08/09/2024
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Starlight Trust
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Starlight Trust is an animal welfare organisation based in Surrey. Find out more at www.starlighttrust.org.uk
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You'll find the answer to most questions you might have at starlighttrust.org.uk/contact-us
03/09/2024
Did you just call us about a pigeon in New Addington? If so, please call back. We got cut off and our phone system doesn't show me your number to call you back, unfortunately.
21/07/2024
A rare picture of Meg, our most shy resident. She's been here since 2018 and is partnered with Forrest.
Not being one of our more showy pigeons means she's never attracted a sponsor :( Could you change that? Sponsor Meg or any of our other residents at https://starlighttrust.org.uk/residents/
In the background here is Hazel who came to us last September with a badly infected eye.
20/07/2024
I'm so very sad to announce that our lovely Randall degu has passed away :(
He came to us, along with various family members, in early 2020. It wasn't a good situation and there were lots of degus of both sexes living in one small cage with no hay. 5 boys from that rescue stayed here with us as we didn't want to separate them and we feared they would have health issues as a result of their bad start. Sure enough two of the others - Kevin and Miguel - had ongoing dental problems and have since left us.
Randall was an independent, free thinking sort of goo. Whenever I gave them their morning treats, the other boys would scrabble at the door to get theirs first. Randall would climb to the very top of the cage, sit on his favourite shelf, and wait for his to be delivered. He was very calm, gentle, and affectionate and loved a cuddle and a chin tickle.
When he refused his breakfast treat for the first time ever on Thursday morning it was clear something was wrong. I thought initially it might be his teeth but he went downhill really quickly and refused all attempts to syringe feed him, before slipping away peacefully.
Run free, darling Randall. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to you not sitting on that top shelf waiting for your treat 💔
14/07/2024
Lunchtimes can get a bit....dramatic!
Did you know, we spend about £50 a month just on seed? We feed a mix of large pigeon seed and good quality wild bird food with aniseed and sunflower hearts to peek their interest. It's important to us that they get the best, most delicious food we can find for them.
Donations to help with their costs are always very much appreciated. One of the best ways to help is to sponsor one of our residents for £20 a year. Find out more at https://starlighttrust.org.uk/residents/
13/07/2024
Not our usual post but we wanted to highlight Violet's story.
We're not fans of breeding animals generally - there are already more than there are good homes - but breeding deformed animals with health issues because it creates a 'cute' or 'fashionable' appearance, to us, is abhorrent.
Violet is a victim of this cruel practice. She's considered a 'pedigree' and has papers. She probably cost about £800 to buy. But breeding her to look a certain way has left her with a deformed mouth causing a tooth to grow sideways and become infected, preventing her from keeping her tongue in her mouth, and causing awful breathing problems.
Starlight volunteer, Louise, took Violet in a couple of weeks ago when she was being given away free online. She wasted no time in getting her to the vet and it's going to cost over £900 for surgery to get Violet more comfortable. Starlight Trust have contributed £250 towards her surgery. If you would like to help, I know Louise and Violet would be extremely grateful - https://www.gofundme.com/f/violets-vital-dental-procedure
Thank you x
Hi everyone, Violet is an Exotic Persian cat that we unexpectedly… Louise G needs your support for Help Violet To Have Vital & Life Changing Dental Treatment
10/07/2024
Please get in touch with GRR if you can offer a good home to any of these lovely rodents.
07/07/2024
Freshly baked loaf of Charles anyone?
06/07/2024
The last couple of months have been pretty stressful as we've had quite a few very poorly pigeons in care.
Tiddler was caught by a cat and lost all his tail feathers. A heavy parasite burden had also left him quite small for his age.
Sweetness was another cat victim, with a bruised and infected puncture wound under her wing.
Boo and Fennel both had adeno virus and both came close to not making it. They were too poorly to eat and were even vomiting up their syringe feeds.
After lots of intensive care and determination, this lovely group moved to their release aviary today. I am so delighted and so proud of the beautiful, healthy juveniles they have become :)
30/06/2024
If ex-racing pigeons Banjo and Ariana were still racing, their bond would be exploited, with one taken hundreds of miles away and their desperation to get back to the other used to try and win a race.
