Help for a tangled Heron…
Telephone call this morning from Petra who had an adult Heron in her garden who was tangled in netting and unable to fly. Gave her some telephone numbers of other rescues who would deal with a Heron, as outside of my expertise, and said to call me if no joy. She had been on the phone from 7 am this morning and by 1.30 pm had still not found any rescue who was willing to help. No way could I leave any bird in that state without helping it so rang my good friend Barry to see if he would help me catch it and sort out the netting. He immediately, very kindly, agreed to do so and we met up and went over to Wakes Colne to see Petra. The Heron was on the lawn by her beautiful pond and was so tangled up with netting that it could barely move let alone fly. We used one of my very long extending nets to catch him and, after partially freeing himself he dived into the nettle patch. Luckily Barry was agile enough to quickly climb over the fence and grab his beak whilst I held on to the body. Once we had control of the beak, wings and legs, we were able to put a towel over his head to calm him down and cut off the thick nylon netting which was all over the poor bird. Checked him over very carefully and put Dermisol cream on any patches of skin that had been rubbed by the netting. Fortunately no skin had been broken, just grazed, and there were no other injuries so, after Barry gave him his British Trust for Ornithology ring, we released him in the garden as this is his regular haunt. There was absolutely no way the Heron could have released himself from the tightly fitting netting and, if he had been left, he would have died a long and painful death. Thank you Petra for your very generous donation towards the Owls and Birds of Prey Rescue – very much appreciated…
