volunteers who helps us at this time is Viv Broughton.  If you don’t know Viv, he’s the creative mastermind and builder behind the six new themed aviaries around the edge of the Woodland Arena, which are amazing to say the least!

We have been working closely with our birds to make sure they are comfortable with the building work in the woods, and will continue to do so when the new lighting and sound system is installed for Winter Woodland Lights. Even though we’ve done the Winter Woodland lights for a number of years now, we still make sure the owls are used to all the new set up all over again. As their daily routines don’t usually involve so much extra equipment being around, sometimes it’s like they have never seen it before.

For Troy the Tawny Owl, this was the case when we upgraded to a new sound system in the Woodland Arena earlier this year. The new system controls the commentator’s headsets and all the music with new speakers hidden within the trees and log piles. After installing these, Troy decided he just wouldn’t fly over towards any of the speakers, and created his own routes through the trees, keeping all the Bird Team on their toes!

One tree in particular, known as ‘Troy’s Tree’, is central in the arena. It has been nicknamed ‘Troy’s Tree’, as it’s the final tree Troy flies to during the Woodland Owls display before heading off for home. After the new speakers were installed, he refused to land in it! We’ve adapted things to work around him and he flies home from a different position. Perhaps he can hear a different sound or frequency which he isn’t used to. But, as is the case with all of our birds, he’s the boss, so we’ve found ways to work with what suits him best so that he’s happy in his routine.

It will be interesting to see how Molly, our Eurasian Eagle-Owl reacts to the new set up, as it’s her first time starring in this event. She takes it in turns to fly in our routines with Cinnamon, our Siberian Eagle-Owl. Cinnamon usually takes the limelight for Winter Woodland Lights, and this will be her first year joining the flying team for this event, so we will be working closely with her to make sure she’s happy with these new additions in our arena.

We’ve got quite a number of events over the next few months and the team know there’s a lot of work that goes into making sure the birds are happy with the changes to their routine. But by careful training and planning, we’re confident things will run smoothly.

So, keep updated on the website for more details to come about these exciting new changes for next year, and do keep coming along to see first-hand how we’re developing the Woodland Arena.”

Small mammals (for example rodents) make up a high proportion of the diet of UK birds of prey. For the last few years, the Conservation and Research team at the Hawk Conservancy Trust have carried out small mammal surveys at both on-site and at two local external sites in Hampshire to estimate prey availability and abundance, which are key for a successful breeding season. These sites are chosen based on locations of regularly used nest boxes that are monitored as part of our Raptor Nest Box Project.  With Kestrel numbers declining across the country, we are particularly interested in their main prey species, the Field Vole. Nevertheless, we record all mice, voles and shrews we catch and release throughout a season.

In this study, we set traps overnight which have lots of cosy bedding and plenty of food in them to ensure they are safe, warm and well fed! We then return first thing the following morning to check whether there are any visitors. If we are lucky, we gently handle them to take a few body measurements, helping to identify which species they are. After a few minutes, we release them safe and sound right back to where they were found.

This year, after a late start in mid-July, we had hoped to fit in two rounds of surveying at all three of our sites (one round takes a week). Sadly, due to large amounts of rain, the season had to be shortened. When it rains, the bedding can become wet and cold turning the experience into a slightly less comfortable stay for any small mammals using the traps. This meant we only managed to survey at our external sites once, but managed to do two rounds here at the Trust, which had surprisingly high numbers this year!

In total, we caught 62 small mammals over four rounds of trapping; 50 were caught here at the Trust, but we had two sessions here compared to just the one at each of the other sites. It was interesting to note a difference between the two weeks at the Trust, catching 14 small mammals the first round and 36 in the next round. Interestingly, across all three sites, we caught relatively even numbers of shrews, voles and mice species across the survey period, but the winner for the highest numbers was the Common Shrew (18) closely followed by the Field Vole (13)!

We also encountered six false triggers, where the trap door was closed but nothing was inside, which were either due to traps malfunctioning, or rather tactful small mammals evading the trigger panel! As a result, we made sure to look for signs of small mammal visitation; signs of nibbling on the food, faeces and burrowing in bedding, which can also be useful to know that something had visited regardless.

We spoke to our Conservation and Research Intern Mathilde Ducroz, and new Research Assistant Tanith Jones, for their thoughts on their first real experience working on small mammal research:

Mathilde:
Having worked with wild birds previously, I expected the small mammals to be easier to work with. I was very wrong! Despite them not being able to fly away, their speed, jumping and impressive contortion skills (voles, mice and shrews have loose skin that enables them to twist around) make them the expert escape artists and incredibly hard to handle. A rodent or shrew will take any exit it can see, including running up your colleague’s sleeve and back, which made for a memorable situation!

