Swan Rescue - Hertfordshire

23/11/2025

The face of a swan who’s part tired part grumpy.

This sassy pants was made aware to me on Friday when he was sitting outside an Italian restaurant. The public were seen to be stroking him and going up to him. Although it is exciting to be close to wildlife its best to leave them be as approaching and touching them can be stressful for them even if they don’t show it. Unfortunately his pizza order was clearly not correct because when I arrived he’d pottered back into the lake. Today he appeared again, parking himself in a parking space and not caring about the public closeby, including dogs off leads and cars. This is potentially an accident waiting to happen. Thankfully he remained in his parking spot until I arrived.

After collection he was most unhappy about, swearing throughout his exam we found nothing wrong with him apart from being a little underweight and tired. At this point i noted one of the cobs on in the flock was being particularly territorial and I suspect this dude is on the back foot not feeling 100% and not getting is food fill and feeling tired from holding his own. So we decided to relocate him to a lake close by where he can rest, be fed well by locals and not be chased around. He swore half the way there and sulked the rest trying to take a nap. Hopefully he can get some restbite before sorting himself out 🤞.

For those who I spoke to and asked about donation today (I very much appreciate it!), I have finally sorted myself out a justgiving for this years costs.

You can find it here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/abigail-edis-waterfowl-rescue?utm_medium=CF&utm_source=CL

16/11/2025

When your trying to find a needle in a goose stack (basically quite literally as looking for a tackled goose who may or may not have a hook too).

The weather is turning colder this week and we are set to see temperatures dip below freezing for the first time this winter. Waterfowl are very well equipped to keep warm in these temperatures with a very thick waterproof feathering, extra fat in the skin for extra insulation and special blood vessel networks in their feet and legs. However, there is not so much natural food about now, especially in places where humans feed them such as local parks, lakes and canals. Please keep feeding your local birds in the winter, it will help see them through the colder temperatures. Good food includes mixed corn, floating pellets, peas, tinned sweetcorn, oats, lettuce, chopped grapes (care with these around dogs as they can cause kidney isssue!). Brown, seeded bread is fine in small quantities if this is all you have available to you but the above is better longer term.

Thank you for watching out for your local birds.

06/11/2025

Hi all,

Just the heads up I am at a veterinary conference all weekend listening to talks on wildlife, zoo and exotic medicine so won’t be able to attend rescues. Back to work Monday on late shifts so also might not be too much help either during the week. The joys of having a job and a life outside or rescue work. But I do what I can when I can. Thanks for all your support.

02/11/2025

Busy start to yesterday. Was called to Rickmansworth by a very worried resident that had found a swan in wandering the road. I don’t frequent Rickmansworth too often as it’s a bit of a drive and traffic can be awful to get to. But the caller had tried five others before phoning me and by the time I made it there 45 minutes later the swan was well on her way towards the main road. Thank you so much to all the locals for keeping an eye on her and trying to keep her back from getting closer to danger. Safe to say she was most unimpressed by me and was swearing from the moment I picked her up until she was released safely back at the aquadrome.

I then headed back to a local lake in Welwyn to check in on a swan and goose. Sadly the goose needs more attention after her fishing line trauma, it has now caused more long term issues. She needs collecting but chose to not allow me to capture (reinforcements coming in the day or two). At the same time I found a swan with a fishing line attached and thankfully this lady was more obliged to allow capture. The hook was embedded in the thigh tissues and had caused a little infection but the hook worked free and I gave the area a good clean before letting her back to flock a little disgruntled.

This serves as yet another reminder about fishing tackle. Of course accidents happen but please be mindful and take all your litter home if you go fishing. Also a great time to educate the younger generation so if you have children or young adults that fish make sure you let them know about the perils of their litter and wildlife. I educate when I can, and will often talk to locals whilst I am working with the birds but we must spread the word to avoid these injuries occurring.

Thanks for all your support.

18/10/2025

An eventful day of rescue work.

What’s been a long week at work continued with a busy day again today. This morning started very sadly. I was called to a local lake with a report of a deceased swan. I don’t often attend deceased birds as although I care, I do not have the time to attend these as my time is already limited. But this team I know well and I attended and checked the body over for any crime such as shooting but there was none. Whilst out I also came across a coot who had drowned. A tragic accident getting his head trapped under water in a crack in some wood on a jetty, absolutely awful accident. I try not to think of the panic the poor one must have felt in his final minutes but it’s hard not to. The owner of the jetty has been informed to make repairs.

