There was a time when writing this newsletter, that I could document each individual incident and give you a diary breakdown however not anymore. The reason being, we are a million times busier with phone calls and rescues and it would take the entire newsletter to document, so we have logged our diary into categories of wildlife.
DIARY (since Winter Newsletter 2023)
- PIGEONS/DOVES……..42
- HEDGEHOGS……………10
- GULLS…………………….23
- DEER……………………..36
- FOXES……………………98
- WOODPECKER………..1
- SWANS………………….16
- CORVIDS………………..4
- BADGERS……………….11
- OWL……………………..1
- PHEASANT…………….1
- DUCKS…………………..3
- HERON………………….1
- COOT…………………….1
- HAWK……………………2
- RABBIT…………………..1
- GOOSE…………………..4
- KESTREL…………………1
- GARDEN BIRDS………..6
- EWE and LAMB…………1
- RAT…………………………1
- DOG……………………….. 1
- CORMORANT……………1
TOTAL: 266
The above numbers represent rescue call outs, advice and medication arranged, every animal involved is a telephone call to us, even on Xmas Day we had three call outs. We are expecting to get busier every year, as our details get passed around on social media and it is good to report that people seem to be caring more for our wildlife, so we really do rely on your generous goodwill in supporting us and we do appreciate it. Thank you.
BUYING OUR BOOK
Please if possible buy our book which includes West Sussex Wildlife, it is £10 with free postage and the monies from it go towards petrol costs for our rescuers.
WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING
As we write this newsletter the birds have started really singing in the mornings now, already looking for a mate, which no doubt will mean work for us. There are camellias flowering in the gardens and primroses, snowdrops and daffodils which at least gives the feeling of spring.
We seem to get a lot more call outs for deer sadly they are either road traffic accidents or hanging on fence lines trapped. If we can we will remove and take to Arun Vets at Chichester, they have been very good at helping us and sadly most deer have such bad leg injuries that they are put to sleep immediately. Sometimes we have to get a farmer or ranger to attend and sadly shoot the animal however we prefer to get them to a vet and will try to do this in most cases.
We have just bought another stretcher for our rescuers Nerys and Jonathan to use carrying deer; it makes it so much easier as they often weigh quite a bit. We find that deer catch their legs on the top rail of barbed wire on fencing. There are normally two strands and we feel the top strand is not necessary. We have written to West Dean Estates, Bairds and Goodwood Estate and also the National Farmers Union.