Centre is at bursting point with injured hedgehogs and birds

We are seeing quite a few hedgehogs coming in. Kathy found a little hedgehog out on her decking weighing just 283g. This was after we returned from our Burgess Hill aviary where a hoglet wandered out in front of our ambulance as we pulled up the drive. This was then followed by a call to Palehouse Common for a young hedgehog injured by a small terrier. In between these rescues a very small tiny pigeon came in still in his egg having been trying to hatch on a patio for a couple of days. He was cold and the egg shell totally dry, so we had to help him out. Although he picked up throughout the night to started to struggle and passed away the following morning.A little warbler, which we believe to be a sedge warbler, had a brief visit to our centre last week. Volunteer rescuer Dave was at Eastbourne hospital and found the birds after it hit a couple of windows panicking after getting underneath a netted-off courtyard. The bird was unable to fly when first found, but back at WRAS’s Casualty Centre the bird was in full flying mode and appeared fine so returned to the hospital grounds for release.The end of last week saw WRAS deal with seven road casualty gulls in just one evening. Sadly, only one has survived.The other six were either dead on arrival or had to be put to sleep as the wounds were so horrific. Some of these were on 20mph roads. Unfortunately, some people just don’t care and have been reportedly aiming for them. If you witness someone purposefully injuring a bird in this way please note their registration number and report them to the police.We had a young deer delivered to our casualty centre on Friday night. I rushed down and joined Katie and Stacey who were already there luckily. A vehicle on the A22 not far from our centre had hit the female fallow deer, which weighed 12.5kg. Emergency medication was given and an x-ray taken on the pelvis and rear legs to help assess her injuries. Unfortunately, as with most road casualties, her spine was displaced and her pelvis fractured in several places. Upsettingly the deer had to be put to sleep.Thank you to everyone who came to the Lammas Festival over the weekend on the Western Lawns at Eastbourne. The wind was not great but at least Saturday was mainly dry. Sunday was a wash out and the wind even stronger. For safety we had no choice but to pack up and go home or our gazebo would have ended up in Hastings. Such a shame as it’s an amazing event and one we enjoy attending every year.Despite the rain we have had, please do not stop putting water out for our wildlife. There are more forecasts for hot weather so please keep it up. It will take quite a lot of rain for our soil to get wet enough and deep enough for plants to start rejuvenating as well as insects and worms to replenish. It is worrying how many bushes and trees are brown and dead, it is likely that some of our wildlife’s normal sources of food won’t be available this autumn as a result so we are all hoping that this winter is not too harsh.Other calls this week have included several calls to swans at Princes Park in the inlet river thought to be sick or injured. Chris attended one which turned out to be okay and was encouraged along to the park lake as the river had almost dried out. Rescuer Tony attended another with blood on its wing which had to be caught and put in care. He also attended a fox struggling to stand in Lower Place Newhaven on Monday as well as reports of an injured gull outside Polegate Community Centre. Rescuer Stacey attended an injured Thrush at Hundred Acre Lane near Ditchling as well as a young Kestrel flapping around the ground outside Fairwarp Church. Rescuer Karen went to a hedgehog out during the day in Hailsham as well as baby pigeon in Percival Road, Eastbourne.