The Return of Rhea the Rescue Pigeon

 

In January 2022, along with many other birds that frequent our garden, a pigeon with an injured wing was spotted. She was observed all day and only when it was clear she could not fly and therefore was in danger from predators (foxes and cats in our area) we decided to step in.
To read all about her rescue, rehabilitation and more pop on over to this post > Rhea the Rescue Pigeon.

This post however is a short and heartwarming story about her return.

In the year or so since we released Rhea, despite keeping an eye out, we don't think we have seen her amongst the flock who come daily to our gardens for food, water and rest. To be honest, I had a bad feeling that she hadn't made it through the winter. Though healed and able to fly, she was still technically the 'Omega' or 'Runt' of the flock and I was worried she'd been lost in some way but I guess such is nature. We can only do so much to help protect them and when I released her I'd done so knowing that I might never see her again.


That was until May 3rd. We were sat in our front garden to try and get our monthly couples portrait (for the previous month because we'd forgotten!). We don't use our front garden to sit in at all and it is primarily for the wildlife but on this day it was hot, sunny and pretty much empty of any birds...then 1 lone pigeon seemed to fall from the sky and start to walk around close to us. It had a very slightly dropped wing that could have been from a previous injury and Mr H and I looked at each other and straight away said, '...is that Rhea...?!'.

They ate, drank and then settled down for a rest. I stayed with them for over an hour, talking with them and even calling them Rhea a few times, to which I received head tilts and cooing, then came inside for tea during which they stayed in the same place looking lethargic. We decided that if they were still there before we went to bed and hadn't taken off and joined the other birds that came and went after we'd gone inside we'd see if they needed help. At this point I'd looked back on old photos and from markings, size etc it was pretty obvious that this was indeed Rhea. Mr H suggested she needed help and knew where to return to get it.

A couple hours later we went outside and easily got a hold of her. We gave a quick visual once over then made her comfortable in the hutch/coop/run out back, then left her to rest overnight. She made no fuss, she ate, drank, slept and cooed away to me and it seemed that she had just been exhausted and needed a rest.
The next day she just chilled some more, I sat with her for a while and read to her but she showed no sign of wanting to leave so she stayed another night in Chateau de Hallow
Some of our regular pigeon visitors stopped by the following afternoon to say hello to Rhea and a particular male who we have dubbed Marble due to the white colouring on his head was calling to her so I opened the run and she walked out. It took a while but she jumped from hutch to bird table to fence, finally flying up onto the roof (just as she had last year) where she stayed for a while. She eventually must have taken off again as we could no longer see her when checking later that day and we haven't spotted her since.

It was so lovely to have her visit again and I'm over the moon that she was okay and didn't need anything more than an overnight rest. Hopefully, we do see her again but I'd rather next time it was surrounded by the other birds and not needing help, though of course, we will always help anyone in need.

Again, you can read more about Rhea and her original visit last year here > Rhea the Rescue Pigeon.

[As I feel the need to state in all posts of similar content, I never interfere unless necessary. I do have previous experience and knowledge of wildlife. I always consider options extremely well and consult other channels if I am unsure. There are very few wildlife rescues in my county and with the perils faced those who do take in wildlife are overwhelmed so if there are no immediate/extreme health concerns I am able to provide general care.] 

Ludo the Rescue Hedgehog

Well, this was unexpected. Although this now happened a good three months ago now, it still shocks me how these animals come into our lives.

After finding Hoggle* in a sorry state, curled up behind a plant pot on our decking back in July 2020 (and releasing Rhea** back in February), I was hopeful to avoid any more poorly creatures. Not because I mind caring for them, which of course I don't, but because we should always hope that they do not need us and can thrive in the wild where they should be.

However, Ludo had different ideas.

One morning when dropping Mr H off at work I turned to leave and spotted something sitting in the middle of the road. A hedgehog! Of course, I was excited to see one and gutted not to have my camera but then I realized the issue. It was long past daylight, the roads were very busy and upon observing from afar the hog seemed exhausted. During this time we'd had a lot of very warm, dry weather and it was very much possible that they were out searching for water.
I slowly approached and it neither moved nor curled up and so after much umming and ahhing we decided it would be best to remove it from the situation to avoid it being hit by a car on these surrounding roads that were already a sad sight of many lost hogs. I should also mention at this point I thought it was a 'he' and we had a look around to see if there were any hoglets around just in case before picking him up.
I had some old pillowcases in my car that we kept for any such wildlife emergencies and Mr H grabbed a box from work. Then I started the journey home slowly with my precious cargo!

* Hoggle the Rescue Hedgehog
** Rhea the Rescue Pigeon

When we arrived home, I placed the box in the garden with some fresh water and hedgehog food while I readied the hutch so they could have more room and I could observe them better. 
While giving them a quick once over during transfer to the hutch I was pretty certain this was a boy and he was a good weight. So I left him to rest, refuel and settle from his probably stressful morning.