Small mammals are an essential part of ecosystems and are the source of food of many mammals and birds but, apart from the occasional house mouse or rat, are seldom seen by many people. It felt very special to have such a close up encounter of these little creatures. Differentiating between the species proved quite the challenge at the start, especially between Bank and Field Vole. After spotting a few of them, the distinction became more obvious, with tail length a good indicator: approximately one third of body length for Field Voles against half of the body length for Bank Voles.

Tanith:
I have never worked directly with small mammals in the past and my only experience of monitoring them has been using indirect techniques, such as processing owl pellets. Learning how to hold them, how the traps work, set-up and maintenance as well as building upon identification skills, meant no two days were the same over the summer. I came to learn how nimble and agile these small mammals can be, and I have a newfound respect for how our birds of prey are able to hunt them with so much grace and precision!

With many high points as well as some challenges across this survey period, I am looking forward to approaching the next season with what I have learnt. Small mammal surveying is a great way to see what prey species are in the area and how this could potentially impact the breeding season of birds of prey across our countryside.

Sunday 4 August 2024 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 – come along and find out more our work with these mystical creatures, how you can experience the magic of owls for yourself, and what we’re doing to help conserve them.

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 expect! This enchanting display features a variety of owl species, including the Barn Owl, Great Grey Owl, Tawny Owl, and more!

Book your next visit to see this immersive display.

Raptor Nest Box Programme

Here at the Trust we care about the conservation of native owls. So much so that we have an on-going project called the Raptor Nest Box Project, which aims to maximise the population potential of four UK bird species, three of which being lovely owls (Barn Owl, Little Owl and Tawny Owl)!

Since the mid-20th century, Kestrel and owl habitats continue to be limited due to human disturbance, resulting in a decline in populations. By building nest boxes for these species, it gives these birds a fighting chance to improve their numbers and, in turn, also allows us to monitor and record them. Find out more about our conservation actions here.

Owl Experiences

Our Owl Experiences give all owl lovers the memorable opportunity to get close to and fly some of our fascinating owls. On this special experience, our Bird Team will share fascinating insights into some of the amazing owl species we have at the Hawk Conservancy Trust, and the work we do to help conserve them.

Your session will include meeting and flying a range of owl species, from some of smallest to the largest. The exact species you meet and fly on your experience session will vary but may include a Barn Owl, Tawny Owl, Long-eared Owl or eagle-owls. There may also be the opportunity to work with young birds in training.

We also offer a Children’s Owl Experience, where 6-11 year olds can join in the fun! This fun-packed session involves learning how to identify British owls by sight and from their calls, dissecting a wild owl pellet to try and identify what the owl has eaten, and the chance to hold and fly several species owl from Britain and around the world.

Owl Events

Seeing our birds fly in the evening and at night-time is a truly magical experience. Our owls often feature in these events, taking to the wing against a sunset sky and skimming over heads under the cover of darkness. Our popular Owls by Moonlight events give you a glimpse into the world of owls as they show off their flying skills under a moonlit sky. Our spook-tacular Halloween event, Owl-O-Ween, combines ghostly story-telling with our owls flying for a ghoulishly good display!

As the festive season arrives and the Trust grounds transform into a winter wonderland, you can see our owls flying with Christmas cheer at our Owls by Moonlight at Christmas event. Not your average carolling concert, our Christmas Carols and Owls event will enchant you with a live choir and band performing carols as our owls weave through the woodland around you. Father Christmas, Evergreen the mischievous Elf, and their team of magical owls will also be making a stop at the Trust to give all the good boys and girls their presents during Father Christmas: Back in Flight!

Our owls will also be making a return to welcome in the new year at Winter Woodland Lights in January 2025 – more news on this to come!

Book your tickets now to come and celebrate International Owl Awareness Day by seeing our wonderful array of owls on Sunday 4 August! 

Those of you who have been visiting the Trust for a long time will remember our superstar Bald Eagle – Cheyenne. After many years of soaring over the East Cholderton valley, she is enjoying a peaceful retirement at the grand age of 29 years old. She is dutifully cared for by Bird Team member James Knight, who in recent months has started some new training with her to make sure she stays active. Read James’s blog to hear all about it:

“Cheyenne is one of the oldest residents here at the Hawk Conservancy Trust at just under 30 years old. In her youth, she was one of our most iconic birds, flying in our displays as an ambassador of her incredible species. As she is now an older bird, she is enjoying a very well-earned retirement. Her younger brother, Orion, has taken on the mantle of flying in demonstrations and is excelling in them!

