South-East Asian Adventure

Selamat pagi from South-East Asia!

Last week my friends and I flew out to Malaysia, and I've already been amazed by the sheer abundance and variety of the wildlife we've seen so far.

On arriving in Kuala Lumpur, we first visited the Batu Caves. These are an ancient system of caves in which Hindu temples were built in 1891. The rocky crags provide perfect nest sites for hundreds of Pigeons and Oriental Turtle Doves, whilst the thousands of litter dropping tourists that visit the temples each year provide the local Long-Tailed Macaques with a constant food source.

However, it wasn't the monkeys or the birds we were here to see-it was the bats! Run by tourism Malaysia, the 'Dark Caves' system in Batu was formerly fully open to the public, which caused significant damage to the delicate cave ecosystem.Since the 70s however, conservation group 'Dark Caves Malaysia' has taken over the running of the caves, and now keep them mostly closed off, allowing only a few guided tours in each  week to educate people on the plight of the caves.

We signed up to one of these tours, and were not dissapointed by what we saw. The first thing that hits you is the sound of the fruit bats. As their name suggests, fruit bats feed on tropical fruits and so have not needed to develop echolocation in order to find and catch their food. Instead they emit audible chirps which resonate through the caves like bird call through an aviary. There are insectiverous bats here too, and as you look up you can just about see them flitting past gaps in the cave's roof. Be sure to keep your mouth closed though- one unlucky onlooker on our tour had a fresh pile of guano (bat poo) land on his tongue as he gazed up in awe at the bats flying overhead!

In the absence of sunlight to sustain plant life, it's the guano which fuels this ecosystem. Cockroaches and many other species of insect feed on the nutritious droppings which the bats produce,and devour any carcasses which fall to the ground. This provides prey for other animals living in the cave, such as long-legged centipedes, several types of rodent and an extremely rare type of trapdoor spider. The rodents in turn provide food for various types of snake, including Pit Vipers and Cave Racers. We were lucky enough to see just a handful of these creatures, but they still provided us with a powerful insight into life inside a cave.

Today we're off to Sumatra, in search of the mysterious man of the forest. Stay tuned....

Goslings

Every year at my school in Oxfordshire, a pair of Canada Geese have goslings on an island on the site. Off limits to students, the moated island provides the isolation and shelter these birds need to nest. Usually they have a clutch of about 5-6 in May, of which only 3-4 survive. The rest are picked off by predators such as Foxes or Herons which often visit the island, despite the best efforts of their aggressive parents to protect them. 

This year, however, the geese had eight little goslings, and incredibly all eight have so far survived! I went to film them back in May (see below) when they were still only about a week and a half old. At this age they are tiny and look very un-goose-like, completely covered in yellow downy feathers and lacking the characteristic white chinstraps of their parents.

We know that one male has been coming for several years now. A few years ago this male got his leg caught in a fishing hook while he was raising his young on the moat. The school caretakers came to his rescue, catching him and removing the hook which has left a distinguishable scar on his right leg. We've no way of knowing if the female is the same one which has been visiting for years, but Canada Geese mate for life so the chances are that she is. Canada Geese are long living (the oldest recorded was 27 years old!), so the hope is that this pair will keep coming back to our moat for many more years to come.  

Myxomatosis Outbreak

An outbreak of Myxomatosis in the Village has been keeping me busy recently. After being introduced to the UK in the early 1950s to control the Rabbit population, Myxomatosis rapidly decimated Rabbit numbers by 99% in its first two years here.

This particularly nasty insect borne disease causes a Rabbit's head to swell, skin tumours to form around its eyes and conjunctivitis to develop,all of which results in blindness (making it easy for dogs to catch them). It also weakens the Rabbit's immune system, allowing secondary infections (often Pneumonia) to develop, which will eventually kill the the infected animal. Unfortunately (despite increased genetic resistance among Rabbit populations) the disease still remains present across much of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

My suspicions were first raised on a recent walk to the local forest, during which my brother and I found nine rotting Rabbit carcasses stretched out across a 200m long footpath. I'm told the stench was horrible (thankfully hay-fever had blocked up my nose!), as not even the Crows would touch these obviously diseased corpses, instead leaving them to decompose. 

