North Cornwall Wild Bird Hospital

29/03/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/nr8yAn71RCoHRMNw/

Recently, I've seen a fair number of social media posts regarding injured pigeons and doves where people have 'heroically' managed to rescue the bird from the grips of a *hawk*.

9/10 times what they describe as the 'perpetrator' is a sparrowhawk.

Without wanting to be a big 'killjoy' about the efforts made to rescue the pigeon, I do however, find it somewhat bizarre as to why individuals feel the need to interfere with nature like this...

Because, ultimately, that's what's happening here. Interference.

The sparrowhawk is a native bird of prey in the UK. Its role in the environment is to be a predator and hunt natural prey, which is almost exclusively other birds, with some individuals actively hunting bats.

The amount of energy used on a 'hunt' is tremendous, and when successful, the prey 'item' will help refuel and keep the bird (and its young) alive. A hunting sparrowhawk will also keep in check the local prey birds; males usually hunt smaller garden birds, whereas the females 'who are much larger' will take down larger prey such as pigeons.

A predator is almost 'lazy'. It will always try to target the weak, the sick and the young/old birds first. As these won't put up much of a fight or require lots of energy to be wasted. Which is actually a very good way to restore natural balance and a healthy species count.

However,

If we then walk in on a hunt and 'rescue' the pigeon, that sparrowhawk has just lost its food source, which it and others could well be depending upon for survival!

So, by interfering, you're not really rescuing, as you're more likely to be causing damage towards the predator and any depending young, which could also spell a death sentence for them.
I completely understand that it can seem harsh or upsetting to see, but nature wasn't designed for all things cute and happy endings. Life in the wild is about survival of the fittest and a complete game of chance. We, as a species, 'Humans' already interfere and have caused significant damage towards what's left of the so-called 'Wild'.

As a wildlife rehabber/ rescuer, I would suggest that these cases be left alone. We are not here to play god. We are here to help restore some balance to what we as a species have had upon their natural lives.

We here at OWR do rescue pigeons, (I personally do actually quite like them!) but these are almost always due to becoming cat victims, car victims or other human related causes, not natural occurrences.

Nature can be cruel, but it is equally beautiful and a marvel of natural wonder.

Enjoy it! but from a distance and without disturbing the show ;)

Best wishes

Luke Waclawek

20/08/2023

We still have loads of wild birds on site that we are assisting. I have been really slack of late updating on them all, sorry. Here are 4 bundles of fluff that were handed in on 2nd August (Pied Wagtails). I have reared them and are now in their release pen ❤️

09/07/2023

The Little housemartin that was the only surviver of the collapsed nest in a ladies garden. Three were in the nest, one dead on the floor. 2 handed to me. One died shortly after and this one has made it ❤️.
Won't be long before release date ❤️

04/07/2023

I am sorry I've not been updating everyone on what birds we get handed in daily. Brooke and I are litterally working flat out 24/7. We have 83 wild birds onsite at present that we are caring for. Here goes:
2 Adult Gulls
4 Tawny Owls
1 Housemartin
1 Razorbill
2 Ducklings
3 Teeny tiny gulls
11 Medium gulls
33 Large gulls
5 Jackdaws
3 Crows
1 Magpie
1 Gosling
1 Mallard
3 Sparrows
2 Feral Pigeons
2 Woodpigeons
3 Doves
1 Buzzard
3 Swallows

Plesse remember, unless you know exactly what bird species you have found, and know what you are doing, please don't attempt to feed it and certainly don't syringe water down a birds throat.

We had a tiny baby Razorbill handed in recently and the person had had it for over a day and only offered/fed it Salmon in a tomato paste. This is not their natural diet and babies can't go that long without proper suitable food. Then we had a young housemartin handed in, in really bad condition. They'd had it for over a week, feeding purely on dog food. Both birds died shortly after arriving, as we just couldn't save them 😢

All these would be a full time job in itself, but as usual we have all our main jobs to do as well as all these on top ❤️.

We also had two racing pigeons handed into us, one from Rock and the other found in Padstow. Both extremely underweight. We fed and cared for them and contacted the relevant people and then they were collected for their return trip to Ireland 🇮🇪.

