Saturday was a pretty normal day out on the reserve. I had just finished closing up the visitor centre and drove back to the office. As I got out of the van, there was movement near my feet and a funny noise. Looking down, I saw a furry little face looking back up. Sat at my feet was a grey kitten, mewing up at me. I obviously said hello and suggested it make its way home, which I assumed was the house next to the office. Instead it decided to follow me up to the office door, and kept mewing outside even after I shut the door. It was still there half an hour later when I came to leave. This seemed rather odd. I didn't have much time myself to do anything about it, I needed to get home to pick up stuff for the reserve Christmas party, which was that night. So I asked Ellie, one of our residential volunteers, to check with next door to see if it was theirs.
As it turns out, it wasn't. And the kitten was still outside. Given the temperature was already below freezing and looking to drop further, we decided we couldn't possibly leave the poor mite out in the cold. So whilst most of us went off to the party (thank you Boston Tennis Club for hosting us!), Gareth the conservation intern stayed home to look after the kitten. At this point in time we were thinking that maybe it had got lost from another neighbouring house, and we'd be able to return her in the morning.
So in the morning, Ellie went round all the nearby houses, checking to see if the kitten belonged to any of them. It didn't. Unless it came an extraordinarily long way on its own, it therefore looked like the poor thing had been abandoned. Not a nice thing to do at Christmas. But what to do with her? We would have loved to keep her, she was so cute and affectionate. But alas, we can't have animals in the office. So instead we contacted Lincs Ark, a local charity that rehouses cats and other small mammals. They agreed to take her in, so Ellie and I drove down to the vets at Sutterton who had agreed to check her over and look after her until Lincs Ark could collect her. They checked her for a chip too, again in case it was someone's lost pet, but none was found.
The latest news is good. The kitten (which the vets named Ellie, much to human Ellie's protests!) has gone off to Lincs Ark, and a new family has even been lined up for her. There is such a thing as a happy ending!
You can see a video of the kitten here
Reedbed, freshwater scrapes, saltmarsh and wet meadow. Frampton Marsh has it all! Come and pay us a visit soon.