There's a regular circular walk that I take locally, it starts from home and follows footpaths, meadows and some arable land before crossing a small stream that links back to the house. Yesterday was a beautiful day here in the south of the U.K. and I'd been thoroughly enjoying this particular walk. I was only a short hop from home when distracted from watching a fox making its way across the corn field by a loud rustling and fluttering at ankle level.
It was in the low vegetation beside the footpath and I soon saw what was making all the noise...
It seemed to be in a bad way and in need of some help. I waited around for a while to see if the parents were close-by or maybe calling it but there was no sign of them and this little one was really distressed. I decided to take it home and see if I could allow it to recover in peace and maybe even encourage it to eat; it was asking for food when I picked it up and I had no idea how long it had been there.
If that was correct, then I really needed to double my efforts to try and ensure its survival-the yellowhammer has suffered a decline in recent years to the point where it has now become a red-listed (endangered) species.
I couldn't find any relevant advise on food for such a youngster but remembered that once before when I had a small fledgling, the local sanctuary advised me to feed it on small amounts of scrambled egg! Being the cordon bleu chef I undoubtedly am, I had some knocked up in no time. The bird didn't seem to be interested in feeding now though, I did my best to persuade it over the next few hours but it steadfastly refused to even try a tiny piece of my offering.
I suppose it must have been about 10pm when I returned it to its make-shift home for the night with a little food and dish of water and turned out the lights. I wasn't at all hopeful, it seemed so weak and its movements were worrying too. I fully expected to find this morning that it had passed away in the night but I had done all I could and maybe, it now needed to be left alone to recover?
At around 6am this morning I was steeling myself for the worst as I walked the short distance to where the birdie was housed. Miracle of miracles! Not only was it alive but looking much better and even making efforts to fly a little. When I switched the lights on, it began to chirp at me too. No more falling over, no more head tilting either. I offered food again but still it wasn't interested. I left it for a while and then decided that the best plan would be to return it to where I found it and release the little thing. It seemed ready somehow and much stronger today.
What happened next fills me with joy. I set the beautiful little creature on the ground right close to where I originally spotted it and didn't have to wait long for my reward. It sat for a while, had a quick look around and then took flight for a good distance into the midst of the corn crop...
(You'll need to visit the blog online to see this video)
Not a great video I know but if you look very hard and squint and use your imagination...you can just about make out it's flight path into the crops. Well I managed to after several views anyhow.
I cribbed a few stills from the video and mashed them together as an animated GIF to allow you to see take-off in slow motion...
I can't tell you how good it feels to be able to give nature a hand in this way and it was such a treat to watch as this tiny bird returned to the wild in a much better state than when I found it.
Until the next time...