So, on Friday some of the local lads brought in a pretty well fledged young House Sparrow that they had had in a bucket for most of the day after picking it up in Purfleet. Not the ideal situation but after a chat about what they should and shouldn’t have done we were left holding the baby so to speak.

Apart from a slightly wonky foot there appeared nothing wrong with the little fella but he was clearly hungry and not ready to go out into the big wide world by himself and with no hope of returning him to his parents, we set about persuading him to have something to eat with some mashed up wet suet pellet to get him started.

Annie agreed to take her new charge home and has been giving him regular feeds and encouraging him to move around to try and get that foot working with different sized perches that Barry has made. Hopefully he will build up some strength in those wing muscles and then they may be able to either release him in their bird filled garden or perhaps back to Rainham. He is even coming back to work tomorrow so that Annie can keep up with playing mummy bird and give him his feeds!

His name is Chipping Sodbury and he is one very lucky sparrow... but of course the bottom line is that he should not have been picked up in the first place as his parents were undoubtedly not far away and being fully feathered he was well on the way to independence.

Click http://www.rspb.org.uk/makeahomeforwildlife/advice/helpingbirds/health/babybirds.aspx for more advice on what to do if you find a baby bird...

15-5-16