Stone-curlew rescued in Hyde, Greater Manchester
I live on Hattersley estate in Hyde, Greater Manchester. On Friday 24th April I took my daughter Bethany and baby son Max to see the lambs at the farm up the road from us. It was around 5:30pm. I remember this because we wouldn’t usually come out at that time with my son Max needing to go to bed within the hour, but something compelled me to go out.
We walked back down beside the dual carriageway and heard a very strange noise, I thought it was a young child screaming at first but as I walked closer I saw a Magpie and Crow attacking what I thought was a young gull.
I hurried up to the grass verge and attempted to ‘shoo’ the Magpie away, it was very persistent in its attempts to attack the poor bird. It was in the grass breathing very fast and it looked like it was exhausted, it was laying down with its head low in the grass.
I didn’t want it to startle so I sat on the wall beside it, again, shooing the Magpie away. I got a little closer and was absolutely amazed by the sight of it’s striking yellow eye and bill. I knew I had to ring my dad as this was not a bird I recognised.
He came right around and luckily the grass verge was close to my Aunt’s house, and she had a large box we could put the bird in. My Dad carefully picked up the bird and placed it in the box, and told me that it was best to calm down as it would be in shock from all of the goings on. He checked it for any injuries and said he would try to contact the RSPCA.
At this point, I had to get my children home and Max in bed so we left. I returned around an hour later and my dad said that he couldn’t get hold of the RSPCA but he had checked on the bird and it was stood up calling - but with it being such a rare bird he didn’t want to risk letting it go and it getting injured as it was clearly very lost.
I had posted on my Instagram what had happened and my friend Vicky shared on a local Facebook page. This is when Mike Price commented that he would help to get the bird to the vet and then onto where it needed to be.
I gave my dad his number and he came to collect the Stone-curlew in the morning. My Dad was absolutely made up and said that Mike clearly knew his stuff, had all of the right equipment and bird cage with him and knew it was in good hands.
It was lucky for the Stone-curlew that we went out for the walk when we did.
Mike Price takes up the story
On Friday the 24th of April we were sent a screenshot a bird that had been saved by someone local and asked what it was.
Stone-curlew was probably the last species we expected to see found in Hattersley, a housing estate near Hyde, approximately 10 miles from the centre of Manchester. Crows and Magpies had been giving the bird a hard time and luckily Edward Hogan and his daughter Samantha were able to save it.
We spoke to Edward and discovered that he was struggling to find anyone to assist him and ensure the bird was OK and to help him get the bird back into the wild.
We contacted Avian Veterinary Services and asked if Richard and Carli would mind giving the bird a once over to ensure it was fit and well enough to release.
The AVS team reported the bird being slightly underweight but fine to release, they gave it some fluids and tube fed some glucose to keep it going until we could release it.
This left us with an issue, where do you release a vulnerable rare bird that should be on its breeding grounds about 130 miles South East of here at a time when movements are restricted due to COVID 19. In any other circumstances we would have driven over to the Brecklands Stone Curlew Project and released the bird there. After speaking to the Conservation Officer Tim Cowan, the decision was made to release the birds closer to home but in good feeding habitat. In other words, we needed some stony ground with sandy light soils with very short grazed grasses preferably late evening.
That evening, after a short drive to the east we released the bird into a field, it took a short flight before settling and starting to feed. We have done as much as we can and hope it has managed to set off in the correct direct to reach the breeding grounds.
A big thanks to Edward and Samantha Hogan and of course to Richard and Carli at Avian Veterinary Services for all the do.
Samantha Hogan and Mike Price
28 April 2020
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