Throughout last Tuesday and Wednesday (June 3 and 4) the rescuers from East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service (WRAS) attended 69 incidents across the county.

At one time WRAS had eight of its rescuers on the road responding to casualties.

Among the injuries in Eastbourne were two gull chicks and a blue tit which had fallen from their nests, a starling, blue tit, blackbird and sparrow which had all been attacked by cats, an injured gull, a badger which had collapsed and a swan that had landed badly.

Rescuers also attended to an injured fox cub in Langney, a fox hit by a vehicle in Hampden Park, an injured jackdaw in Willingdon, a rook trapped in Westham and four cygnets tangled in string in Pevensey Bay.

The team were also busy in the Hailsham area looking after a blackbird attacked by a cat, an orphaned badger, an injured woodpigeon, a trapped duckling in Hellingly, a fox suffering from mange in Herstmonceux, robins which had fallen from their nest at Lower Dicker and an injured fledgling blue tit in Horsebridge.

In Seaford, rescuers attended to a concussed gull, injured sparrow, a blue tit and gull chicks which had fallen from their nests and a rook and dove which were unable to fly.

The charity said this was a record for the number of incidents dealt with in two consecutive days.

Founder Trevor Weeks said, "This has been an amazingly busy period for our rescuers.

"Tim McKenzie (manager at the Horsebridge casualty care unit) has been on the phone constantly and we have had to throw a number of our new rescuers in at the deep end to help cover this busy period.

"WRAS is getting a really good reputation because of the speed in which it deals with emergency incidents, but the cost of running our service is increasing as we now deal with much more rehabilitation and of course our fuel costs are increasing.

"We find some people are now calling WRAS as they know we will help and not put animals down unnecessarily."

Tim McKenzie added, "We have a good working relationship with specialist organisations and veterinary consultants such as Alan Jones, a specialist avian vet, and the specialist veterinary staff at St Tiggywinkles and the Swan Sanctuary too.

"We have gone from being just an ambulance service to a full ambulance and rehabilitation service as we are trying to give the casualties with which we deal the best possible chance of survival once released.

"This does however cost money and we do need companies to sponsor our work and individuals to donate by standing order."

For details about how you can help with volunteering or donating to WRAS please visit www.wildlifeambulance.org or write to WRAS treasurer Peter Mortimer, Ash Cottage, 73 Friday Street, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 8AY.