Brora rescue centre project to breed rarest of birds
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A newly established bird rescue centre in Brora is hoping to play a major role in conserving one of the world’s most endangered birds.
Blue Highlands Raptor Rescue and Avian Conservation Centre is launching a breeding programme for Edward’s pheasants, which are thought to be almost extinct in the wild.
And the facility is now applying for a zoo licence in order to be able to meet the regulations for the exchange of chicks - to promote genetic variety - with other conservation establishments.
Blue Highlands founder Lady Hadassah Broscova-Righetti said 2020 was set to be an exciting time for the fledgling centre which is in the throes of applying for charitable status and is also looking to expand.
She and her Italian husband Michael, a retired military intelligence officer, set up the facility a year ago in the former Bayview Hotel, Golf Road. The couple have lived all over the world but opted to settle in Brora because of Hadassah’s Scottish heritage - she is also of Russian descent - and the fact that the climate was more suited to birds of prey than Michael’s Italian homeland.
“I loved Brora from the moment we arrived,” said Hadassah, a former journalist who has looked after birds all her life. “To my mind it is the finest place on earth.”
Blue Highlands, which operates round the clock, offers not just “crisis care” but also rehabilitation with the aim of birds eventually being released back to the wild.
Along with newly appointed centre assistant director Jayne Wilson, the couple currently look after 65 rescue birds, which are housed in enclosures - known as “mews” in the grounds. Most of the birds at present are owls, but there are also other species including falcons and hawks.
The centre usually opens to the public on a Sunday but also carries out a free educational outreach programme, giving talks to groups across the north, with the emphasis on youth and special needs organisations.
A donation from a supporter led to the acquisition of two Edward’s pheasants, sourced through the World Pheasant Association. The chicks arrived in Brora at six months old and will be a year old in March. It is hoped they will breed this spring.
“The zoo licence is primarily to allow us to extend our propagation plan in order that we can have an impact on the number of Edward’s pheasants,” said Hadassah. We have no desire to be a zoo and never will be.”
“It gives us permission to swap or trade the incredibly rare young of this endangered species with other like minded organisations that have similar high standards as ourselves so that we can broaden the genetic diversity of the birds.”
The costs of running the centre - with £600 required a month for feed alone - are currently met by Hadassah with the help of donations from individuals impressed by her work.
But such is the need identified by the centre that it is hoped to expand and to source funding from outside bodies.
She said: “I underestimated the need when we came here. Space has become a problem and we are looking at building more mews - potentially on another property. That is part of our plan for 2020 along with applying for charitable status because we have got as far as we can by ourselves.”
Blue Highlands is also looking to identify rural locations where it can undertake wild bird release and is urging landowners to get in touch.
For further information, visit Blue Highlands’s Facebook and web pages.