We think they should just be left to snuggle instead!
29/06/2024
We're very sad to announce that permanent resident Brontosaurus passed away suddenly last week.
Bronts came to us from East Sussex WRAS in 2018 because he hadn't recovered well enough from a neurological problem for release. While with them he had fallen in love with another twisty bird, Bill (short for Cross Bill as she had a wonky beak). So the two came here together and have been a very happy, loved up couple ever since.
Bill is understandably upset by losing her husband and protector and has been a bit extra twisty since. We have a plan to introduce her to another kind, protective boy pigeon soon once she has had a chance to grieve.
Fly free, Bronts 🕊
26/06/2024
Boo, one of four young pigeons we're currently caring for, has found a very sensible way to coo(l) off in today's heat!
23/06/2024
A bit of morning yoga from Chilli 🧘🕊
17/06/2024
Change For All Life
16/06/2024
Clash of the Titans (Donnie & Banjo)
11/06/2024
In the first half of this year we have removed 40 rescues from our directory. In some cases the owners have retired or taken the decision to close due to health issues, but many tell us it's because of a lack of funds, no volunteers, or because they can no longer cope with how rude members of the public can be when contacting them.
We are incredibly blessed to have wildlife rescues in the UK. There are many countries where wildlife rescue simply is not a thing. But we are in serious danger of taking this for granted, of assuming that rescues will be there to pick up the pieces, and someone else will do the work and make the donation. We destroy habitat, we allow our pets to attack wildlife, we drive carelessly, we cut our hedges in Spring, we leave our litter lying around but it's all ok because the wildlife rescues will fix it.
Our wildlife is ALL of our responsibility. We can't all run a rescue but we can all....
- Take care not to disturb or harm wildlife
- Be polite, be grateful, be understanding
- Donate what we can, even if it's £1 a month. It all adds up.
- Donate supplies such as newspaper, shredded paper, towels etc
- Volunteer - clean cages, do pick ups, raise funds
- Spread the word and encourage your friends to help
Just as rescues help our wildlife to survive, we need to help them to do the same.
Donate at helpwildlife.co.uk/1forWildlife or visit https://directory.helpwildlife.co.uk to find and support your local rescues.
09/06/2024
The beautiful Cooper
As our most disabled and tamest pigeon, she holds a very special place in my heart.
02/06/2024
We regularly put a handful of to***co stalks out in the aviary. They're great for nest building and the pigeons have loads of fun running back and forth with them (and sometimes stealing them from each others nests!). Here's Turnip taking a prize stalk back to wife Joy
26/05/2024
Surely the most Regal Charles in the land? 😉
You can sponsor the care of Charles or any of our other residents at https://starlighttrust.org.uk/residents/
19/05/2024
How is Walter so beautiful? Those colours!!
You can sponsor the care of Walter or any of our other residents at https://starlighttrust.org.uk/residents/
11/05/2024
Peggy enjoying a swing!
You can sponsor the care of Peggy or any of our other residents at https://starlighttrust.org.uk/residents/
05/05/2024
Frosty, who came in close to death, is out in the aviary now and exercising her wings ready for her freedom!
04/05/2024
I made them a double decker sun terrace this morning. I think Charles and Cooper approve
28/04/2024
A rare picture of the rather shy Aristotle.
You can sponsor the care of Tots or any of our other residents at https://starlighttrust.org.uk/residents/
20/04/2024
We contributed some comment to this nicely balanced and positive article -
Amidst new concerns about bird flu, London’s animal-rescue charities are helping to protect pigeons and challenge their negative reputation.
20/04/2024
New pickstone day!
Oh and the pigeon on the left trampling over everyone else? That's Frosty who arrived half dead last month. Safe to say she's doing well!!