After keeping an eye from afar that day and evening, together Mr H and I decided to name him Ludo! Our buddy Hoggle was much smaller and more confident so it seemed fitting that this big timid boy be named in the Labyrinth theme also. 
Ludo had a super short stay with us at the Hallow Manor Rehab (haha) and was released late one evening into our very hog-friendly front garden. We'd seen him that evening pottering around the hutch eating and drinking therefore knew he was ready. I had considered taking him back to where he was found, though with no hoglets to look after and it being a very unsafe area with little in the way of a nice environment for him to thrive in we decided it was best to release him here. 

I am gutted to say that I cannot find any of the photos from his release or much video footage at all from his short stay with us. Though of course, the main thing is his health and safety and we had been so happy to have him revisit in the following weeks. I guess he knew there was water aplenty in our garden!

To end this I feel like I need to say, as I always do, that I would never interfere unless necessary. I do have previous experience and knowledge of wildlife. I always consider options extremely well and consult other channels if I am unsure. There are very few wildlife rescues in my county and with the perils faced those who do take in wildlife are overwhelmed.
That being said, if you find a hedgehog or other wild animal in need please do call your local wildlife rescue if you have one and get them the help they need, you could save a life. In general, make sure you at all times of the year leave out fresh clean water for all our wonderful wildlife and place rocks and/or sticks in it so that smaller visitors can get out if they were to fall in.

Until next time here's a short video of lovely Ludo...

Rhea the Rescue Pigeon

''Rhea or Rheia is a goddess in Greek mythology, the Titaness daughter of the earth goddess Gaia and the sky god  Ouranos (Uranus).

She is most renowned as the mother of Zeus, but many of The 12 Olympians are her offspring Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia, and Poseidon.'' - via www.thoughtco.com

On January 6th this year I noticed that one of the many pigeons that frequent our garden couldn't fly. Her wing was dragging on the ground and when all the others took off, she stayed hidden in the bushes. After two days of upset and stress on my part, I was on my way outside to put the bird food out when she was sitting in front of the door, in the pouring rain, looking at me. 

On the 8th of January, I was able to get a hold of her and put her safely in the hutch in our back garden that has previously been home to Hoggle the Rescue Hedgehog and a summer day shelter for our piggies when they are out in their run. 
After leaving her alone with food and water for a day or two to settle, we PPE'd up and gently assessed the situation. Thankfully, what was first thought to be a break was not! She had a wound the size of a 20p under her wing in her wing pit which we cleaned with a specific wound cleaning solution before popping her back in the hutch to relax again. 

She was named in line with all of our pet's names (minus Baker) who are all also God and Goddess names. I think Rhea suits her.

I inparticular have a bit of experience with wildlife rehab and in regards to birds have in the past hand-reared a baby Blackbird, assisted two young sparrows that fell down my wood burner chimney, helped a fledgling pigeon who had been spray-painted blue and waded into a river to catch a juvenile herring gull that was covered in oil. I feel the need to explain that because it hurts my heart to have people question my knowledge. 
Where we live there are not the types of wildlife rescues that I was lucky enough to have in my hometown. As pigeons are seen by many as vermin there are also not many rescues that will have the time, money or energy to be able to help one with a broken or badly injured wing, so of course, we couldn't risk anyone putting her down and decided to do everything we could to help her. Including lots of research reading and watching things online, online orders and a Pets at Home trip. 

After making her as comfortable as we could, putting in some perches and toys for her, we observed her making sure she was eating, drinking, sleeping, defecating and just generally moving about etc as normally as possible eliminating any other bigger problems. The aim was always to get her healthy again and release her as soon as possible, so we tried to stay away as much as possible as not all humans or animals will be as nice to her in the wild as we are and I didn't want her to become too tame. With that being said, pigeons are social birds and I was worried she'd become lonely so she did start to realize that I was the one who fed and spoke to her and she spoke back. 

A week or so later we needed to check the wound again to see if it was healing and decided to wrap her wing to prevent her from picking at it or any bugs from getting into it. However, after being so calm and well behaved getting it on she decided she didn't like it and wouldn't move around with it on. We'd planned to leave it on for the day to give the Vetericyn time to soak in but when we returned in the evening to take it off she'd already done it for us haha! At that point, with it not being a break, we decided to just leave her to it and give her the much needed time she needed to rest up and heal.

As the days passed, Rhea got stronger and stronger. Although her wing would never return to the original position without being wrapped up, over time she did start to regain proper movement in it. 

Until one day...she stood in the run and flapped her wings! She turned her head to look at me and did it again. Rhea was telling me that she was ready to try and fly.
The run did have a net over the top of it for safety - both to protect her from any cats and other predators that may come into our garden and to stop her from getting out and not being about to get back in if we weren't around. 
I gave it another day or two to make sure she was fit and healthy. I took sneaky peeks of her wing pit when she opened her wings to stretch and could see no sign of the wound at all and was happy that it had completely healed! 

On February 26th we removed the run, opened the doors and watched as she walked out and had a look around. She had a look around for a minute or two, and then she took off. And of course, I cried. 
It is apparently a tradition that I miss the release on video because the same happened with my Blackbird release, but we stood and watched her as she looked down at us from our roof before she was off for good. 

