The British Bird of Prey Centre

 

Seeing captive and caged birds always leaves me with bad feelings. I know there are valid reasons for keeping some birds in captivity, breeding programs, injured or vulnerable birds and sometimes educational objectives but it is always difficult, seeing them behind glass or netting, staring out at the open skies.

How did we get to this point. Sue and I were in South Wales and the National Botanic Garden of Wales was on her list of places to visit. I knew before we went that it was co-located with the British Bird of Prey Centre but I wasn't really sure if I wanted to see the birds. How much was breeding for release and how much was exploitation and breeding for captivity.

In the end I did have a look around and did watch one of the flying displays. I am still not sure that I like the idea of captive birds but I have to say that the facilities were excellent and the staff obviously really committed to caring for the birds. 

The centres statement about their birds appears to be truthful........ 

All of our aviaries have been designed specifically for each individual species, so will all be slightly different. Most of our birds are captive bred and are therefore used to people. They would not survive if they had to go into the wild. We fly them all daily to give them a chance to be free, but they all like to come home and be warm and fed at the end of the day.

.......but it doesn't answer the question of could they have been released or were they bred to be kept in captivity. Further, if they were bred for captivity is it justified as a way of educating the public about the lives and beauty of the birds.

On the question of educating the public they also have a quote from David Attenborough

“No one will protect what they don't care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced" - David Attenborough

Some birds from the flying display

Snowy Owl

Like so many of the birds in this blog I hope to see a Snowy Owl in the wild one day. If I do it will really be an achievement and a day to remember. Margaret as she is called was interesting and I am a bird photographer so I took pictures but there was no real feeling of success. Even calling her Margaret somehow degrades the experience.

White-tailed Eagle

This White-tailed Eagle is over 30 years old and has probably been in captivity most, if not all, of her life. However, in the wild she would be lucky to live much beyond 20 years. She is probably more than happy to have a home that is warm and a regular supply of food.

White-tailed Eagle

She may be old but she was still very impressive when flying, particularly when she came in to land with her wing passing about six inches over our heads. 

The third bird we saw flying was a Long-eared Owl but it was a forlorn sight and still crying for food like a chick in the nest. Nothing like the majestic birds I have seen in the wild.

Juvenile Goshawk

The most impressive bird was this juvenile Goshawk. There was no display flying from this bird. It was shown a prey target and it hit it within seconds. It then tried to take a chunk out of the hand of the keeper that was attempting to recover the target. I can see why they wear the gloves.

I didn't go to anymore of the flying displays  but I did walk around the show cages and took pictures of a few of the birds I was interested in. Hence the netting in front of them in the following pictures.

Goshawk

An adult Goshawk, far more frightening than all the other birds there, including the Eagles.

Great Grey Owl

I am hoping to get to Canada and Alaska next year and whilst the chances of success are small, the Great Grey Owl would be a target bird. I really didn't want to see one sitting on a wall bracket in a cage in Wales.

Honey Buzzard

The Honey Buzzard was probably my best learning opportunity of the day. It is not a bird I have seen in the wild and I was really unsure about identifying one. I feel a lot more confident having seen this bird.

Merlin

I felt sorry for the Merlin, so cleaned up his face a bit and made a hole for him to escape through - but only in the picture.

Red Kite

Had to take this one as Sue thought it looked so pretty.

Eagle Owl

This one I freed completely from the netting. It can be done but it takes a lot of work and the quality of the picture is degraded. Worst still, you may not see the cage but I will always know it was there.

There appears to be a lot of these "bird of prey experience" companies opening up around the country. Most of them will be focussed on commercial survival for the first few years and the jury must still be out on the level of contribution they can make to conservation. All I know for sure is that there are a lot of birds being held in cages that could be flying free.

However, from a purely selfish point of view -  would I go back? Possibly, a day photographing the birds both flying and with the nets removed would be an interesting challenge. I would just have to learn to deal with the guilt and shame, that would come from joining the sad looking bunch of long lenses, that should really be out finding their own wild birds. More guilt and shame, that is, than I already have.

Goshawk Chicks

I have never been close enough to a Goshawk to be able to get a decent picture so when I had the opportunity to observe a ringing team I leapt at the chance. I had a vision of cuddly little chicks but it did not quite fit the reality. Cute they may be but cuddly they are not. Even at around three weeks they are already showing the large talons, the beak, and the attitude that makes them such a fierce hunter.

Goshawk chick - singleton in nest three

I met up with the guys at a remote car park and we set off to investigate the first of six nests. This one had been abandoned as had the second but the last four nests held a total of nine chicks. The Goshawk will lay between one and five eggs but the normal size brood is now three with only the occasional nest holding four.

In the UK the Goshawk has the highest level of legal protection being listed as a schedule 1 bird. The ringing and nest checking helps extend our knowledge of the bird, but the data is also fed to landowners and forestry interests, so that they can ensure that the birds are not disturbed by tree felling or other activities during the nesting season. Many of these nests will have been reported by rangers and game keepers.

A bit of history first. In Britain Goshawk breeding had mostly ceased by the 1880s due to deforestation and persecution. Goshawks were re-introduced by falconers with large numbers being imported in the 1960s and 70s. Many of them escaped or were deliberately released and these established scattered breeding populations. Despite ongoing persecution, from theft of eggs and chicks and the killing of adult birds, they have gradually extended their foothold and there are now estimated to be about five hundred breeding pairs in the country.

Moving on to the birds, the first problem was the walk into the nests, I am not quite as fit as I thought. The second is getting to the nest. They can be as low as ten to twelve metres but the four trees climbed today had nests at over twenty metres with the highest being twenty seven metres. For this you need someone that knows what they are doing.

Rob on the way up

and nearing the nest

The Goshawks favour Larch but will also nest in pine trees. They will return to the same nest site year after year often reworking the existing nest but occasionally starting a new nest in the same area. The nest is substantial and needs good support. They are usually built at the bottom level of the canopy giving the parents access routes under the trees. The one above is easy to see against the open sky but in denser woodland even a large nest can be hard to spot.

Three Chicks from nest four

The chicks age is determined by measurement of the length of the primary wing feathers. With the females being larger and heavier than the males, the width of the tarsus and the weight of the chick enable the sex to be determined. This is usually done after 18 to 20 days although it is often evident before this time.

Two males at the back with female at the front -
Although born last the female is already twenty percent heavier than either of the males.

but the males tend to be more feisty at this early age

Nest five was a bit unusual. It appeared to have a male sitting on the nest. It is possible that the female was away feeding, but the male would normally bring food to her on the nest. When the two chicks were brought down it was clear that one was not getting enough food.

These two chicks are about the same age but the one on the left is much lighter in weight. It does however, have a full crop of food so there is a good chance that it could survive. 

It is possible that something has happened to the female and that the male is attempting to fledge the chicks by itself. Unfortunately, despite their legal status, the Goshawks are still persecuted and if the female has found an easy source of food picking up Pheasant poults on one of the local shoots it could have run into trouble.

Nest six was at twenty seven metres but it was the only one where you could get a partial view into the nest from higher up the hill. This again held three chicks.

Do you get the impression that he is eyeing me up as a food source?

Nest six three chicks

A fantastic day out and so much learnt about this wonderful bird. A nice picture of a female, sitting out in the open, would have really finished off the blog on a high point but despite seeing a number of males and females none of them offered picture opportunities.

I think I could now spot a female Goshawk, but, with the fleeting views that you get, I am still not sure that I could separate out the male from a Sparrow Hawk.

My thanks to Jerry for allowing me to tag along, to Rob for all the climbing, and to Scott and Natalie who are training to take on the role in the future.