23/06/2023

I'm gutted to be writing this but if we don't get any financial help soon or enough food to feed all these birds, we will have to stop admitting anymore wild birds. Its costing us an absolute fortune. If only all the vets that bring us birds and everytime the RSPCA gave out our number, if they were all to donate towards the upkeep we'd know doubt be okay.
We have 42 gulls, a gosling, lots of corvids (crows, jackdaws, rooks and magpies), blackbirds, sparrows, woodpigeons and feral pigeons in at present.

Please take a look at our Amazon Wishlist if you think you could assist us and the wild birds ❤️
https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/T1PMNBQ09YRM?ref_=wl_share

16/06/2023

Just in the house I have four needy babies 😍. Three sparrows at three different stages and a Blackbird. Brooke obviously has alot more birds than me, but my ones need feeding constantly and round the clock attention ❤️

16/06/2023

Another successful rescue, rehabilitation and release. This time it was a Wild Peregrine ❤️

06/06/2023

*42 Wild Birds in our care at Present* Again we are being inundated with wild birds. Thank you to the people that make a donation when dropping off birds, it really is much appreciated. We are not government funded for what we do. We do it all out of our own pocket and with the help from our amazing supporters.

A quick update on whats arrived over the last few days:
3 young blue t**s, 2 fledgling crows, 3 gull chicks, 1 buzzard, 1 racing pigeon, 6 young mallard ducks, 2 young sparrows, 2 blackbirds 1 young and 1 unfeathered baby, 1 pigeon, 1 young jackdaw and 2 young magpies

I've just finished rearing the sparrows and bluet**s. They have now moved to the next stage of rehabilitation (no more relying on me for food yayyy). Then I get an unfeathered blackbird handed in, so back to constant feeding again lol.

Birds currently in our care are: 1 buzzard, 1 racing pigeon, 1 Peregrine, 3 tawny owl chicks, 9 gull chicks, 3 crows, 1 magpie, 3 jackdaws, 1 pigeon, 2 blackbirds, 2 sparrows, 2 bluet**s and 14 ducks

27/05/2023

Brooke and I have again been super busy with the wild bird hospital, it litterally never stops. Here are the lastest lot (hopefully I haven't missed any off lol)
* Peregrine underweight 27.5.23 adult
* Blackbird/Starling nestling grabbed by a cat 27.5.23
* Seagull adult 26.5.23 badly damage wing put down
* Seagull nestling 1 died on arrival and the other one is doing well 22.5.23
* Magpie fledgling found on floor no parents around 25.5.23 died
* Magpie fledgling found in a garden 25.5.23 died
* Crow fledgling broken wing 25.5.23 put down
* Goldfinch nestling cat destroyed nest 26.5.23 died
* Sparrow nestling found on the side of the road 22.5.23
* Indian runner adult 25.5.23 lived at the pub but owners sold and left the pair there, then one died.
* Blackbird released
20.5.23
* Starlings new/bigger avriay
* Sparrow , goldfinch , Greenfinch put out in avriay 27.5.23
* Magpie fledgling found at a school 22.5.23
* Magpie fledgling huge open wound on neck 24.5.23 put down
* Dunnock fledgling grabbed by a cat 24.5.23 died

At present we have the following in our care :
2 starlings
1 seagull
3 corvids
1 Magpie
1 Greenfinch
1 Goldfinch
2 sparrows
8 Duckling
1 blackbird/Starling
3 Tawney owls
1 moorhen

23/05/2023

Just look at this one now ❤️. On arrival I said to Brooke it may be kinda to put to sleep as it had been bought in by a cat and had a small cut on its back. Generally a cat attack never ends well. Brooke said can we try and save it, if no better in a couple of hours we'll make a final decision. I said ok lets see what we can do. Within a couple of hours it had turned around and was full of life. So I started feeding every 20-30 minutes and it came on leaps and bounds.

20/05/2023

These two sure are keeping me on my toes 😂. Two young Starlings ❤️. Changing daily 😁