South East Birds of Prey

This is the story of Bella, A common Buzzard found around our house in Milltown, Ballycullane. Bella had 4 shotgun pellets, one of which shattered her wing joint, unfortunately we had to euthanasia because she was so polluted with lead that she would never have survived. The person that shot her has never been found.

Because of Bella we thought we would see what we can do to improve the situation for Irelands limited Bird of Prey population. Research showed that very limited interest in the Raptor species existed. This created the challenge needed to get the Centre up & running. The rest becomes history!

This is the story of Kiki, handed to the team at the slobs. She came to us having been injured in a Road Traffic Accident (RTA), following x-ray we found that she had no bones broken, but was dangerously underweight. After initial force feeding, she was 'ravenous' and after 12 days of re-hab we set her free. She is now a resident of the Ballycullane area and is often seen coming back to our fountain in the front garden to drink and 'say hello'.

Kiki has chosen her territory and she is seen daily within a half mile radius of the Centre.

This is the story of Toto (she has one toe and claw missing!), Handed into the team at the slobs, by Marty Murphy & Shommie Duffin. she was found near where they live in Kilhide, Arthurstown. X-rays revealed 2 shotgun pellets, one of which had passed straight through one of her important wing bones. We attempted to re-set the bone but found that the pellet had taken 2mm of her bone away, she has naturally repaired herself and the 2 parts of the bone are overlapped, giving strength to the wing. Fortunately that part of the wing has 2 bones and the good bone supports the broken bone. She is now a resident of Centre and is leading a life of luxury and possible we can breed from her and set her offspring free.

Unfortunately 3 Sparrowhawk's handed to the Centre did not make it. All were RTA's and looked to be 'immature' (<1yr old). Good news is that 2 recovered very well and were set free between June & August 2005.

Year end 2005

Only 2 out of the 4 Kestrels that came to the centre managed to make it back to the wild (see Kiki above) and although 50% success is good we improved our understanding of how to handle these tough but 'fragile' birds. Unfortunately the most recent Kestrel could not be saved (see Home page info) as the single bone supporting the wing was snapped and whilst otherwise a very healthy bird, she would never repair herself naturally. Putting a pin in the bone could not be done as her chances of surviving the operation were small. Unfortunately cost was also an issue.

28th March 2006 a young male Kestrel handed in to the North Slobs arrived at the Centre. Following a visit to Peter Murphy our Veterinary Surgeon, X-ray showed a fracture to the Right hand wing joint (similar to you elbow) and having cleaned up some infection around the surface wound, Peter applied a 'splint. Out look very good for release in 4-5 weeks time.

6th April 2006 saw the arrival of a Long eared Owl with a damaged wing. X-Ray showed broken Radius and Ulna. Peter recommended that the best chances were to 'pin' the Radius, reset the Ulna and let nature repair the bones. Following an operation on 10th April 2006, we now let the Owl rest for 6-7 weeks to recover and if all goes well we remove the pin in 6 weeks time.

Following a long period of re-hab to allow sufficient bone growth around the pin, Peter removed the pin on 6th July 2006.

16th June 2006, Ranger Tony Murray had a call from a lady called Theresa who was on holiday at Hookless Village. Her children had spotted 'something White' being carried by a crow and the crow was being 'dive bombed' by some birds. The crow dropped the chick and Theresa's children safeguarded it until we collected it. The chick was approx 2 weeks old, well fed and healthy. We could not determine if the chick was a Peregrine or Kestrel as they are both very similar at that age, with grayish downy fluff and cream coloured legs.

David spent next 2 days early morning and late evening back down at the beach trying to get the adults to collect, unfortunately there was no sign of any adult coming to collect the chick.

Problem now was to feed the chick without it thinking David was it's Mummy, but given that the chick was eating very well from us, we could not let it 'slip away'. The chick is now being hand reared with minimum contact with us and we'll aim to 'hack it' back to the wild.

Great News: A t 06.00 on 15th August we last spotted Kiki 3 (as we call him), which means that after much trying to get the bird to fly away (we had to keep feeding him around the house) he decided that he would find a better life in the wild (might just have coincided with the cutting of the crop around our place, with lots of food around!). Good luck young man.........