One of the young Hobbies we ringed at a nest in Cheshire has unfortunately had a collision with a wire fencing close to the nest site, resulting in damage to the soft tissue of the underside of the wing as can be seen in this picture.
Luckily help was on hand when the bird was found and local birder, falconer and raptor worker Phil was able to collect the bird quickly, despite being very busy at work.
A call to a coup
le of friends and the bird was en route to AVS at Northwich. A fantastic team who offer advice and help to the Peak District Raptor Monitoring Group when requested.
Thankfully although extremely bruised there were no fractures evident and due to the quick action of all involved hopefully no permanent harm done.
Following cleaning up of the wound (using a falconry hood to keep the bird calm; ‘hoodwinking’ it into thinking it was night-time!), some topical and systemic pain relief/anti-inflammatories and fluid therapy the bird was delivered back to Phil for a short rehabilitation period in his aviary before being released back in to the wild where it quickly rejoined it’s parents and sibling in with plenty of time to recover before the long migration journey south to Africa
