Veronica Goddard

……..a heady combination. I have passed the starling chick I have been raising to the owners of the Cedar Bird Rescue Centre at Kirkby-in-Ashfield. I felt a pang of sadness as he left my hands to fly up to the top of the branches in the aviary. Funny how after only 10 days he had found a place in my heart, but I was so happy that he would not have to live his life in a cage.

He was ready for flight; in fact he had his maiden flight, purely by accident, in my bedroom and he was a sight to behold.  Whilst I was feeding him he got out of his cage and flew around the room. It was obvious that my term of care had come to an end and he needed more than I was able to give. He needed to socialise with other birds and have the chance of life in the wild, which was always my hope for him. I was very impressed by the setup at Cedar. Wendy and Phil are committed to releasing birds and I have every confidence that ‘Joey’ will leave the aviary when he is equipped with the social and survival skills he needs.

Cedar Bird Rescue Centre are having an open day on Sunday, 8th June and I shall go back to visit and see how much he has grown. It took a couple of days to adjust to not having to feed him every 45 minutes, but it is good not to have to get up at dawn for the first feed of the day!