Home for a quick late breakfast followed by a trip out to a cygnet which had been hiding down a backwater from a territorial male. He was present and correct this morning but had moved when I arrived to a site I needed to gain access to. This took a few mins in itself too. So off we trundled down the river to see if we could spot him. After a bit of a march we found he was down a different backwater. A shallow, dirty bit of stream, strewn with litter and mud. We successfully caught him up with a bit of bribery. A very strong youngster but has certainly been in the wars with some bruises to tell the tale, but at least his life in tact. Territorial swans can be brutal and can even kill other swans on their patch. This time of year they are (sometimes aggressively) letting the little ones know it’s time to leave. I’m glad to have collected this one to safely. The cob was just coming down the water way as we left with him. We released him on safe waters with food provision, space to fly and no territorial pairs. Good luck little one.

09/10/2025

Might not be a swan but this last week I had the absolute privilege to meet and nurse a nightjar that was found in central London and brought to my work at the vets. Thankfully mostly just bruised and tired all that was needed was force feeding some bugs for a few days prior to securing some transport to tiggywinkles.

I get to see all sorts of wildlife brought into my work even though it’s the middle of London. Those not suffering catastrophic injury and illness are always nursed and moved into a wildlife hospital for further care.

Isn’t he a cutie! Good luck little one!

03/10/2025

I absolutely adore ducks! Of every species I attend to it’s no secret that they really pull at my heart strings.

The most unfortunate thing about ducks is they are much too wise for their own good. They are incredibly difficult to capture unless tame or very unwell or a domestic species possibly, but even these can be very smart. I have plenty of ducks I’ve attempted capture or who have eluded me and I have only managed to hand capture a couple of them. When calls come in for duck rescues they can be very fustrating and sometimes members of the public think I may have done nothing. What’s often the case is I just can’t catch or find them. The only species that probably beats ducks on difficulty in capture are moorhens, coots and herons.

Regardless of their stubborn ability to evade all capture methods, I still love them!

25/09/2025

Silly cygnet season is here…

At this time of year the youngsters are not only learning to fly but also parents are slowly beginning to encourage them to leave home. It is not uncommon between now and the start of next year to find juvenile swans in unusual and silly places. Last year we even picked one up on Christmas Day who decided to inadvertently drop by an unsuspecting family’s garden.

If you find a cygnet or young swan in an unusual spot call your local rescuer. If they are in traffic or on a busy road please call 999 for the police to attend as these birds can cause accidents.

Whilst I work a lot and can’t always reach those in urgent need of relocation if you have a swan in a garden or enclosed area feel free to leave me a message as I can sometimes get to you after work provided not miles and miles away. Cygnet relocation isn’t too taxing, though they do sometimes injure themselves in the process and need further care.

Keep an eye out for those big grey birds appearing in the next few months.

Autumn has arrived, and so have the crash landing cygnets! 🍂

Thank you to the lovely member of public who waited with this youngster, and stopped her from going in the main road, until we arrived.

If you see a cygnet, or an adult swan, in a place that they shouldn’t be, please call us or your local wildlife rescue straight away 🦢

19/09/2025

Be right back.

We’re taking a quick break and will be back for rescues again on Tuesday. Though we do have a prior appointment with a lady mallard on Tuesday, hopefully she will be obliged to allow capture.

For help go to helpwildlife.co.uk.

Alternatively try the following for the following areas.
Lee Valley and north London: Gill: 07970 404866
Or Andy: 07310 044252. Or Cheshunt animal rescue.
North London and south Herts: Moonstone rescue
Watford and Hemel Hempstead: The swan sanctuary: 01932 240790 or Swan support: 07968 868172.

Thanks for all your support.

08/09/2025

We are waterfowl rescue (swans, ducks and geese)

Just a polite reminder that I am a waterfowl rescuer, not an individual who picks up all species. As much as I love all creatures. Unfortunately being one single person I cannot go to all rescues and all animals, I would simply not have the time. Of course I pick the odd other species up very occasionally. I am currently getting a huge amount of calls for pigeons. I adore pigeons but ducks really are the way to my heart and I must concentrate on one group of species (waterfowl) so I can do the best I can for them.

