It’s their 3rd year and the tits are back nesting. My aim is to upload videos from day one until they leave.

Each number below reflects the stages. Click the numbers to watch the video on Youtube. Number 9 video is the first video of eggs.

enjoy!

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This nearly adult squirrel was brought up on his own so hasn’t had the opportunity to play with other squirrels so I have to help him.

He hasn’t got a name because he isn’t a pet but we love him all the same!!!

roly poly squirrel

Squiddles is a disabled sparrow and is a big attraction to neighbouring cats!

I believe he dances for them as though she was on xfactor!!

One day I was out shopping and  just by chance I popped into a pet shop to pick up a random item. Whilst I was waiting to pay for it the lady in front of me was asking if they took in something.
The reply was no and the lady went on her way.  Out of curiosity I asked the lady behind the counter what was that she was asking about? she said that she asked if they took in finches.
as I left the shop, I was walking up the road and found myself walking behind the lady so I stopped her and asked her if there was a problem?
she said she used to have a lot of zebra finches but a lot had died and she now only had two which she wanted to find another home for. She also wanted to give away the aviary too.
coincidentally I was looking to add another aviary to my garden because I only had one small one, so I told her I could come and look at it in two weeks time.
later my son hired a transit van and we went over and picked up the pieces of the aviary and the finches and returned back to my place

It took me a whole week on and off but I eventually pieced everything together and it looks really lovely. I’m sure it’s going to be a very huge asset in the years to come.

The finished aviary

My husband Andy and myself  Sheila, rescue animals and birds for W.R.A.P – this year we have had many very small baby birds. Unfortunately some just don’t make it, but there are others who fly the nest – or incubator – and it’s so satisfying to see them go, having done ‘your job.’ Then there are others…………Squiddles…..this is his story.

Squiddles was one of a pair of young sparrows.  The other sparrow was extremely nervous and was almost impossible to feed and as soon as we could fly he was released.
Squiddles couldn’t be released. He had a defect to one leg making him walk on his elbow, a lump on his head that was very large and pink and he didn’t have very many feathers.

He came to us a very small sparrow, the incubator was needed at first, but as his feathers grew his place was in the bedroom. I’d wake up about 6am to give him his feed, I could see that one of his legs was either broken or badly deformed, so quite honestly I wasn’t too sure he’d survive. This one morning, our ‘scraggly’ little Squiddles hadn’t woken me, so panic set in! I saw his lifeless body at the side of the cage, I gently picked him up, he was cold, stiff….just a very slight move of a wing. I grabbed a soft cloth and wrapped him up with his head poking out, I started rubbing his body…nothing…bit harder…nothing…I was telling him ‘come on, work with me!’ Another slight wing move. So I sat on the bed rubbing his body, I could see his deformed little leg, he was obviously not in good shape. Should I stop?…for him? Quality of life and all that? Well I didn’t stop, there was a tiny noise..the tiniest tweet..I held him in my hands and lay in bed with him. After about an hour he took a small drop of feed…..would he make it?

This lifeless deformed sparrow has now become another family pet…he has his own cage in the bedroom. During the day he is out in the conservatory – he flies around – with his one leg and when he was younger he could only fly backwards just like he was doing an impression of a Michael Jackson ‘moon walk’ .

he’s got lots more feathers now so we used to take him into the garden and allow him to fly.
He can fly forward a good 30 feet but he doesn’t stop very well because of his legs.

So that’s Squiddles! My special sparrow, he eats bird seed, kale, and special herb salad, his water he still has on demand! He lives in the tray of a bird cage without the top on.
Its okay as long as the cat isn’t around. His name is squidgy!

He was so determined to live – and I was just as determined to give him the chance!……just wish they’d always be like that!

when we first got the squirrel it’s eyes were closed, there was blood on his left side and there was a small puncture wound on his belly.

stomach wound

even though his eyes were closed indicating he was very young he was physically very large, about 5 inches from his nose to the base of his tail.

Eyes wide shut!

He was on antibiotics with the usual food supplement and a lot of tlc and after a few days one eye opened and then the next day the other Eye opened too.

Spanner* grew into a healthy squirrel and he plays on me by running up and down my legs and my body and around my arms.
I was still concerned that I was the only creature that he knew because he hadn’t seen any other squirrels.
Currently he still lives in the aviary at the bottom of the garden and two of the babies that we had last year return to eat nuts that’s on the outside of the Avery so he has made contact with a couple of them from inside the cage.
Part of his early diet included pro-biotic yogurt. One day he found the pot!

