On Friday, we had an unexpected visit from Ian Daniells, a volunteer from Lower Moss Wood Wildlife Hospital in Cheshire. Ian had made the journey to release a Gannet that had blown off course in last week's high winds and ended up in Buxton, Derbyshire! Alongside the Gannet were two juvenile Herring Gulls which had been hand-reared before being collected by the Wildlife Hospital for release.
I was lucky enough to witness all three releases. The Gannet appeared to have suffered no harm from it's diversion and in fact needed some persuasion to leave the box it had been brought over in. Once out in the sea air the Gannet took it's time, looking around and streching it's wings. It was fabulous to see it so close by, I was especially impressed by the 'yellow' head which was both white and yellow at the same time with a sort of irredescence. After a minute the Gannet tucked itself on the far side of a fence before opening up it's glorious wings and flying off over the sea. A wonderful moment to witness and i'm sure it's moments like those that make Ian breathe a sigh of relief.
The Lower Moss Wildlife Hospital was set up by Ray Jackson, now an MBE for his work, and is situated in Ollerton near Knutsford. Ian has been a volunteer at the centre for the past four years and tell of many weird and wonderful visitors, including foxes, badgers, birds of prey and even a Frigate bird! Lower Moss Wildlife Hospital is run on donations from the public, with schemes such as "friends of Lower Moss Wood" to manage and conserve the woodland and an exclusive caravan club which helps to fund the upkeep also. To find out more about the hospital and surrounding woods, or if you want to visit, then please have a look at: www.lowermosswood.org.uk.
Shortly after we released the Gannet down the road at the top of the beach, we came up to the visitor centre to release the two Herring Gulls, one little fellow took to the skies immediately whilst the other took the opportunity to get to know it's surroundings on foot.
Everytime I see a Gannet fly by the lighthouse I now think of how this chappie is getting along and I sincerely hope the three of them have fitted back into the wild perfectly.
I am having issues uploading photographs onto here for you, so in the meantime please check out our facebook group on www.facebook.com/RSPBsouthstack.
Kathy x
I really enjoyed learning about the gannet's head feathers - had noticed on documentaries how the yellow and white bits of the head seem to depend on the direction of the light, but was never really sure what caused it, as it seemed to vary as the head was tilted - that explains it!
Forgive my ignorance - but a Frigate Bird?? I thought those lived in the South Atlantic and stole nesting material and fish from other birds such as the Blue Footed Boobies and so on... - it must have been extremely tired when it ended up here...
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