Heading back from Burgess Hill in the early evening of 9th January, I spotted an owl sitting by the road on one of those nasty bends by Blackbrook Wood. After a couple of ‘drive-bys' to see how best to investigate we eventually pulled up by it, grabbed it and drove off. It was a tawny owl and didn’t look very lively and had blood on one eye. In fact, twice on the way home it collapsed and I thought it had died. When we got it home it was still alive so we put it in a large box and phoned the East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service who said someone would be there within an hour. The ambulance arrived and by then the owl had perked up quite a lot. Nevertheless we were surprised to get a call on 22nd January to say the owl was OK and that they wanted to release it that afternoon. So shortly before dusk (so that they could see that it was flying OK) the owl was released in the wood. You can see the video here
The ambulance crew was happy with that, but I felt it had not flown too well and had not gained any height and was perched in a rather flimsy bush. There it sat for some time and allowed a very close approach, but eventually it flew up to the canopy of some larger trees. Let’s hope it was OK. The East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service is a voluntary organisation, operating on donations and grants (tel 07815 078 234).
Tony Hutson
The ambulance crew was happy with that, but I felt it had not flown too well and had not gained any height and was perched in a rather flimsy bush. There it sat for some time and allowed a very close approach, but eventually it flew up to the canopy of some larger trees. Let’s hope it was OK. The East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service is a voluntary organisation, operating on donations and grants (tel 07815 078 234).
Tony Hutson