Unlike other jobs, our staff are always ready to help a bird in need out of normal working hours.
Here’s an interesting case that we have recently been looking after. Special thanks to Mike for sending us a detailed account of the rescue, and to our Manager Maz, who took care of the Owl overnight before bringing it in to the Hospital for further treatment.
“It was about 1 -2am in the morning when my wife was woken by , she said a scratching noise in the chimney, like all good husbands I assured her that it was probably mice in the roof and go back to sleep.
Some 5 – 6 days later with the cold snap upon us we decided to light the wood burner, When lighting we always put in paper and a small amount of sticks to make sure the flue is clear. The flue was blocked as the smoke poured out and quickly extinguished itself, We have a soot door for cleaning the flue on the outside of the bungalow, so armed with my sweeps brushes decided to check the flue out. The soot door is situated about 600mm above the wood burner. No obstruction was found as I pushed the brush up the flue, therefore the logic being it was between the door and the wood burner itself. Just a rod was used and when a metallic clunk was heard I knew I had reached the wood burner. There appeared to be no blockage in the flue, Back inside to the wood burner itself. I removed the baffle plate to access the flue with a torch peered into the flue, my heart sank, there was a “ dead “ bird blocking the flue with plumage that I recognised as that of a Tawny owl. Armed with my wife’s marigolds I stretched in to drag the body out as I gripped it I felt a sharp pain in my hand, this “ dead “ bird had pecked me and ruined managements marigolds. At this moment the panic set in, if I tried to pull her through this opening, I would be sure to kill her. The only way to get her out was too rip out the burner and flue.
While I’m doing this, now with the help of my daughter and her partner, my wife contacted the owl sanctuary to be told that if we can get to Ipswich with the bird they would try and help.. With the bird still in the pipe, which stopped her flapping about, we raced off to Ipswich, where we were met by Maz.
Within moments the bird was out and being washed to remove the soot, the care and confidence with which the bird was handled was amazing, my be this is where Maz’s name came from. The bird was skinny bearing in mind it had been in there 5 – 6 days, but as luck would have it mice were being thawed as we arrived. Some things we all keep in the fridge just in case !
Don’t try this at home!
It is amazing the guilt we feel for what we did to Fleur, the nearest name my wife could find to flue We are now sporting a brand new bird proof terminal on the chimney and installing owl boxes around the garden so she has some where to live when she returns.
Thank you Maz and no doubt your long suffering husband”
The team nicknamed the Owl Piper, and are pleased to report she is doing well. Due to the length of time she was stuck in the flue, she was very thin and required a special solution to give her an energy boost. Maz did a fantastic job removing the soot from Piper’s feathers, but some had gone in her eyes, so the team have been treating her with special eye drops. These are doing their job and she is looking much better. We hope that Piper will be ready for release over the next week or so, and are very grateful to Mike and his family for providing her with an alternative place to roost!
Piper is receiving treatment for a sore eye, but this is improving every day.