It is really busy at the rescue now, with an endless stream of animals being brought in or needing collection. Many Mallard ducklings, including the one above which I collected from our local vets (I had given them my details for such an occasion when I last took our cats in), goslings (Greylag and Canada), foxes, muntjac deer (no survivors sadly), as many as ten Tawny Owls, Crows, Magpies, hares, Starlings, House Sparrows, Great Tits, a Dunnock, Robins, a Greenfinch, Blackbirds and more.
For the last couple of weeks I have been in the fledgling room with fellow volunteer Becky. She has become a good friend and we seem to work seamlessly together. We barely need to discuss who is going to do what – we just crack on with it and everything flows. The ducks and one gosling need cleaning out, watering and feeding (the older ducklings are given time outside if the weather is reasonable) and many of the fledglings need to be fed by hand. The room is very hot and the work is intense, requiring concentration and a delicacy of touch. Time flies. There are inevitably ‘escapees’. It is almost always one or more of the Robins. Instead of panicking as I would have done in the past, I manage to remain calm about this now and surprised myself by catching them quite adeptly with a net. I have caught one or two by hand in the past, but once the net is over them they calm down and drop to the bottom from where they can easily be placed back in their cage. Feeds are hourly or half-hourly, there are lists of each species’ requirements (songbird mix, waxworms, mealworms and so on), and, of course, it is crucial that no one is left out. It is a wonderful thing and a privilege to do.
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