HILLINGTON: Return to the wild as injured heron wings it
Hillington resident Robin Blackmur found a young Heron in distress while out walking and called the RSPCA. RSPCA Supervisor Kev Leighton releases the bird near Hillington after it recovered at the East Winch wildlife hospital.
A heron has been released back into the wild just two weeks after it was found hours from death in a hedgerow by a dog walker.
Robin Blackmur was able to find the stricken young heron in Hillington thanks to the keen nose of his terrier, Benji.
Mr Blackmur was able to gently capture the heron and placed it in a box on a nearby tree before waiting for an RSPCA inspector to arrive.
Staff at the RSPCA wildlife centre at East Winch then nursed the bird back to health after it was brought in on February 13 and asked Mr Blackmur to attend the release in Hillington on Tuesday.
Mr Blackmur, 66, of Pasture Close, Hillington, was delighted to watch the heron fly away.
He said: “It was lovely to see him released. It was a rewarding sight. The RSPCA told me that he would have died if he had been out there that night. I think he was suffering from exhaustion and had not fed very well.”
Benji had sniffed out the heron during one of the pair’s regular walks along a bridlepath between Hillington and Congham.
Mr Blackmur tied Benji to an iron fence while he investigated what was on the other side of the hedgerow.
He said: “I thought it was a pigeon until I saw the big beak and realised it was a heron. I could see it flapping about but couldn’t get airborne. He was dragging a wing along the ground.”
Mr Blackmur then gently caught the heron and placed it in a box, before calling a relative to ask her to phone the RSPCA.
He then waited in the cold for nearly an hour for an inspector to collect the heron.
Mr Blackmur said: “The RSPCA staff told me that they had a job putting a drip in his leg as he was so cold.”
RSPCA supervisor Kev Leighton released the heron close to the site where he was found on Tuesday.
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Monday 20 May 2013
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