Hi folks,

Another crazy day for us at the centre. This morning at 8am we had the second load of concrete delivered for our new aviary building. The gang had it poured, spread and tamped in record time! The new foundation, which lies upon and includes some of the old foundation is now complete. The next phase is to decide on what type of building will be most beneficial and efficient and then have it built. Just in time for the influx of young wildlife we are seeing at the moment, and will continue to see throughout the summer!

Many thanks as always to all of our supporters, donators and volunteers. Extra special thanks to Rob, without which this project wouldn't be where it's at, and George who came in especially to lend a hand - and we couldn't have done it without him!

Warm regards,

​Ray

Below you can see a time lapse movie of the concrete being laid. That's Rob, George, Adam, myself and of course my youngest Emma all running around like maniacs!

edit 15/5/16
Sorry again for any inconvenience this may have caused, but our phone lines have been fixed and are back working 100%.

Warm regards,

​Ray

Sincerest apologies to anyone affected, but our phone line has been damaged since yesterday afternoon. Although it will appear the phone is ringing, the call does not come through to us, nor does it go to our answering machine. BT are aware of the fault and are working to fix it as soon as possible. If you need to get in touch with us feel free to shoot us an email which we can still monitor.

My apologies again to any inconvenience caused by this.

Warm regards,

​Ray

The good people at Yorkshire Building Society Solihull branch have put us, along with two other charities, into a competition to win a share of £1000. Any member of the public, whether part of the society or not, can go into the Solihull branch and fill out a voting form for the charity of their choice. The more votes acquired the larger the share of the money is won. 1st place receives £500, 2nd place receives £300 and 3rd place receives £200. 
​The event is running from the 9th - 21st May.

So if you happen to be passing the branch on the High Street in Solihull, feel free to pop in and vote for us! Every vote counts and is very much appreciated!

Warmest regards,

​Ray

​What an absolutely crazy day it has been today, in fact the last week!

Some of you may be aware that we decided to develop the land that sited what we called our ‘crow pens’. Named due to the many years these large aviaries housed Cyril the Rook and Joe the Crow. After both of them went to live with a friend of the charity who keeps Corvids, in even bigger aviaries that you can imagine no less, we decided a redesign was in order.

This is where our friend Rob comes in, knowledgeable as they come; he is our project manager and keeps us on the right track. So for the last week Rob and I, with the help of any willing volunteers, have been clearing this area and under Rob’s guidance prepared it for the first stage: solid concrete base.

In the December 2015 edition of The Hartbeat, I mentioned that I was looking to acquire a new hospital cage/recovery unit. We get such a large number of animals come in that need the warmth and security of a recovery unit in order to survive, especially the young birds and other baby animals. Although we have two fantastic hospital cages that have been in near constant use for years now I decided a larger one was needed to cope with the amount we see.

Well, totally unexpectedly, some of our fantastic supporters sent in donations stating they wanted it to go specifically towards our new recovery unit! One of our longstanding members even went so far as to contact Brinsea who are well known for making brilliant incubators and recovery units, and told them about us. They were very interested in what we get up to and had a Advance Brooder/Recovery Unit on its way to us before we knew it.

Well folks, it has been another crazy year at the centre!
We couldn't do what we do without the fantastic support we receive from the members of the public. Be it our charity members, regular donators or just the odd load of towels or newspaper here and there, all of it helps us to keep going! 

From everyone here at the centre, we hope you have an awesome and prosperous 2016.

Warm regards,

​Ray

Good day one and all!

Everyone at Hollytrees, whether two legged or four, would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a fantastic New Year!! We've had an extremely busy year at the centre and we get through it with your amazing support. We honestly couldn't help as many or as wider variety of animals without your help!

Below you can find a digital copy of our Christmas card and newsletter for your perusal. (Requires a PDF viewer like Adobe Acrobat to view)

2015 Christmas Card (outer)
2015 Christmas Card (inner)
​2015 Christmas Newsletter

Once again hope you have a very Merry Christmas and an incredible New Year!

Warmest regards,

​Ray

Well folks, today we were involved with something a bit different!

The delightful dynamic duo Sunny and Shay from BBC West Midlands popped by this afternoon to do a live broadcast from the centre itself! 
I will prepare a more detailed write up including photos and videos. But for now I invite you to check the show out on BBC WMs Listen Again (Link below) as well as Sunny and Shay's Facebook and Twitter pages.

BBC WM Listen Again (available until 3rd Dec)
Sunny and Shay Facebook
Sunny and Shay Twitter
​
I would just like to say a huge thank you to Sunny and Shay (and producers and support staff of course) for coming and seeing us in our little part of the world. It was a thoroughly enjoyable time and would love to have you back. 

Warm regards,

​Ray

A gentleman contacted us a few days ago reporting that he had found what appeared to be an injured Hobby near Kingsbury Water Park. As with all wildlife cases, I told him to bring it straight up to us and we would do everything we could to help him.
 
Upon closer inspection he only seemed to have damage to his one wing. Thankfully we were put in touch with Amicus veterinary surgery, who are well known for treating birds and indeed all kinds of wildlife. A very efficient young lady digitally X-rayed his wing so as to see the extent of the damage and luckily it only looked like a minor break to one of the bones. He was prescribed complete rest for at least 6 weeks and some vitamins and supplements to boost him up during his recovery.
I am pleased to say he is settled in and eating extremely well. After his initial rest he will be moved in to a larger aviary so he can build up the muscles around his wing. When he has made a full recovery we will be releasing him back in to the wild around where he was found.
He has proved to be a very interesting patient indeed. He is not the first bird of prey we have had in but he is definitely the first Hobby and is an absolute delight to observe. In the wild their main diet are birds such as swallows, swifts and house martins, as well as insects such as dragonfly. All of which they generally catch on the wing! 

A massive well done to the gentleman who rescued this delightful bird and a special thank you to Amicus for their aid.

Warm regards,

Ray

Today was a lovely sight to behold. The ducklings that we have been rearing for the last few weeks have been released. We have been able to keep them very wild and such releasing them was just a matter of waiting for them to grow up a bit. Watching the mother duck, who also adopted the orphaned group of ducklings in to her brood, set off with all the babies in tow was an absolute joy and makes all the work totally worth it.

Below you can see some pictures we took not long before their release, showing just how much they've grown in such a short amount of time.

The young chickens are still with us, once they are old enough they will be re-homed.

Warm regards,

Ray