While Cheyenne is taking a much more laid-back approach to flying these days, she’s living in an off-show aviary behind the scenes of the Trust, in a section I often look after. We’ve been getting to know each other, and I’m working hard to keep her in tip top condition.  During the last couple of months of working together, we’ve been working for Cheyenne to take part in her own health checks. This is a really fantastic way of not only keeping a wonderful working relationship with one another and making sure Cheyenne still has time to interact and socialise, it also allows us to monitor if she has a clean bill of health and undertake any necessary health care she may need!

Fortunately, Cheyenne is fit and healthy. But as she gets older we want to make sure we can look after her as best as we can. So a few of the things we’ve been looking at together is giving Cheyenne the opportunity to present her feet for health checks.  This involves Cheyenne holding her talons up to a specific part of her aviary netting, and allowing us to inspect the undersides of her feet and make sure her talons are clean and in good order. She’s a clever girl, and has really been getting on with this new routine. It only took a few sessions of us working on this together for her to figure it all out.

Now that she is happy presenting her feet, the next health check we’re working on is beak presentations. We are working on ‘target training’ – a common technique used when working with animals that teaches them to touch a part of their body to a target so it can be looked at. With Cheyenne, we have been giving her the opportunity to ‘touch’ a clear target with the end of her beak. Again, she mastered this after only a few tries, and now she will even hold her beak on a ledge and allow me to have a really good look at her beak. To check it’s in good shape, I make sure there are no cracks or weak areas that can start to develop in birds of prey as they get older. We have worked closely to build such a strong bond, so much so she is even comfortable for me to check her nares (a name used for bird’s nostrils) and eyes too. We are going to continue to build on her fantastic work – next steps for Cheyenne will be full body presentations so we can give her health checks on her wings and legs.

She is such a brilliant bird to work with – so intelligent and fun. I am looking forward to seeing her develop more and more, and hopefully if things continue to well we can start looking at working with some of the other birds at the Trust in a similar way!”

Congratulations to Ivan Oruka – the winner of our 2023 Marion Paviour Award!

Ivan is currently studying at Gulu University, Uganda, undertaking a Master’s degree in Environmental Science and Natural Resource Management.

Ivan is currently undertaking a project that is leading the way for research on Critically Endangered Rüppell’s Vultures. His work is focused in the Luku Central Forest Reserve, where he is studying the only known breeding colony of these important birds in the entire country of Uganda.

This project is the first of its kind in the country – trailblazing the way forward for future conservation efforts to conserve this species of vulture. Ivan is currently gathering data to determine the size of the breeding population within this area, identify what seems to influence which cliff ledges the vultures use to nest on, and finally, what their breeding success rate is and what could influence their success.

Our Marion Paviour Award grant has supported Ivan with this research. These funds have allowed him to cover costs associated with travel to the reserve, some of the equipment he is using to carry out his research, and local costs to cover permits for access to protected forest sites.

On winning the award, Ivan commented:

“To receive this award from you, joy and happiness are an understatement. This award is a timely fuel to my work and just like my birds of interest, my research activities are definitely going to soar. Because I am studying the last members of the species, this award is a dawn of hope to them. In fact, I dedicate it to my birds. All together for community transformation to save the plight of vultures.”

Since receiving the award, Ivan has collected four months of data, and is beginning to interpret what the research can tell us about these precious birds. He has also observed new chicks at the nest sites over the winter months – fantastic news!

Keep your eyes peeled as we continue to share updates from Ivan’s work conserving these Critically Endangered vultures.

Calling all Members…

…did you know you can join our exclusive Hawk Conservancy Trust 100 Club?

By joining our 100 Club, you’ll be in with the opportunity to support the Trust’s vital work AND have the chance to win prizes!

We award 39 prizes to our paid up 100 Club members every year, awarding £100, £50 and £25 on thirteen occasions annually. That’s £2275 in prize money given out every year!

As a member of the 100 Club, you will also have the opportunity to join us for our special 100 Club Members’ night held at the Trust during the summer. This special evening is organised by the team at the Trust as a thank you for the extra support provided by the 100 Club members. It’s a lovely, intimate evening of bird flight and uplifting commentary from the Bird Team, and we look forward to seeing our members there every year.

If you are a member of the Hawk Conservancy Trust and would like to know more about the 100 Club, you can find more on our website here – there’s more information about how we have supported the Trust over the years, as well as details on how to get involved.

If you are already a 100 Club member, I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you! Don’t forget, you can always signup for additional shares to further your support and increase your chances of winning in our monthly prize draws.

Pauline Rafferty, Hawk Conservancy Trust 100 Club Treasurer.