Chimneys and Birds
Discussion
Over the last few days heard some rustling in our chimney which is usualy from our chimney balloon and is not uncommon if it is windy outside so thought nothing of it.
Boxing Day turned out to be interested as we had more rustling and then some tweeting, now this was not normal and this warranted further investigation.
Deflated the chimney balloon expecting something like a sparrow or blackbird to fly out into the living room with the cat ready to go beserk.
Nothing appeared, so my wife got a torch and had a look up and screams says that she sees part of an eye on a fluffy "thing" but no movement from said "thing".
The two of us stand back and ponder what we were going to do next and the 2 cats wander into the living room so we decide to take them out and into another room to avoid any possible further calamity
When we get back into the lounge my wife has another look up the chimney and the "thing" is sitting on the shelf about 6 inches up into the chimney. She thinks it is an owl
I have a look and agree, its a bleeding owl stuck in our chimney
How do we get it out
without losing eyes and limbs
Fortunately our neighbour is a veterinary nurse so we called assistance and she safely removed what was a fully grown adult tawny owl and it hadn't broken a wing or look injured in any other way
The poor thing was underweight and dehydrated so we fed it some cat food and hydrated it and called a wildlfe rescue centre near Evesham who were happy to take it in and keep a watchful eye on it
Tawny was boxed up with some towels and a heated wheat bag to keep it warm and we set of on a 25mile drive to Vale Wildlife Rescue Centre and were met by a nice young lady who said the owl was about 25% underweight but looked in reasonable shape
The owl was a lot more alert than when we first saw the poor thing and will be "kept in" for a few days to see that it gains weight and is fit to return to the wild.
We will be kept upto date with its progress and if all goes well it will be released back into wild where we live
Feel good that we helped one of natures beautiful birds the opportunity to survive after an unfortunate accident
Boxing Day turned out to be interested as we had more rustling and then some tweeting, now this was not normal and this warranted further investigation.
Deflated the chimney balloon expecting something like a sparrow or blackbird to fly out into the living room with the cat ready to go beserk.
Nothing appeared, so my wife got a torch and had a look up and screams says that she sees part of an eye on a fluffy "thing" but no movement from said "thing".
The two of us stand back and ponder what we were going to do next and the 2 cats wander into the living room so we decide to take them out and into another room to avoid any possible further calamity
When we get back into the lounge my wife has another look up the chimney and the "thing" is sitting on the shelf about 6 inches up into the chimney. She thinks it is an owl
I have a look and agree, its a bleeding owl stuck in our chimney
How do we get it out
without losing eyes and limbs Fortunately our neighbour is a veterinary nurse so we called assistance and she safely removed what was a fully grown adult tawny owl and it hadn't broken a wing or look injured in any other way
The poor thing was underweight and dehydrated so we fed it some cat food and hydrated it and called a wildlfe rescue centre near Evesham who were happy to take it in and keep a watchful eye on it
Tawny was boxed up with some towels and a heated wheat bag to keep it warm and we set of on a 25mile drive to Vale Wildlife Rescue Centre and were met by a nice young lady who said the owl was about 25% underweight but looked in reasonable shape
The owl was a lot more alert than when we first saw the poor thing and will be "kept in" for a few days to see that it gains weight and is fit to return to the wild.
We will be kept upto date with its progress and if all goes well it will be released back into wild where we live
Feel good that we helped one of natures beautiful birds the opportunity to survive after an unfortunate accident
Edited by 993Targa on Sunday 26th December 23:26
Well done OP. They're lovely birds.
I've had a similar encounter a few years ago. The owl was pretty poorly and was advised at the time tinned dog/cat food was pretty good for feeding and rehydrating but mixed with plenty roughage.I used chopped up pheasant feathers.
The owl pellets that are seen where they roost in the wild are coughed up as opposed to deposited and they need plenty material to form these.
It was kept in a dark shed for 4 days and fed twice a day with the food mix in a 10ml syringe with the end cut off. They have small beaks but a cavernous gape.
To catch it leather gloves were needed,they have talons like razors. The owl was easily "frozen" in the beam of a torch.
I don't know if this is an approved method. I was just winging it.(sorry)
It worked and the owl was strong enough to fly away. It felt good.
So if you haven't got a convenient rescue centre it's worth a go.
I've had a similar encounter a few years ago. The owl was pretty poorly and was advised at the time tinned dog/cat food was pretty good for feeding and rehydrating but mixed with plenty roughage.I used chopped up pheasant feathers.
The owl pellets that are seen where they roost in the wild are coughed up as opposed to deposited and they need plenty material to form these.
It was kept in a dark shed for 4 days and fed twice a day with the food mix in a 10ml syringe with the end cut off. They have small beaks but a cavernous gape.
To catch it leather gloves were needed,they have talons like razors. The owl was easily "frozen" in the beam of a torch.
I don't know if this is an approved method. I was just winging it.(sorry)
It worked and the owl was strong enough to fly away. It felt good.
So if you haven't got a convenient rescue centre it's worth a go.
I regularly get enquiries at work to cowls to close off dis-used flues, I always try to get the customer to buy either the mushroom or fluvent types, not the hood vents (which look like a ridge tile on the terminal).
The reason is that birds roost under the shelter of the hood (goes for gas terminals too), go to sleep, then fall down the flue. The only time I'll let the customer take a hood terminal is if they intend to leave the flue open at the bottom, but I always warn them about the probability of them having to share their room with the occasional starling or some such bird.
To date, everybody has understood the reasoning and the sales of hood pots has dropped off (the fact that they're more expensive helps).
The reason is that birds roost under the shelter of the hood (goes for gas terminals too), go to sleep, then fall down the flue. The only time I'll let the customer take a hood terminal is if they intend to leave the flue open at the bottom, but I always warn them about the probability of them having to share their room with the occasional starling or some such bird.
To date, everybody has understood the reasoning and the sales of hood pots has dropped off (the fact that they're more expensive helps).
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