Brinsley Animal Rescue » Wild Birds

Start of the Chick Season

Jon — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:36:00 +0000

Springtime is a very busy time for us as we receive lots of orphaned baby animals, that need to be hand reared and cared for.

In particular we rear a lot of baby birds, yesterday we received our very first of the season, a young collared dove.

As they receive a lot of human contact, the birds become quite tame. It is the Charities Policy to release wild animals back where they belong, so we have to undo any imprinting. As soon as the birds are feeding themselves, we break all human contact apart from cleaning them out and feeding once a day.

They will then be moved to an aviary in preparation for release.

Buzzard on the Mend

Jon — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:09:59 +0000

We don’t often rescue birds of prey, but when we do we are amazed by their beauty. This guy we believe has been handled and kept in a very small cage where he could not fly. Therefore he has little muscle tone and cannot currently be released into the wild.

Now in an aviary, we will have minimal contact with him so as not to get him tame, and we will allow him to fly and build up his strength so that we can assess him and what him progress.

It is always our intention to release wild animals back into he wild where they belong. We will assess this buzzard and only release him when he has a high chance of survival.

4 Birds Released- 20 September

Jon — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:39:07 +0000

Tonight we released four birds back into the wild.

First we released a wood pigeon that we reared from a baby chick, then we released two young collared doves and a feral pigeon. One dove was also hand reared by us, the other came to us with an infected eye.

Swan Rescue

Jon — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 17:48:58 +0000

This beautiful swan came to us from Shipley County Park. It had a fishing hook lodged into its body.

Following a trip to the vets to have the hook removed, it is now recuperating in a pen on antibiotics and painkillers.

Update 1 September

Yesterday we released this Mute swan back where it came from. We carried it to the lake and fortunately found its partner. A crowd gathered and it was a tear jerking moment as the two were reunited with each other.

Swans mate for life, so we were really chuffed to see the two back together.

Click on Images to Enlarge

Swan being released, its partner eagerly watching.

The Swan takes the plunge after a week in our care.

So happy to see each other again.

Baby Collared Dove

Jon — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 16:49:27 +0000

This little chap was brought in by a cat. We are hand rearing him now until he can fend for himself, he will then be released.

Update 20 September

This chap was finally released into nearby woods.

Injured Pigeon

Jon — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:08:32 +0000

This guy has a broken wing, he will have to be suspended in a harness for a couple of weeks in a hospital cage. Then we can remove the bandage supporting his wing, he should then be fit enough to be moved to an aviary to start the rehabilitation process before final release.

Update 20 September

This guy is doing well. he is out of his sling and in an aviary being prepared for release.

Click on Image to enlarge

Sparrow Hawk

Jon — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:45:43 +0000

This young Sparrow Hawk came to us with an injured right wing. Fortunately for this beautiful bird the damage is repairable. The wing is now tied back to allow it to heal, the bird will be kept confined for around 4 weeks before being moved to a large aviary and prepared for release.

Update 27 September

Today we released this guy back into the wild. After his wing had recovered, we moved him into an aviary to allow his wings to strengthen, before final release.

Click on images to enlarge

Daisy the duck released

Jon — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 19:08:36 +0000

This poor duck has been in the wars but she is pulling through. Firstly she had human hair wrapped around her ankle, this had got so tight that it had cut through the skin and her foot had almost become detached. She was found in the city centre and as if this injury was not enough in itself she then flew into the front of a National Express bus. Fortunately the foot was not infected, so we cleaned her up, gave her antibiotics and splinted her leg hoping that the bone may fuse.

After a few days it was obvious that it would not heal and so after finding out about other 1 legged ducks in the country the decision was made to amputate the foot. Daisy is now recovering from her ordeal. Once the bandages are removed we will have to help her to swim and walk again. We can’t believe what a recovery Daisy has made and we will continue to monitor her progress.

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Update 16 August

Today we are happy that her foot has healed enough, so we gave Daisy some hydrotherapy in out bath and boy did she like it. she spent a lot of time splashing around washing herself. We were always worried that she would not be able to swim properly with one foot, however now we have loads of confidence in her. After a week of therapy we hope we can release her.

Click on images to enlarge

Update 18 August

Daisy has finally been released, she is back in the wild where she belongs. Hopefully she will find a pond not too far from humans who may take kindly to her having one foot and give her extra treats.

Time to say goodbye to the ducks

Jon — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:19:56 +0000

Back in June you may have read about these little dears, they were abandoned and all on their own. Their mother went missing for several days and so we took them on.

Today it was time to say goodbye and it was such a joy to see them go! At first they paused, they were overwhelmed by it all, then one by one they headed for the banks of the lake at Shipley County Park and then in to the water. Within minutes they were splashing around having a lot of fun, eating and cleaning themselves.

Its times like this that make the long hard days with no social life, no free time all, worthwhile. Tonight we’ll sleep well in the knowledge that these guys are back where they belong, in the wild.

Day 1

Day 28 - Release day

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Staring out to sea!

Injured Mallard Drake

Jon — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:51:44 +0000

This drake was hit by a car and received injuries to his legs, beak, head and body. The main injuries are to the left leg and therefore he cannot stand.

We have the drake in this sling to support his body weight in the hope that his leg injuries will heal. Although he is now drinking voluntarily, in the un-natural surroundings he is unwilling to eat and is being force fed.

Update - unfortunately despite our best efforts, he showed no signs of recovery and sadly died a few days after being hit by a car.

Pigeon Rehabilitated & Released

Jon — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:04:55 +0000

Click on image to enlarge

This little man came to us late one Sunday evening from Animal Accident Recue Unit (www.aaru.org.uk).
He was not in a good way, he could not even stand and had his legs straight outwards. After recuperating he was released earlier tonight. After flying around, he did 5 circuits before finding his bearings, he then disappeared from sight on his way back home.

Injured Pheasant Released

Jon — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:12:47 +0000

Click on image to enlarge

A few weeks ago we were presented with an injured pheasant, she had been shot, the shot had penetrated one leg and injured the other. We persevered with her, the main difficulty was her broken leg.
To our amazement this beautiful bird made a full recovery and today she was released back into the wild. An amazing yet satisfying sight. Let’s hope the cruel idiots who go out shooting for so called fun don’t injure her again!

Released – Three wild birds

Jon — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:59:08 +0000

Today we released three birds back into the wild.

We released a blackbird and a pigeon which we had hand reared from young chicks. We also released an adult pigeon that came to us injured.

All of our birds spend time in our aviary to prepare themseves ready for release.

Two Collared Doves

Jon — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:19:09 +0000

These two doves were released together in early July. One came to us as a chick which was hand reared, the other had a broken leg, which was repaired prior to release.

Pigeon with a torn crop

Jon — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:04:58 +0000

This handsome guy came to us with a ruptured crop.

The crop is like a first stomach for a seed eating bird, it is at the front in the breast are just below the neck. This condition can be caused by a pigeon overeating and causing strain on the crop. If not treated straight away, the bird will die of thirst or starvation as food and water simply poor out of the tear.

After a 30 minute operation at our local vets to clean and stitch his crop back together, this lucky boy came around. This little pigeon is very lucky, not many people would spend £150 to save his life.

Thanks to Fran the Vet at Lawrences for persevering with us and carrying out an operation he has never carried out before.