Friends of Holywells Park

from Ipswich Group of Suffolk Wildlife Trust Enewsletter

Suffolk Bird Group

As there have been no events, activities or work parties on the Park for the past few months to report, here are a couple of items to share with you.

Busy Bees Bees have been busy around the bug box in my garden during the lockdown, laying eggs and filling the bamboo with mud/leaves as required, setting up the next generations. This upper section was completely empty in April when installed. It's interesting how much of the bamboo has been occupied but none of the drilled holes. As often the case with nature, more questions are raised than answered!

Starling rescue Early one morning my wife Audrie and I were disturbed to notice a starling apparently trapped on top of the BT pole outside our house. It appeared to be unable to free itself from a wire caught on its leg. Although keen to try and help, my ladder was not long enough to reach (and not sure I wanted to get up there anyway).

During the morning I tried several options and calls online to get help, but all resulted in negative replies. The last thing we wanted was to see the starling get weaker and eventually die or get predated. Many calls later and during a call to local birding guru Chris Courtney, he mentioned a chimney sweep who has access to a cherry picker hoist. Several minutes later TL Chimneys had agreed to visit as soon

... it does highlight the problem when trying to get assistance...

as they finished their current job which happened to be locally in Ipswich, which was about an hour away. Sure enough they turned up as promised and quickly set up the cherry picker to access the bird.

The bird was successfully rescued and happily flew away although obviously with a sore leg. It appeared that when the bird landed on the pole, a small piece of wire slid up between the

Bug box

ring on its leg and hooked around the leg ring trapping the bird. A freak accident with a happy ending.

Marcus at TL Chimneys must be given great credit for