Tuesday 19 February 2008

My daughter, the Hero

An early morning trip to the beach confirmed the continuing bad news - more corpses and two Razorbills coming onshore to rest.

Despite our previous failures, the sight of the corpses reinforced the need to catch and treat the birds, so I dragged the daughter from her half-term rest and togged up to try again.
Needless to say, the wellies were unhelpful, as the first wave washed over them and the lower part of my body, but after an undignified scramble we had the Razorbill wrapped in the towel. And then, to add insult to injury, we drove it in a cat box to Beryl of the Wildlife Careline in Dover (alan@hedgies.fsnet.co.uk).
Beryl gave the bird first aid, pumping oil from its stomach, and it was then put in a box to await the next visit from the RSPCA.As we had seen another bird on the beach, we returned and were again successful. This Razorbill was given directly to the RSPCA collector, who was returning to Mallydams Wood centre near Hastings, for treatment, recuperation and release.

5 comments:

Mary said...

Good job! Glad you saved one!

Warren Baker said...

Well done mate, he who saves one life saves the world!

Simon said...

Nice one Steve!

Benjamin Young said...

Well done! I wish that I had known the number to call when I found the others...

Kingsdowner said...

Thank you all for your comments. Only two more dead birds were found on this morning's walk, and no live ones so it may be that the slick has passed on.
Warren, I appreciate your epithet but think that the world is past saving - but it's still worth a try!