Heads up on the fact that I may not be able to post for the next few days as I’m going away to somewhere that doesn’t have reliable internet, so I apologise in advance! Anyway, before I go, I thought I would recap my third week of my placement at Gentleshaws. I had a couple extra days off due to illness and tiredness (and depression in parts!), so there’ll be less to write about here, but I’ll try to fill up those days with what my colleagues said they did! Anyway, enjoy guys!

Monday

I found out today that every evening, the birds of prey and owls are fed either chicks, mice, rats, or even turkey necks, using special tubes round the back of the aviaries so that they don’t see that the food is coming from us. Around the back, there are also secluded enclosures, full of wild birds that will eventually be released to the wild. We make sure that these have no human interaction at all so that their behaviour will not be hindered by our interruptions.

Wednesday

I wasn’t in today but a few of the volunteers went to an event nearby to show off the birds and a few other select animals, and thus we raised a few hundred pounds for future running of the centre. Experienced handlers and falconry experts were chosen to man the event as it would mean there would be no casualties or flyaways.

Thursday

Today I realised that there are quite a few methods of enrichment for the animals, including: toys with holes in so food can be put in and they have to work to get it out, jam is put into holes in logs, apples/bananas can be hung up with string, arabic gum is made up for the marmosets (specially as this is perfect and needed nutrition for them). Now, we also go into the Lemur enclosure with them for enrichment. We feed them tic tacs, fresh fruit, and some other tidbits and play with them for a while (they like to climb onto your shoulders!).

Friday

I wasn’t in again today, but there was an update on the Coati babies, which are now much bigger, but unfortunately, we lost the boy out of the original three. I’ve also found out that many of the volunteers (which make up most of the staff!) here are work experience, and some are special weekend staff. Plus, all the birds are put into the mews at night and are fed properly at this time as they are more active now.

So, it’s been another busy week, even with me being off an extra couple of days! Hopefully next week has a few more surprises in store for me! There are 4 weeks left! Speak soon!