This time of year can get very depressing with the cold, wet weather and dark mornings and nights and the relentless phone calls and animals needing help, however releasing animals back into the wild makes it all worthwhile, it is so rewarding.

Money could not buy the feeling we have when we release an animal back into the wild, an animal that would have otherwise gone untreated and most probably died.

Today we released this swan, she was handed to our vets by a member of the public. Juveniles can often be driven away by territorial pairs, this is most likely what happened to him, he was very tired and weak when he first came to us.

At the same time today we released a duck that had been attacked and could not fly due to loosing so many flight feathers. She had spent two months in our aviary where she was secure, to allow her feathers to re-grow.

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.

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.

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