Christmas cheer and Stapeley prepares for the New Year

Wearing my Santa hat and occasionally singing the odd seasonal song, it was work as normal at Stapeley, providing the necessary care for those patients with us over the Christmas period. Although a traditional Christmas dinner was not an option for our animals they still enjoyed their usual feeds but with a little festive cheer thrown in for good measure.

And then we were brought a rather hefty visitor by ACO Derek Hampson, in the form of an adult grey seal who was more than double/triple the size of the pups we currently have in our care.  As we could not bring him inside the hospital, as we usually do for any new admissions, the vets had to use their torches to assess him from a distance. It was agreed, following some lengthy discussions with colleagues at East Winch, that he should be transferred down to East Winch Wildlife Centre, in Norfolk, where they have specialised accommodation for such large seals.  In order to minimise stress it was agreed that he should stay on the trailer for the night; he was provided with a large tray of water and some food (a few tasty herrings) - to our relief he soon started drinking.

The next morning he was transferred to East Winch and given the name Dumbledore. It was not only an incredible experience to see such a fantastic animal up close but also to see how everyone pulled together to help save this lost seal.  Hopefully he will be returned home soon.

Into the new year it is mainly hedgehogs and swans that make up the majority of our patients, however we have admitted a single robin and some common buzzards.  Although fairly quiet in the hospital all staff are now busy preparing for what we anticipate to be another busy spring /summer season.

 By Michelle Bite

Sponsors of Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre and Cattery

Christmas Quacker!

We had a surprise, if somewhat a late arrival last week. A small duckling! 

During the spring/summer period, we are usually inundated with hundreds of ducklings, so to get one so near to Christmas is quite uncommon!  This particular duckling, was the remaining survivor from a brood that was laid and hatched on Chimp Island, at Chester zoo.  The mother had flown off, and her inexperienced young, who are unable to fly yet, were left stranded with no clear or safe exit off the Island.   Cold and weak, they were eventually removed from the island, but it was too late for all bar one.

However, the remaining duckling is currently warm and safe here at Stapeley, where he can spend his Christmas and New Year!  Housed in a box, toasty on a heat pad with a soft toy for companionship along with food and water mean this is one lucky ducky!

 

Happy Christmas everyone

Written by: 

Lynsey Cale

Photos by:

Michelle Bite

Sponsors of Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre and Cattery

Mucky Ducks

Over the last few days RSPCA Collection Officer Derek Hampson has brought in nearly 30 ducks to us (male and female Mallards), from Makerfield in Lancashire.

Sadly, the pond which these ducks have been calling home, is now polluted with an unpleasant oily substance.

This oil has contaminated the ducks feathers, thus destroying their natural waterproofing-essential for maintaining warmth.

So it is our job to restore this waterproofing with a vigorous soapy wash,a thorough power-shower rinse and a warm environment to dry off and preen in!

In teams of two; one washing and one holding, the ducks have been receiving a much needed clean in our specialised wash room. The washing procedure for any wildlife can be a stressful experience, but as soon as it is over, the ducks quickly get busy preening their feathers and hopefully feeling much better for it!

Seeing them dried off with a clean, fluffed up waterproofed plumage means our job is done!

They will be released again shortly, into an unpolluted, duck friendly pond :-) yay!

By 

Lynsey Cale

Sponsors of Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre and Cattery

Come and join us at Stapeley Grange for our Christmas Fair

The shops are full of decorations, there are gifts galore, festive tunes and adverts have started.....yes Christmas is nearly here!
Don't worry if the season has crept up on you there we have the great opportunity to pick up those perfect gifts and get into the festive spirit.

You can see from the advert below the event will be full of fun activities for all ages along with great tasting refreshments that you can't refuse. Our imaginative education department have been working hard to prepare exciting crafts so visitors can be creative and share our passion for wildlife.

We are in for fantastic  tunes and entertainment provided by our friends at The Cat radio station.
There will be representatives from Wirral & Cheshire Badger Group plus Hedgehog Street to wow you with fascinating information and answer questions.
South Cheshire Ferret Rescue are joining in our festivities to tell us all about their work.

To top it off Santa Claus will waiting in our winter wonderland to meet and find out what is on everyone's Christmas list.



   

 

 

 

So come and support us at Stapeley Grange and join our celebrations at our great Christmas event.

See you soon!

 

 



By

Michelle Bite

Sponsors of Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre and Cattery

 

 

 

 

Four grey seal pups, victims of recent storms, arrive at Stapeley

Just when the team at Stapeley Grange thought things were beginning to calm down, the arrival of four patients with flippers means they are in for some whiffy work over the coming weeks and months.

Once again bad weather has caused difficult conditions for seal pups, at probably the worse time of year for them, when the seals are having their young.  The Pembrokeshire coastline was battered by storms last week and sadly many pups were separated from their mums and had to be rescued and transferred by the BDMLR (British Divers Marine Life Rescue) to RSPCA Centres.

The future for these four grey seal pups is now in the hands of the Stapeley team. Their progress will be monitored regularly with staff recording important observations such as general behaviour and appearance, temperature and tearing. Currently the pups require three tube feeds a day, I don't think I ever have or in fact ever will become accustomed to the smell of their fish soup concoction that is poured (very carefully!) down the feeding tube.  

