Hello, I was just wondering if anybody could advise me as the local animal rescues are (understandably) closed due to the virus.
This morning, we saw, for the first time, an unusual looking bird and have since identified it as a red legged partridge! It's not causing any problems and seems happy to potter around the patio, however I am concerned as our neighbours have cats and it doesn't seem in a hurry to fly off- looking online, I now don't think it's injured but rather, that this is normal behaviour for a partridge. (it's also managed to fly onto the fence, but didn't want to move and then hopped back into the garden). As I say, am happy for it to stay (in fact we are fascinated!) but would you advise it should be taken to a countryside setting or do we just let it stay in our inner city garden?
Many thanks
Many thanks for your help..to my surprise, it stayed all day and evening and to my surprise, has managed to evade the local cats by hiding in a bush and is still with us this morning! I chased off 2 cats yesterday who had almost got him as, as you said, he doesn't seem too switched on about evading predators!!
As much as it is a welcome break from a mundane self-isolation week and great to have something to keep me busy, I do hope that he is able to take off soon so that he can find more open pastures and hopefully live a little longer!
I've just had one appear in my garden
Likely to be related to a release of non-native birds bred for being shot. Do you know where your nearest 'shoot' is?