Anybody free to pick up a nestling from Turriff please. Must be better 4.00 if you can help please call us on 07962253867
Is anybody available to transport a wee bird from Burghead to us please. We also need a pick up from Forres too.
Baby bird needing picked up and transferred from Kintore vets before 11.00. If not possible then pick up from Inverurie is possible after that. Please call us on 07962253867 if you can help
Injured magpie contained in Aberdeen needing picked up and transferred to us. Please call 07962253867 if you can help.
Keith here - Over the past couple of years our local Swans in Ellon have had a really hard time. One was killed on the bridge after being hit by a car and more recently one was attacked and killed by a dog, while the couple with the dog watched and then walked away as if nothing had happened.
Tonight we received a call which I personally find even more disturbing. Three youths were seen throwing rocks at the swan on her nest, near the bridge and although I arrived within minutes of the call the youths concerned were no longer in the area.
However, we have reported this to the police and have a good description of two of them. It seems they have been hanging round the riverside and surrounding area most of the day.
I don't have the words to describe what I think of these 'young adults'. I won't call them kids because they are clearly old enough to be responsible for their actions and I would like to make sure that they are held accountable.
I am sure these individuals must be well known and am confident that even family or friends would be disgusted by their actions.
If you know who is responsible I would urge you to contact the local police so they can take action.
Alternatively, if that option is not one you feel you can take and you wish to remain anonymous please feel free to pm me on face-book, e-mail me on keith@thenewarc.org or call me direct on 07962253867 where I will promise your identity will remain private and I will take the appropriate action required.
If anyone is available to pick up a contained injured bird for us from Mintlaw and transfer it to us please give us a call on 07962253867
Can anybody help please with pick up and transport to us for a poorly hedgehog from Muchalls
Our first Swift of 2019 came in today. Found in Inverurie, grounded and soaking wet. Luckily the lady who found him realised that he should not be left and brought him to us. Swifts on the ground struggle to get flight again, they cannot take off well from flat horizontal surfaces, and need a vertical lift to get air-born. Swifts have very short legs which they use primarily for clinging to vertical surfaces ). They never settle voluntarily on the ground, where they would be vulnerable to accidents and predation, and non-breeding individuals may spend up to ten months in continuous flight
After a good inspection, and checking for damage this lovely one was put into an incubator to warm up and finish drying off, rehydrated and later given a feed. It is important to know that for Swifts, they must only be given insects – some rescues still feed mince but this is not good for them and may cause metabolic bone disease if used over a period of time, particularly when handrearing. Swifts don’t eat meat, they eat insects
Except when nesting, swifts spend their lives in the air, living on the insects caught in flight; they drink, feed, and often mate and sleep on the wing. Some will go many months without landing. No other bird spends as much of its life in flight. Their maximum horizontal flying speed is 111.6 km/h. Over a lifetime they can cover millions of kilometres
This little beauty had a good rest, and a few hours later was quite clear that he wanted out to fly again, so after another inspection, he was deemed “fit to be released” – and look at him go!
Keith here - Picked this cheeky wee beauty up from the lovely people at Aberdeen Vet Referrals the other day. I must admit that my first thought was pheasant chick, quickly changed to partridge.....then possibly skylark. By the time we had checked it over back at the centre I was leaning heavily towards Skylark, but a thank you to our friend Tim Marshall for a definite i.d.
Having said that and looking at the picture of its face with those lovely ‘tear drops’ on its chin I can’t think why I thought it could be anything else.
Although we have had Skylarks before this is the first chick we have received and when we did a wee bit of research on them we found some really surprising facts about them.
The Skylark is in serious decline! In the past 30 years the population has plummeted by 90% putting this easily recognisable and well known songster on the ‘Red list’ of endangered UK species and yet this is a bird that should be thriving in our countryside.
Skylarks can produce several broods each year and have an amazingly fast incubation period, usually 3 to 6 eggs and it only takes around 11 days before they hatch. Both parents feed the chicks on a diet of insects for the first ten or eleven days before the youngsters leave the nest and distribute themselves around the area. They are self reliant and able to fly from 18 to 20 days old.
Unfortunately it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out why they are in decline...... Intensive monoculture farming and pesticides.
At this rate of decline I don’t know what the future is for this wonderful bird, but in the meantime I will continue to enjoy their skydancing and song every time we walk our dogs.
"6000 club Winner"
This months prize is a superb hamper of sweets from Hey Sweetie, Ellon (yum yum ymmmmm!)
And the winner is Jackie Wood..
Congratulations Jackie... Please pm the page
Thank you Tina for the squirrel food 😘 and to Sarah for the parrot toy and hand sanitiser from our Amazon wish list 😘 all really appreciated
Thank you for sending this from our Amazon Wish List - I know who sent it but I just cant remember your name (eeek sorry) ,but wanted you to see it has safely arrived this time <3
NO MORE MASCARA WANDS THANK YOU
We have now closed the Appeal. Thank you to all who have sent either single wands or packs of several hundred - we now have enough to last us for years
Many people have put in lovely notes and asked for confirmation and/or photos of their wands being received and used, we would love to be able to do that but we just don't have the time as baby season is now upon us
MASCARA WAND APPEAL FINISHED!
Please Note :-
The mascara wand appeal is now closed, we have thousands and thousands of them, which will last us for many years to come. Thank you to all who sent, whether single ones or packs of several hundred – sorry we do not have the time to reply to each and every one.
Picture by HEATHER FOWLIE