The pups also sustained some nasty injuries during the storms so they are being treated daily by the team which is not as easy as it sounds, especially as the pups learn quickly and learn how to turn around as we are either feeding or treating them, its a constant tussle.  

Storms early in 2014 pushed the Society, in particular RSPCA East Winch to the brink in terms of the number of pups our teams could physically care for.  East Winch took the biggest hit (http://bit.ly/1ETDxt0) with around 120 seals in its care at one point; they even had to pass on some on the seals to other RSCPA Wildlife Centres, including Stapeley Grange.  Hopefully this year's weather conditions will be a little kinder to our UK grey seal population.....it is not however a good start.  I think those on the ground are still trying to work out how many have actually been rescued.        

   

The rehabilitation of seal pups is a lengthy and costly process and we are expecting these four pups to go through 100's of kilos of fish during their time with us. To help us to feed our 4 storm pups please donate today. To give just £3, simply text RSPCA2 to 70007‘ Texts cost £3 + standard network rate.

Michelle Bite

Sponsors of Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre and Cattery

Going Batty for Bats!

Stapeley Grange's Education Team (supported by CJ Wildlife and Wild Aid) gave members of the public a fantastic opportunity to learn more about and to experience the wonder of bats in their natural environment during last weeks Bat Walk + Talk event.  Our visitors felt privileged when given a very brief glimpse of one our patients, a Brown Long Eared Bat, which was being attentively cared for by one of the team's vet nurses.

After some brief introductions and the obligatory health and safety announcements it was time to head out to find some of our local wild bat residents.  As well as caring for the 1000s of animals that arrive at our doors each year we are also committed to promoting local wildlife populations and have over the last 12 months planted 900 trees around the site.  The site already had a selection of woodland areas, a pond and a large number of bird and bat boxes but we are keen to expand on what we have.  We hope that over the coming years we can develop a woodland walk way around the grounds which will be an extension to the current small wildlife garden and the surrounding farmland.  Although this will be open to visitors there will be no impact on the animals in our care which will always remain our priority.

So..geared up with torches and bat detectors we were lead by Charlie Pass (Education Officer and batmaster for the evening) to visit three pre-selected locations hoping to catch a glimpse of our resident bats.

  

Straight away the detectors picked up on their echolocation calls, sounds that humans are normally unable to hear.  Echolocation allows bats to build up a picture of their surroundings and to hunt for insects.

We eagerly looked around as we heard the different intensities of clicking and even some ‘raspberry blowing’ which we were told was not them being rude but actually indicates they have successfully caught an insect!  The group was rewarded with many fantastic sightings (mainly common pipistrelles) with the bats showing off their incredible aerial abilities.

Back at the Centre, Lynne - one of our volunteers, had laid on a small spread of yummy cakes, all washed down with a cup of tea or coffee.  Charlie then finished off with a fascinating talk about bats, the various species, their feeding behaviors, habitats and how bats are misunderstood as a result of many films and myths which have given them a bad name over the years.

Sadly, development work, habitat loss and disease have caused bat populations to decline around the world; it is therefore essential that we educate as many people as possible and help to conserve their natural habitat wherever possible.  For the record - all bat species in the UK (and their roosts) are protected by both domestic and International legislation.

By

 Michelle Bite

Sponsors of Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre and Cattery

 'Support RSPCA Stapeley Grange now by giving just £3, simply text RSPCA2 to 70007‘ 
Texts cost £3 + standard network rate

Four little hoglets

After an exceptionally busy Summer, the wildlife hospital is beginning to quieten down which will give the staff a bit of a breather before next year.  However we still lots of patients in the hospital to keep the team busy.

Four prickly but very cute orphaned hoglets were brought into Stapeley by an RSPCA Inspector.

Estimated to be about two weeks old with eyes still closed.  They would not have been able to survive on their own so the team will care for them until they are sufficiently large enough for release back into the wild.

 

Initially they were syringe fed a puppy milk formula six times a day but now 10 days after admission they have thankfully started to lap keenly at bowls of kitten meat and the formula - in some cases even getting into the bowls!

The very observant of you may notice from the photos a white dot on their spines, in different location on each hoglet.  We use this method to individually identify them so that we can monitor how each individual is progressing.  Their average weight is currently around 100g so the four hoglets still have a long way to go until they reach the minimum target release weight of 500g.

                         

 

The hoglets have a few more important steps in the rehabilitation process to prepare them for a return to the wild but they are on their way.  The next stage will be to wean them off of the milk formula but they have to triple their weight first.  They will then be upgraded to an indoor pen to give them a larger space to roam around in and then finally to outdoor pens before being returned home.

I will follow the hoglets development at Stapeley until they are released as impressive young adult hedgehogs.

By

  Michelle Bite

                                                                   

Sponsors of Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre and Cattery

 'Support RSPCA Stapeley Grange now by giving just £3, simply text RSPCA2 to 70007‘ 
Texts cost £3 + standard network rate