Last week, we received a call from local vet nurse, Jenny, about a young Kestrel they had picked up. The youngster was extremely thin and dehydrated so was given some liquid support via a crop tube to give her an immediate boost, but it was touch and go for a while. Jess, who runs our Raptor Hospital, stayed late to keep an eye on her and waited until she had taken some small bits of moistened food and had perked up a bit.
Adult males are usually around 190g, with females around 220g. Recent fledglings are often slightly heavier than adults, so 147g was very worrying.
By the morning, she was much stronger and we hoped she was on the road to recovery.
Later that day, we saw a post on social media that two more were found hanging around outside a local fish and chip shop, close to a busy road! (Images below taken by Stowupland residents Mags, Julie and Tom).
Jess went out to try and catch them but was unsuccessful. Thankfully, Jenny was more successful and brought the second Kestrel in to us over the weekend. Unfortunately we suspect she may have been hit by a car as she has a broken jaw. She is able to eat small amounts of food but is unable to tear food at the moment.
Although these two are siblings, due to the injury they are being kept separate for the time being.
Despite our efforts, the third Kestrel was found hit by a car on the road later that day. Whilst it’s upsetting for everyone involved that we were unable to save all of the youngsters, at least we can help two of them. They will stay with us until they are both recovered, then we’ll find a local site to release them at, away from roads.