If you find an injured pigeon if you are able please place them into a secure box to keep them safe and ensure they are in a warm location. Do not offer water or food. If you drive please consider taking them to one of the following rescues (which are the most local to us):
South Essex Wildlife Hospital
Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital
Ernie's Bird Rescue

Alternatively you can contact a rescue group who often have many volunteers. Some of our local ones are:
Cheshunt animal rescue
Moonstone Rescue
Heart rescue

Alternatively have a look at helpwildife.co.uk for further contacts for other species.

Hope you all understand.

06/09/2025

One year of waterfowl rescue!

Before I give the lowdown of numbers I would like to thank all those who have helped me out this last year. The Swan Sanctuary, The Waterfowl Sanctuary and South Essex Wildlife Hospital all for taking sick birds in and for giving advice and guidance. A very special shout out to Jo at Raptor rescue for her advice, calm voice at the end of a phone and help with many birds. And of course all of you for caring, calling, donating and watching over our local wildlife!

That’s enough soppy stuff. Now for the numbers. Just a tiny reminder as if I haven’t said it already - I work full time commuting 2 hour each day, fitting the rescue work in has been tough and I haven’t been able to answer every time my phone goes. I feel very guilty I can’t give more time. But in the last 12 months we have:

Answered 140 calls. 📞 (some I don’t count like advice calls so it’s certainly more)
Helped 151 birds (in 89 rescues) 🦢🦆🪿

Of these, 83 were mallards! 🦆 Many of which were orphaned ducklings 🐥. But we’ve also attended 38 swans, 🦢half of which were displaced juveniles over the winter months. Our most unusual customer was a common scoter, a red listed conservation status sea duck which we managed to get into specialist care after finding herself exhausted and in the middle of an industrial estate.

Our top three causes for call outs were:
Orphaned - 45 individuals
Displacement and territorial fighting - 28 individuals
Fishing tackle injury - 19 individuals
Many others include dog attacks, litter entrapment, powerline collision and general injury.

One of the most memorable calls was to a high security prison where mum had decided to have her ducklings in a very secure courtyard. She was successfully relocated to a local river with all the ducklings. Unfortunately one did not keep up with the family, which resulted in me wading in for the little fluff. He sadly died the following day - sometimes nature just knows. It can be hard to remember we can’t always save them all. But we’ve had 36 ducklings here to stay this summer and 32 released back into the wild!

Another memorable one was a very late night call to a canal boat where a juvenile swan. He had been nearly drowned by a very territorial cob and had got trapped between the boat and mooring. This call was well past midnight but I couldn’t ignore it despite being almost asleep. This swan was only alive due to the very quick thinking of the boat owner and he was snuggled up in warm towels on deck in a very poorly state when I arrived. But he was released successfully a week later after rest thankfully.

The worse things have been the malicious intent to harm wildlife. The shootings of the birds with catapults or air guns. These senseless acts are only precursors to what these individuals will do in later life. The amount of wildlife and animal abuse in this country is unacceptable and the justice served is near nothing to the perpetrators. However, all I can do is pick up the pieces and do my best to help the birds in trouble. I am afraid there are many birds we never see having already succumbed to the injuries and already left this lifetime, and for those I am sorry they had to endure the worst of the human race. These calls get me the most.

For the money numbers. Remember my work is completely voluntary.

We have covered 2900 driving miles, paid £407 out in fuel (14p mile). Spent £890 on consumables, food and equipment (more likely this year as I needed some kit to start me off). With many thanks we’ve had £50 donated towards fuel and £264 in donations of food/equipment! Making a grand total of £983 out of my own pocket spent.

Oh and as for food. We’ve gone through 220kg in duckling food, floating pellets and mixed corn. And no I didn’t miscount. But remember what goes in, must come out 💩😂

Rescue work certainly has its ups and downs. It’s emotionally and often physically draining at times but I wouldn’t change it and don’t regret a thing about helping out. I’m basically just one person (with the help of my sidekick Sam) and of course the support of larger rescues to take birds needing longer term rehabilitation. But I hope if you’ve made it this far you can see the level of costs both financially, time and emotionally this role entails for just one small individual like myself. But also highlights this for other rescuers, volunteers and organisations!

I thank every single person who gives up any time for any animal rescue work because you’re all superhero’s!

Let’s not forget - we are all in this for the same reasons.