BIRD of prey specialists David and Michelle Buncle from Peter Tavy are thrilled to have become foster parents to West Devon’s first resident vultures!  

Seven years ago David re-captured errant turkey vulture ‘Jackson’ who had been AWOL from a falconry centre in Northampton for a month, during which time he’d been spotted by surprised witnesses all over the country, finally giving himself up conveniently close to the Buncles’ home in Peter Tavy.

Since then David and Michelle have been hoping to add a vulture to their team of falcons, hawks, owls and other birds but hadn’t been to find any youngsters — even Jackson’s subsequent marriage remaining childless!

The couple were delighted to be offered the chance to rear the two five-week old vulture chicks, hatched at a former zoo in Lincolnshire. Their mother had laid eggs in previous years but failed to hatch them — so this time they were incubated artificially, hence the need for ‘hand-rearing’.

David said: ‘Being able to keep the siblings together is fantastic, as a lack of vulturine company in early life might well lead to problems in socialising later. As of now the pair are thriving on a diet of raw minced meat which they devour like a couple of fluffy vacuum cleaners.’

‘In the wild the turkey vulture is widely distributed throughout the Americas — with new-world vultures happily not currently suffering the dramatic declines in numbers seen in African and Asian species.

‘We’re looking forward to watching them develop, especially as they begin to learn to fly in the coming months,’ added David.