Some of the details of our current projects are listed below.

 

Kestrel Tracking Project

To determine the survival of juvenile kestrels after their release, and to determine their home-range size (to compare with wild kestrels) we are running a Kestrel tracking project. In 2004 two birds were tracked from West Hatch. In 2005 we radio-tracked a further six kestrels and another five were tracked in 2006. Results will be written up for publication soon.

 

Jackdaw Radio-tag CCTV project

To determine the best fitment method for radio tags on jackdaws we are running a trial. In collaboration with Biotrack Ltd., we have fitted a number of different types of tags onto jackdaws pre-release and then we have monitored their behaviour with CCTV. The tags are removed before release.

 

Badger Tracking Project

 To determine whether juvenile badgers released near resident badger clans we are radio-tracking some of our released groups. A group of 3 were radio-tracked for 12 weeks in early 2005 and a group of 4 were radio-tracked from December 2006.

 

Brown Hare tracking

Two juvenile Brown hares were released and radio-tracked in 2005. One hare was tracked for 4 days before the transmitter dropped off, the other hare was successfully followed for 10 days before the transmitter was shed.

 

Tawny Owl Tracking Project

As a continuation of RSPCA Eastwinch Wildlife Centre work, and in collaboration with the Hawk Conservancy, we radio-tracked 24 tawny owls in 2006 and plan to radio-track another 24 in 2007.

 

Buzzard radio-tracking project

This project is being run to determine whether hard-release with aviary fitness is appropriate for all buzzards (including juveniles and those that have been through long-term care). It initially involves going through all our old records to try to find correlations between survival (to release and after release) and admittance reason/length of care. If this information supports the need for it, we will conduct radio-tracking of released buzzards.