Rescued owls are treated for shock and then examined very carefully for signs of external or internal injury. When that has been ascertained a decision is made to whether the owl needs veterinary attention or just nursing. After the initial assessment, it is placed in the recovery room and observed for at least 24 hours and until the owl is eating for itself. The owl will then be put into an outside aviary where it can move more freely and be observed. Once the owl is fit and well we try to return it to the area it was found.

Wild owls are owls which have had no direct human contact, having been born in the wild with wild parents. These owls do not become tame and are stressed by too much contact with humans. It is best in our opinion to treat these owls as quickly as possible and return them to their natural habitat. We believe that quality of life is paramount and do not condemn any permanently injured wild owls to life in an aviary when they are used to flying free.

Captive bred owls are owls that have been born in captivity from captive bred parents and are usually imprinted at an early age so that they are tame and handle-able. For this reason we use captive owls for our talks but we do not take in these birds as a rule. Captive bred owls can never be returned to the wild,

Imprinting of owlets by over handling so that they become tame is not recommended with a wild owl. This is only done with captive bred owls so that training and handling is easier when they are older. When trying to rear orphaned wild owlets imprinting  can interfere with breeding at a later stage so must be avoided. The imprinted owlet grows up to think that it is human rather than an owl, so when it is sexually mature it may affect the breeding instinct. To avoid this we have very little contact with any owlets brought to us, preferring to crèche-rear with other owlets, feed  with a glove puppet in a seclusion aviary or place them  with a foster mum of their own species until about 16 weeks.

Territory is an important factor. Not all owls live in the woods like the tawny and the long eared. Some are marsh birds like the short eared owl or meadow birds like the barn owl, so care has to be taken when choosing a release site. For example, releasing a barn owl into a heavily wooded area will do the recovering owl no favours at all, as it would most likely be mobbed by crows and tawny owls. Although barn owls do nest on some woodland fringes it is always best to put them on suitable meadow or rough pasture. Likewise releasing a tawny owl in the middle of a large open park with no tree cover will provide no roost site and leave the newly recovered owl prone to mobbing by birds.

Breeding Pairs of Barn owls in England 3,300 pairs as follows. North of England - 450 pairs. Midlands - 875 pairs. East of England - 420 pairs. South west England - 1,075 pairs. South East - 459 pairs. This is based on the Hawk and Owl Trust figures for 2000.

The main species of owl we deal with are the TAWNY OWL (50%) the BARN OWL (25%) the LITTLE OWL (20%) The other 5% make up rarer owl species and other birds of prey.