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Freckles has been more active
Friday 12th June
Little Jed, the fawn found by his mother who had died giving birth to his sibling started to go down hill last night so I put him on antibiotics, by this morning he had deteriorated further so I put him in an incubator to control his temperature. I don’t think I’m going to win this one.
More shop stock arrived today so I must get them marked up so that the volunteers in reception can price them in their spare time(!)
I went back mid morning to give Jed some more lectade and he had already died. I just hope it is nothing that the others can catch.
The young Raven and its parent went for release today. They are so large and it is the first we have had in although talking to people, there are quite a few pairs around.
Worked in the office until nearly 2 a.m. to try and finish newsletter which is overdue. Still loads to do.
Time will tell whether this fow will make a recovery, so fingers crossed
Saturday 13th June
Freckles seems more active and is coming out with the others when they feed although he still hasn’t got the hang of it! Derek ( husband ) was having a lie in – gaining strength for the cricket match that afternoon – was woken by the pounding of the fawns as they ran up and down the corridor outside our bedroom. They were running full pelt down the corridor and back up into the kitchen, sailing over Albert, the dog who was lying in the doorway, and then back down again. Great fun !
A fox cub was brought in which had been clipped on a road and has come back from the vets on a drip. It seems he has concussion and bruising but apart from that should be ok. Time will tell.
A group of mallard ducklings arrived and are in the duckery unit complete with soft toy as ‘mum’. As you can see from the photo it makes a good perching place ! Two cygnets have also been brought in. They have been on their own nearly all day and no sign of the parents, so we’re have to wait and see how they fare. Certainly single cygnets are not usually happy on their own in captivity.
We always put a cuddly Mum in with orphaned Ducklinga
The two cygnets were brought to us as there was no sign of the parents...
.... but hopefully they will do okay
Sunday June 14th
A successful release!
Spoilt today with Derek cooking me a full English breakfast – he has his uses !
It was time for a woodpecker to go for release and luckily the response driver who brought it in a few days ago, was able to collect it and take it back to where it was found
Another Red calf has arrived. It is in better condition that Freckles as she weighs around 15 kg compared with Freckled 4.2 kg. She has a huge wound at the top of her left leg, which will be a very difficult area to stitch but I’ll ring the vets tomorrow and see what they can do. I’ve cleaned it as best I can and bandaged it and then left her to get over her ordeal. Luckily she is in the deer pen which has a camera so I can monitor her movements.
We cleaned the wound up....
... bandaged it, and left her in peace
Actually managed finished newsletter and celebrated with a peanut Kit Kat. Am not getting tired of them yet!
A late call tonight was to a deer that was badly injured. I managed to get Kate Lawrence who is a warden up on the Mendips. Luckily she had a vet close by. When they arrived they knew there was nothing that they could do other than to euthanase the poor animal. It only had one front leg and one back leg. Both of the other legs were sheared off at the first joint. However, somehow, she had still been getting around using the stumps. Kate said she was incredibly thin and probably had been injured for about two weeks.
I'm fearing the worse when it comes to Little Miss Muffet's blood test
Euthanasia is never an easy thing to do but sometimes it can be a blessed relief.
Little Miss Muffet is still scurrying around my office. She often sleeps on my feet. Her blood results should come through soon but I almost know that it’s not going to be good news.
I must ring the vet first thing tomorrow and book the red calf in to be assessed.
June 15th
Made an appointment for the red calf to go in to the vets for 11 a.m. It’s surprising how long it takes to sort the fawns and other bits and pieces. Marie is going to clean out the fawn shed for the red calf if she comes back. It’s bound to be an open wound so we need to get rid of all the hay in the shed.
The hospital room is still very busy. The Shrews are doing really well and are getting quite plump. Its fascinating watching them drink their milk from a bowl. There is still so many feeds that need to be done all through the day with so many baby birds in at the moment. Thank goodness for the volunteers who support the staff at this time of year.
Rhianon is the vet who sees the red calf and I also take in a buzzard that seems to have a blockage in its throat. Rhianon checked the buzzard forst and couldn’t find anything in the throat so we came to the conclusion that it must have been half way through swallowing some food and it had cleared by the time we got to the surgery.
The red calf was not going to be so easy. The cut is across the front left leg at the top and right around to the other side. There is also a deep wound almost into the bone. It is very doubtful that it will get over it but Rhianon is going to try and reduce the wound by stitching part of it but in the main the action of the leg is going to aggravate any stitching. I left Rihanon to try her best and got back in time to sort some telephone calls before going to attend a funeral.
I collected the red calf from the vets after the funeral and she had got through the operation well but no real hopes of it being successful. Marie had finished the fawn shed. There was just the bare rubber matting and quilts in waterproof covers for her to lie one. We gave her the antibiotic injection and pain relief as we moved her into the shed so that we would not have to disturb her again today.
I have the doubtful pleasure of looking after Rocky, my son’s great dane, as Simon is out tonight. I thought it best to take all the dogs around the homeground and met up with our cousin Francis who rents our fields for his sheep. He has been busy topping the thistles in the Breathing Spaces area. There is still quite a few in where the hedge plants are so we will need to get them out before flowering otherwise all the thistle control this year will have been a waste of time. We need to get rid of all the thistles this year so that we can start planting the seed for the wild flower meadow this autumn.
I can see on the camera that the red calf in the fawn shed has been jumping at the walls even though we have blacked out the windows. That’s not going to help her stitches at all. She’s settled now that it getting dark but I hope she will not start again in the morning. If she has anymore damage, there will be no point in going any further with her injury. Why can’t life be easy ?
The breathing places project is really coming on
Feeding the animals in the hospital room is almost a non-stop job!
