This is our 2006 intensive care diary.

Here are our first orphans of last year - 4 baby rabbits were brought in over the weekend of the 1st April.   Sadly only 1 survived and it has now been successfully released.

In the week leading up to Easter a very young orphaned fox cub was brought in, which we estimated was only 4 weeks old.   She had been found trapped under a railway sleeper near the railway line.   We think the mother may have been moving her cubs and this one was lost, or it had wandered away from the nest and the mother couldn't find her.   Fortunately, she had begun her weaning and didn't need to be bottle fed, so she was put in an incubator for heat and to date is doing extremely well - we have called her Sasha.  

The week after Easter we had a family of 6 baby ducklings brought in and a baby blackbird who have all now been released.    

The week commencing 8th May a young pheasant was brought in.  The mother had apparently laid her eggs in a duck's nest.   The mother duck kept it with her own ducks, but when she moved the ducks (as they do when the ducks are only a few days old), the pheasant didn't follow and was abandoned.  It is a very young bird, which we are having to force feed and so we are not confident that it will survive.  We also had a guillemot brought in which didn't survive, 2 pigeons and another young blackbird who are doing well.

Week commencing 29th May - the young pheasant is thriving and growing well. Another young one has also now been brought in and both are growing well.  Also brought in was a hedgehog (who sadly didn't survive), 2 rooks, a young crow (which was being attacked by about 20 adult crows and which also didn't survive), 2 baby jackdaws (whose nest collapsed while the houseowners were having building works done) and 2 young rabbits which were later released. 

Week commencing 26th June.   Over the last month we have had a lot of young fledgling birds brought in, most of whom have survived and have now been released.  A bat was brought in which had been found in a shop window in Morpeth.  It was quite exhausted and dehydrated.   We have found that bats do not do well if kept 'in captivity' for too long.  As soon as we felt it was eating and drinking, we released it a couple of days later.  We also had a young fox cub which was found injured by the roadside in Berwick.  At least one of her hind legs was broken, possibly both, but sadly she died before we could get her to our vet for assessment.  

Sadly we have had quite a few hedgehogs brought in which haven't survived.  The hedgehog mortality rate we have experienced since last summer is quite alarming!   However, we do have a young hoglet which was brought it and so far it is doing very well.   At the moment it is having 2 hourly feeds of goat milk and is being encouraged to wean.  We all have our fingers crossed that this one will survive.

Week commencing 17th July.   We are now in our busiest time.   Summer is here and the intensive care unit is full to overflowing.   Every incubator, cage, crate and box is full of young and injured wildlife!!  

We have innumerable nests of baby fledglings, of different breeds, but a high proportion of house martins, all requiring hand feeding every 2 hours.   On Monday of this week we had brought in a nest of 6 tiny baby rabbits whose eyes hadn't even opened yet, 3 baby hedgehogs (all of which require syringe feeding every 2 hours) and 2 young Sparrowhawks which had been found on an allotment!   We have also had brought in a young Little Owl.  The hedgehog brought in last month is doing very well and is now weaned onto solid food and has grown quite well in the last 3 weeks.   We hope we are as successful with the 3 who have been brought in this week.

Here are some of the various animals and birds which we cared for over the spring and summer of 2005