Ryan Stephens, Senior member of the Bird Team at the Hawk Conservancy Trust, has been the lucky chap working most closely with Mamba recently, one of our very impressive White-headed Vultures. Ryan reflects on how things have been going lately, as she reaches a poignant stage in her life. Mamba celebrated her 8^th birthday with us this year, which means that she arrived at the point in her life where we would like to explore potential breeding opportunities for her. Listed as a Critically Endangered species under the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), the preservation of this species within the zoological community is vital work we are a part of.

Mamba belongs to the EAZA Ex-Situ Breeding Programme (EEP), this a programme which manages species across EAZA organisations (European Association of Zoos and Aquaria), maximising breeding success and sharing vital knowledge between its participants. Whilst this may seem like a dating agency for birds, it is a highly organised, thorough and important programme that connects organisations to maintain a healthy population, when their counterparts in the wild are facing increasing threats to their status.

As part of this programme, for the past few years Mamba has been paired up with a Male named Arthur. The pair got on relatively well, but it was clear that it was not a budding romance; this may have been because of Arthur’s age (he is an elderly gentleman). So, Arthur has now joined an older female at another EEP participating zoo, and our plan is to plant the seeds of romance between Mamba and one of our home-grown boys, Ravenclaw. Both Mamba and Ravenclaw are roughly the same age, he is a touch more confident than Arthur and he has a little more energy for the job to keep up with his potential younger partner.

After many years of breeding success with vultures at the Trust, we have found one of the best ways to build a relationship between individual birds is for them to fly side by side during our demonstrations. Mamba is now becoming a regular sight in our ‘Masters of the Sky’ demonstration where she is learning the ropes and building confidence alongside Ravenclaw. We believe that we may be witnessing the ‘Milk Tray’ stage of the relationship beginning to unfold; tentative glances, quiet moments, and a growing awareness of one another. All being well, 2026 will be the year their bond truly develops — not just side by side, but in flight. There is something truly magical about seeing a partnership form in the air, and we are hopeful that visitors may get to see this romance unfolding before their eyes.

With our established breeding pairs of White-headed Vultures now starting to get on a little in years, it is really exciting to start introducing a new generation into the team. Our birds Mamba and Ravenclaw were both born here at the Trust, so it will be a truly magical moment if we get to see this pair carry the torch for the next generation. Book your next visit to the Trust to see Mamba fly in our Masters of the Sky demonstration.

Last year was a tough one for the species in our Raptor Nest Box Project – Barn Owls, Tawny Owls, Little Owls and Kestrels. The nesting and fledgling numbers were some of the lowest we have recorded since 2013. A mix of factors contributed to this, including a lack of prey – something we also saw reflected in our small mammal surveys last year. All in all, it left us with some very low fledging numbers, with last year’s minimum numbers of fledglings compared to 2024’s minimum numbers below for comparison… quite stark!

Thankfully, things are looking a whole lot brighter so far this year!

This time of year is a very busy period for our Conservation and Research department, and in particular our British Projects Manager, Dr Matt Stevens who will be getting to as many boxes as possible over the coming months. With over 1600 nest boxes in our Raptor Nest Box Project network, that mostly fall in a core area of about 4,500Km², (although we have many placed outside that area too), there is a lot to do. In addition, to monitor these boxes properly often requires multiple visits to the same nest boxes and it means there are a lot of checks to do and a lot of miles to cover for Matt!

Monitoring can involve several visits to the same nest boxes if they are in use – an early season check to see if there is nesting activity, if so a further check to see if eggs have been successfully laid and hatched depending on timings, and finally another just before chicks are estimated to be fledging. At this last check Matt will check the growth and health of the chicks, taking some measurements for this and then ringing the chicks too. Ringing the birds helps us to identify individual birds from their unique lightweight metal rings, which then helps to track movements and their survival or lifespan. This contributes useful data to help us understand population changes, breeding success, how birds respond to environmental changes and challenges, essentially all helping us to better conserve them.

With the early signs looking much improved on last year, then this year’s monitoring is going to be an even more incredibly busy time than usual – which we are very pleased about. Whilst a good year for nest boxes is hard work, seeing the chicks is so rewarding, a truly magical experience, Matt never tires of.  Check out some of the images from some of Matt’s nest box visits so far this year – very exciting!

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