... with one eye open.

By Chamaeleo

Migrant hawker in front of Egyptian goslings

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It has been a bad day on the pond... I took millions of photos (it feels like I was there for most of the day) but did not enjoy my time there.

Another Egyptian gosling is in trouble: when I arrived this morning it has a fishing line/string caught around its wing, and leading into its mouth. I suspect there is a hook holding the line into its wing, and that in fussing to remove it, it swallowed the loose end of the line. ARGH.
It was so caught up that it couldn't bend over to reach food, and it would squeal when the other goslings fussed at the other loose end of its string. It was desperately trying to free itself, but only fussed at the line, and couldn't make any progress. The tautness of the line meant that whenever it moved its head, the string rasped the feathers of its wing, and they were already in quite a state. I've uploaded a picture: this is what some careless fishers do to beautiful wildlife. Tragic.

I phoned the RSPCA, and waited for them from 10AM - 1PM; they then phoned to say they'd be a while yet so don't wait. It turns out they thought it was Clapham near Worthing in Sussex. Frustrating considering I spelled out the nearby roads, and the name of the pond, and described landmarks...

I returned in the afternoon: the gosling no longer had line going into its mouth, but had tangled its legs up awfully in the (now un-swallowed) end of the line. It couldn't walk well, and when it walked, the line pulled on its wing causing it pain. It couldn't keep up with the others.

I returned this evening with my mother (we were planning to attempt a rescue) and it is still in the same sad state, but rescue was not possible. The RSPCA had not managed to visit, but she is now going to phone in too, so there'll be two requests to help it tomorrow hopefully. While my mother and I were contemplating our approach, one of the fishermen was irritated by an inquisitive juvenile moorhen (it was nosing his float), so he whipped his line quickly, catching and hurting it in the process. It raced off to the island twittering, and then flapped around in a panic, and wouldn't put weight on one of its legs. Disgusting. I really feel upset and angry...

I phoned Lambeth council earlier about the anglers and the trouble they're causing: that is two goslings injured by line (and two logged RSPCA calls) in a week, not to mention the wilful animal abuse this evening.

I've put some of my other pictures on Blipfolio:
A starling
Another migrant hawker in flight

I'm sorry for the super-long blip, but today has been horrible and draining, and it is all about the things I tend to blip.

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