I often get asked by schoolchildren doing projects, about what has been the rarest / biggest / furthest away etc etc bird that we have helped? Usually I can recall the rarest to date being a Bluethroat; blown across from Eastern Europe by a spell of exceptionally strong prevailing easterly winds. They are a little more common nowadays, but I recall having to look it up to be sure at the time.

I was pleased recently to be able to assist a lady from Dohar who had found a Nightjar on her balcony one morning unable to fly and somewhat battered by the weather. Messages were relayed by her relative in the UK, and a plan of diet and recuperation set up. Alas, I do not know the outcome this time – only a small number of the thousands of people we help share the final outcome, but that feedback we do get is gratefully received, and we can use those results to refine our advice to help even more people in the future. We have admitted a number of these nocturnal birds over the years, with good results for returning them to the wild.

One other that comes to mind was the Bald Ibis brought from Blackpool. The local zoo assured us it was not theirs, and we exhausted all the private collectors we could find. With only around 1000 birds left in the wild throughout the world, we were besieged by the press and ended up with a car-park full of TV crew camped outside in their vans. To their dismay – some 5 days later the zoo did admit the bird WAS theirs, and sent someone to collect it. I decided then that a job under such intense media scrutiny would never be for me – quite how these politicians cope I don’t know? Give me birds and wildlife any day!

Nigel