Found this wee cutester at the seaside this morning.
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Believe me, I would be the first to criticise someone for picking up an egg or chick from a beach.However this little character was alone and drookit in a puddle on a massive expanse of sand.I searched everywhere for it's parents/siblings without success.There were dogs everywhere and gulls with their eye on it so I thought long and hard and took the decision to stick it in my jaiskit and take it home.Chicks this age can't keep themselves dry without their mother's feather oil.I'm fairly sure it's an Eider duckling.
I warned my girlfriend it would probably die from stress but instead it's totally fearless and is demolishing mealworms and drinking water healthily.Fingers crossed it stays healthy.
Hopefully in a couple of months we could have a right good roast duck dinner and have enough feathers to stuff a pillow....
...or....
we can keep the human contact to a minimum and release it where we found it....
Aye Paul a difficult decision whether to take it home or leave it to die. You may be able to get in touch with a wildlife centre that will rear it on and release it, or try the RSPB website for advice.
Just remember though having a baby eider duck in the bath is no excuse for not bathing, I know you west coasters are always looking for an excuse to skip bath time :makefun
Nice one Paul. I take it CDC will be prevalent in your flies this season :)
The duck reminds me of Rod Stewart or Ronnie Wood.
Alex
ohhhh thats cute!
Reminds me of a rather eccentric neighbour in my childhood (mother of four strapping lads) who found an injured herring gull in the local park and over the next five weeks nursed it back to health ........ unfortunately for the rest of the family it resided in the family bath floating on a piece of polystyrene and coating the room in vast quantities of seagul poo!
Our bathroom became unusually busy!
Best of luck to you!
Quote from: tomcatin on May 31, 2010, 01:51:10 AM
Reminds me of a rather eccentric neighbour in my childhood (mother of four strapping lads) who found an injured herring gull in the local park and over the next five weeks nursed it back to health ........
Aye as a young teen I worked in the local vets and used to take the injured wild birds home.I had a flightless herring gull,called Sydney, who lived for years with my dad's hens.He was a grumpy bastard though,the bird, not my dad.
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"Where's that wee beggar gone. I just left him for a couple of hours while I went for for a pint down the Dog and Duck."
http://britishwildlifehelpline.com/centres%20_%20Scotland.html