When members of the public find injured or orphaned birds of prey and owls around the Mendips area of the south West they often turn to the Hawk and Owl Trust.
Although the Trust is not a rehabilitation organisation Chris Sperring MBE, the Trust's conservation officer in the South West, has developed the Mendip Rehabilitation Project since 2004 to rehabilitate and release such birds into suitable wild places.
The rehabilitation project works with other rescue organisations to rescue birds, provide necessary veterinary care, provide suitable recuperation aviaries and food, provide pre-release site assessment and monitoring (to ensure abundant natural food supply and no other birds of the same species holding territory), portable aviaries to acclimatise birds to new areas prior to release, and finally soft release of rehabilitated birds back to the wild (including 3-4 weeks of post-release feeding and monitoring).
Due to the intensive nature of this work the project can only work on a small scale (around 20 birds each year) to ensure each bird has adequate attention, as owls and birds of prey have very specific requirements.
Birds successfully released to date include tawny owls, little owls, barn owls, kestrels and buzzards.
To contact email Chris Sperring at the Mendip Rehabilitation Project click here.