He has now progressed from the baby formula and the yogurt and little muesli bars on to mostly nuts and fruit which i can still hand feed him.

Incredibly, he managed to escape and now in the day he goes into the woods for a few hours before returning late afternoon to go to bed.

One day he will go into the woods and he won’t return in the evening but hopefully he’ll still return to feed on the nuts on the outside of the Avery.
Whether I’ll still be able to feed in by hand again is probably very doubtful as he’ll  get very independent.

* But what does Spanner mean?

The very first squirrels we were given were a nest of 5 babies. They were so small that in fact there were 6!

They would scrabble about in a big ball and I likened them to a bag of spanners. So that stuck and it’s a nice name to call them all. After all, I don’t want to give them all names as imprinting is too easy.

Incidentally, there apparently is no collective name for a group of squirrels because they are independent animals, so I would like to suggest we call a group of squirrels……spanners!!

Hedgehogs were brought into care due to a terrier raking out the nest.

I had an occassion to have to take a picture of myself. I used a time operated camera and set it up at the back of the garden.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the exposure right and ended up trying in three seperate parts of the garden.
I didn’t notice at first but after looking at the photos I noticed that Bobo, our rescued (and now permenant resident) Dove had made sure he was in almost every picture!!

Below are three examples of the areas I took photos.

The first one shows him on the fence. The second shows his feet on top of the gate at the back and the third shows him looking through the bottom of the window behind me!

Any more pictures and he’d probabley get himself a top hat and cane!

Bobo the dove having a photo opportunity.

dove's legs on top of the gate.

bottom of window

He was collected from a vets and was described as probabley a baby thrush.
Turned out he was a swift!!

fledgling swift

Weighing just 25 grams, he is nowhere near to flying when he is  expected to be 40-50 grams.

It’s interesting the different opinions on what you should feed them. Some opinions are at odds!

We’ve decided to accept the advice that Les Stocker writes in his book Practical Wildlife Care where he says that the special glop recipe and Tropican should do the trick.

He is also very fond of water.

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little swift looking out of doorway

It seems that he is very active in the evening and here he is gazing over the door ledge before deciding to scuttle over!

He seems to be doing well but is quite clingy in both senses of the word.

Don’t want to imprint but he will insist of hanging on my shirt!

Here is a lovely story from one of our supporters who were grateful for our help.

wrap to the rescue

We know foxes have received a bad press of late but we’ve had a visit each day for the last four years from a vixen who has become known to us as “Foxy”. Over those years we have watched her raise four families of cubs. She has been a wonderful mother to them all, working herself skinny to make sure they are well fed and cared for. Then, on one Sunday in the middle of June this year, we found her laying in our garden with her two youngest cubs sitting with her. She has often layed in the garden sunning herself but never brought her cubs into the garden in daylight. At first we were delighted to see her. As soon as we opened the back door the cubs took flight but Foxy still sat there. To our dismay, when we got nearer, we could see she had been in an accident of some kind. Half her face was lacerated, her eye was closed up and flesh was hanging out of the wound. We were obviously very upset and wanted to help her, but how.

I immediately got onto the Internet and found a website called “The Fox Project”. I contacted the Project with my tale of woe.

head wound

They were very helpful indeed and after we gave further details of our location found we were sadly out of their catchment area but they were able to give us the telephone numbers for Wildlife and Protection (Mid Sussex). I contacted Angela and Sonya straightaway and they gave us support, help and advice which could help save our little fox. They came to our house the same evening, took all the necessary details and started a “get well” regime straightaway. They asked us to continue feeding her so she didn’t have to struggle to find food and add plenty of garlic to sausage meat which would help keep flies and mites away and help avoid the possibility of mange setting in. Helping to lower the risk of any infestation in the wound would give her a better chance for the wound to heal. They explained that a wild animal’s immune system is different to domestic pets and that if they had good food (not infested with flies etc) and were able to rest their immune system kicks into action. What a relief…..there seemed some hope that Foxy would survive.

eye infection

The girls also asked us to take photos of Foxy every three or four days so they could see how she was progressing and whether any further action was needed to help her recover.

I am pleased to say that having taken their advice and help, Foxy is now well on the road to recovery. Her eye has opened and her wound is making good progress. She is back to her old ways, calling for her supper and then taking some off to her teenaged cubs!! We are so grateful to Wildlife Rescue and Protection for their

support and help.

more garlic!

happy face