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Trust members and regular visitors from Fife, Alison and John Nicol brought me an unusual casualty today from Nairn beach - a Curlew.
I decided to see if it could be saved and phoned our Avian adviser Sue for advice. After washing away all the sand on it's underside I was able to have a good look at the damage and discovered 2 badly broken legs. One of the legs had two compound fractures close to the foot and upper joint, and the other had a compound fracture again close to the upper joint. Although I have some medical kit for uncomplicated repairs, I reluctantly decided that the best option for the bird was to be put to sleep. This bird is a wader and needs two good legs to survive. Sadly the fractures were too severe for successful repair which was a great pity, for it had no wing injuries and was otherwise healthy. Last week I had a pigeon which also died, unfortunately dealing with wild bird casualties, it's a case of some you win some you lose !
What a week this has been for me, the cygnets hatching, the sick pigeons making slow progress, then an emergency call after a mother duck was run over on Tuesday at King street while trying to cross the road with 5 ducklings in tow.
After retrieving the injured duck and ducklings, a trip to the vet was essential, the mother has a compound fracture of the wing and a broken toe as well as various scrapes. All 5 ducklings appeared OK but one has since died. After an antibiotic jab and the wing bandaged I took it home to the comfort of the coop with her babies. Within an hour she had removed the bandage, and I had to re-apply the dressing only to have it removed within a couple of hours again !
The third attempt lasted until the following day, and I had no choice but another trip to the vet to see if I could get them to immobilise the wing for at least 10 days to allow the bones to fuse together. It seems an impossible task, since the ducks instinct is to remove the pesky object which is stopping her from shielding her babies ! The vet decided that a minimal surgical tape on the break was the best chance of her leaving it alone. So far it seems to be working but this is only the second day ! The prognosis is bad since the break is on the joint and a compound one as well.. Even if she is unable to fly but able to get around smartly would do, in order to rear her babies once back in the river. I will keep her a few weeks until they all have a fighting chance. A bypass is needed for the ducks, did I hear a mention of a tree lined A96 with little traffic, what a lovely dream !
Today the gloom was lifted by the hatching of the two eggs I saved from the gull duck nest raiders a month ago -
this is two they wont get !