I hope she is getting on okay and is living safely and happily. She hasn't yet been spotted her back in our gardens if she has come back, but it's possible she's purposely staying away in fear of being locked up in a hutch again! We had planned to buy or build a purpose-built aviary better suited for her if she hadn't regained her flight and I even posted about it being a strong possibility a mere 6 days before she left us.
It goes to show what time and care can do. I don't think it was by chance that she ended up in our garden and I'm glad we were there to help her.

(In regards to avian flu, there were no confirmed cases in my area until after Rhea had been released. We practised a high level of hygiene and have had no contact with any other birds. She was observed as healthy* before we caught her and healthy upon release. Fingers crossed she still is.
*other than the wing injury.)

Hoggle the Rescue Hedgehog

Warning for Cuteness Overload!

Say Hi to Hoggle! Last month this little fellow came into our lives, so today I want to share a little about them.

It all started on the 9th of July when Baker (our doggo) kept going to the corner of our decking, sniffing and jumping back because he's such a scaredy-cat. He'd actually been doing this for a couple of weeks and we assumed it was the plant in the plant pot or the fact that another dog lives on the opposite side of that wall...but apparently not. I don't know what made me check this day of all days, but instead of brushing it off as the above excuses, I peeked behind the plant pot to find a little spikey ball.

We have seen hedgehogs in our front garden before, but never the back due to the only entry for them being under our back gate and the fact there aren't exactly many appealing places for them to venture. That along with the fact Baker had been acting weird with that particular area for a little while beforehand and it also was very bright and warm, makes me think they had been stuck there for a little while sadly.
I would never interfere unless necessary, so to be on the safe side I decided to get a box with hay to make them comfortable and popped in some food and water until Mr H got home from work and we could check the hog over properly.

Obviously, me being me I had to take some photos to use as the daily photo for my Project 366 and looking back at them on my laptop one of them concerned me because it looked as if the Hedgehog was burnt slightly on its side. Our neighbour has been lighting fires quite often recently so it was possible it had been caught there and then escaped to our garden for safety.
Later that evening Mr H and I popped out to check the little thing out and see whether we thought it'd be okay to be directly re-released. We were pretty confident that they weren't burnt, however, they had a few little lumps/bumps so we decided to kit out our unused outdoor hutch and observe them for a day or two. We bought a little wooden lodge and filled it with hay, kept a nice fresh supply of water topped up and tried a few different food options. For the next day or two, we didn't see the Hedgehog itself (we go to bed pretty early and it was still light, too early for the little thing to be out and about), though the food was disappearing and healthy poops were appearing.
With everything taken into account, dehydration seems to be one of the biggest issues the hedgehog was facing. It wasn't too underweight but was definitely pretty hungry and although cancer is common in hedgehogs, we came to the conclusion that the bumps seemed as if they had been caused by either a dog or bird attack.

It was approaching the one week mark of our Hoggle rehabbing and I thought it was definitely time to try and get them back to the wild as soon as possible. So the 15th was chosen as release day!

That morning, as I was about to let Baker out for the toilet, I saw movement in the hutch. It was light and had been for many hours so I guessed something wasn't quite right. When I checked I was correct - the bowl of food was empty and the hog was on the hunt for something to fill it's tummy haha. So I ran inside, grabbed some more food and fresh water, as well as my camera of course.
It was such a great coincidence that Hoggle showed their face and gave me an opportunity to give them a proper good look over without needing to physically handle them before the planned release that evening. They were eating and drinking very well and was a lot more stable and speedy when walking around. I even managed to get some really cute video footage that I've included at the bottom of this post, you can hear Hoggle talking away a little too after he heard the neighbour's dog barking.
Don't worry - I have a big lens on my camera and was able to get those close up pictures etc without being too close. 

Happy with how Hoggle was doing, I left them again to rest for the day. We stayed up late (well, later than usual...10pm!) and got everything ready for the release into our front garden. The little log cabin got situated, along with the supply of food and water of course, and I picked up our little pal to carry them out to freedom. This gave us the very last opportunity to survey any injuries which we're doing super well, yay! I didn't mention it earlier in the post but during all of this we weren't sure about the sex of Hoggle, the name being chosen purely because of Labyrinth, so I was surprised when they gave us a little sneak peek of their tummy and we saw they were, in fact, a girl. 
Finally, I popped her down in front of the hide where she ran in to continue her sleep until it got a little darker and I assumed she would leave. The next morning I did go to see if she had left and she had, therefore I used the opportunity to get the hide pushed back further among the shrubbery. Since then I've checked the hide periodically and think she - or a friend - has been visiting because the food has been getting eaten for sure!
Fingers crossed the little lady is doing well. It was such a fantastic experience helping her for a few days, expanding my wildlife care a little since I have mainly only worked with birds previously.
If you find a hedgehog or other wild animal in need please do call your local wildlife rescue if you have one and get them the help they need, you could save a life.

I hope you've enjoyed these photos and have a little watch of the short video below where you can see Hoggle eating, drinking and his moment of release!
Until next time!