14/04/2024
Lovely Lola
10/03/2024
Despite what Donnie, Ariana, Wesley, and Pretzel here would have you believe, they're not starved. Keeping our 40 odd resident pigeons fed is an expensive business though. You can help by sponsoring a pigeon here - https://starlighttrust.org.uk/residents/
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09/03/2024
It will soon be 5 years since we upgraded our aviary at HQ so some of the furnishings are showing their age. Today we've been replacing some of their nest boxes with these slightly hacked Ikea Eket cubes. There's been quite a bit of interest already so hopefully they will approve! These should be easier to keep clean than the previous ones too I hope 🤞
06/03/2024
Introducing Frosty. She's a fledgling who was found at the side of the road in London and came to us on Friday. On arrival she was barely conscious and couldn't stand up. I was pretty convinced I was just going to be giving her a warm, comfortable place to pass away to be honest. Believe it or not the first picture is a few hours in after she started looking better! After some pretty intensive care over the last few days including treatment for quite severe coccidiosis, today she is finally able to stand up by herself. She has proven herself to be a real fighter, this one!
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Videos
A new friend today - Sasha, who has PMV and a problem with her legs. There's a picture of her leg problem in the comments as Facebook won't let me add pictures and video to the same post 🙄 Her ankles have infected pressure sores on them which is making standing painful. But the question is, why did they develop in the first place? My guess is a pelvis injury but the PMV means no x-ray at the moment so we'll see how she gets on with cage rest and antibiotics. She's super feisty and straight on the food so she's clearly not one to give up easily <3 #StarlightSasha
Jammy Dodger was found with badly string damaged feet by our friend and fellow rescuer Amelia on a day trip to London. Trafalgar Oblong's Alison kindly took Jammy in and arranged for her to have some toes amputated by our lovely vet Elisa and then we gave her some time in our aviary. So a proper team effort! We reckoned she might prefer the local pigeon-friendly park to Euston train station so this morning we let her go to join the flock there. She was being courted by a handsome male pigeon a few minutes later! Good luck Jammy <3
I caught Freckles and Marti having a snog. Pretzel apparently likes to watch 😆
The aviary pidgies have been having worming meds the last few days which meant we had to remove their baths. They were very pleased to get them back today! Forrest in particular LOVES to have the water sprinkled on him <3
They do love their swings. I often see them fly at the swing in a seemingly deliberate attempt to get some momentum and then sit there happily swinging back and forth! This is Walter who fought off PMV and a compound wing fracture like they were sniffles and a scratch <3 #StarlightWalter
We think resident hamster Nyx is quite elderly now (we're not sure as she was dumped by some bins almost a year ago) and she's having some issues with her teeth but she's still full of fun and mischief as this little clip from her foster Mum shows <3 #StarlightNyx
We were brought this lovely little sparrow chap by a neighbour this morning. He had gotten caught up in some spider webs and was then brought in by her cat. Happily no injuries so we gave him a prophylactic dose of antibiotics and a few hours to rest and recover from the shock. He's just flown off very well, none the worse for his ordeal. I'm afraid the cinematography here won't win any awards but its so hard to predict which direction they're going to zoom off in! Good luck, Mr Sparrow <3
Angry hole! 😆 A while back I treated the pigeons to a really cute two level house from Etsy. I think it was meant for guinea pigs but it has worked well for them with Spike and Caspar nesting on the ground floor and Kevin and Reg claiming the penthouse :D Kev likes to gaze out the little window while he sits on the nest <3 #StarlightKevin
This is what it's like all day, every day at the moment. Caleb (pictured) is cooing and Scout (off camera) is answering. It starts about 6am and goes on til bed time. I'm looking forward to them both moving out to the aviary later this week! 🤣
Scary Blitzen
We can often tell whether a pigeon is male or female by their behaviour and vocalisations. Generally, the girls grump a bit when we get them out of the box to be cleaned and the boys sound off when they get back in - a performance I think loosely translates as "you're lucky you're putting me back now cos I was just about to end you!". Anyway, Blitzen, I think, makes a particularly pretty noise when he's threatening my life <3
Cooper
I am both ashamed and delighted to say we have an Oops. We don't deliberately breed any animals here, indeed we work very hard to make sure we don't add to overpopulation. But Donnie and Leia have somehow pulled one over on me. I can only assume they produced an egg I failed to tell apart from a plastic one. I might have to try colouring the plastic eggs with sharpie so I know for sure what's what. But, that said, it's a little baby Donnie! And Donnie is just the cutest, most devoted Dad. It's adorable. He looks SO proud of himself! Welcome to the world little Cooper <3
I just love watching the pigeons on a sunny day <3
Jasmine
Such gratitude!
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