Sure enough we eventually found a poorly Rabbit, which was just sitting in the middle of the footpath. Its eyes had sealed over and it seemed completely oblivious to us standing around it, nor did it seem to care when we picked it up and carried it on the long journey home. This animal was just too far gone, and unfortunately had to be euthanised by the vets at Tiggywinkles. 

This unfortunate Rabbit had to be euthanised. Note its swollen eyes and the loss of hair around its face- both symptoms of Myxomatosis. 

Contrary to popular opinion, however, Myxomatosis is not necessarily the death sentence it might seem. Some individuals develop immunity after suffering from a bout of "Myxy", and if caught early enough (before secondary infections have a chance to take hold) can completely recover in the sterile and controlled conditions of a wildlife hospital. This was the case with a Rabbit I was called to last year, which was actually found at my School. It was a young Rabbit, and although its eyes hadn't properly sealed over yet, it was easy to tell that the animal was suffering from Myxomatosis. Thankfully, because we got the Rabbit to hospital before the disease got too bad, it eventually made a full recovery. 

Having said this, not much can be done about treating the disease in the wild. So all we can do for now is monitor the local population for sick Rabbits, and get any we find into Tiggywinkles as quickly as possible.

My top tips for rescuing rabbits:

1. Always support both ends of the Rabbit

Rabbits have weak spines which are easily damaged during their frantic kicking as they try to escape you. So support both ends of the Rabbit to make sure it can't kick.

2. Keep handling to a minimum

Rabbits get very stressed when handled, which will quickly kill them if prolonged for any length of time. So put the Rabbit into a dark, quiet container as soon as you have captured it

3. Block off all escape routes before you attempt a rescue

Even a blind Rabbit can run fast, and there is nothing more annoying than searching through bushes for an animal that has darted into the nearest vegetation to hide. So always block off any escape routes before you attempt a rescue. A finely-meshed net may also come in handy in capturing a Rabbit casualty.

Caught on Camera

I'm in the middle of my A2 exams at the moment, so getting out looking for nature is more difficult than it has ever been. I still try to do what I can in my revision breaks though, such as setting up an 'Apple Cam' outside a mouse burrow in my garden:

I was hoping to have more species come to the apple to feed, but that Crow at the end had other ideas!

I keep my phone on me wherever I go, so I've still managed to take pictures of the interesting things I've seen while I've been out and about over the past couple of weeks: 

A Wasp nest, complete with larvae

A smashed open egg- not sure of the species, but 7 were spread out along the footpath

These Canada Geese are nesting at my school. This year they've had 8 chicks!

A Poplar Hawk-moth, spotted on my way into an exam

The scientific name of this Froghopper is Cercopis vulnerata, meaning 'Wounded Froghopper'- it's helped me with my Latin revision!

A Cinnabar Moth

I have a Biology exam tomorrow. Thankfully most of it's about ecology, but I'll still be glad to get back outside when it's all over!

Close Encounters of the Bird Kind (Continued)

An injured Pigeon I rescued earlier today reminded me of another common incident I'm called to, which I forgot to mention in my last blog: birds which have flown into windows.The BTO estimates that over 100 million birds crash into windows every year in the UK, fooled by open stretches of sky reflected off shiny panes of glass. While some birds are killed on impact most survive, although impact injuries such as fractured wings or broken beaks are common. Even if there are no obvious external injuries, the impact to the bird's head may have caused it a number of nasty internal injuries such as a brain hemorrhage or retinal detachment. So always get a known victim of 'windows-strike' to a wildlife hospital or sympathetic vet to be checked out as soon as possible!

This Pigeon fractured it's left wing earlier today, after crashing into someone's window

Close Encounters of the Bird Kind

The other day I rescued a Pigeon at work. It had fallen into a gap between two fences and become stuck, but I manged to dig a small hole under the fence and pulled the poor bird out through that. A quick check revealed that the bird was completely unscathed, and it flew off happily after I let it go. Some people said I should have left to die, labeling it a 'rat of the sky' and saying that because Pigeons are so populous they don't deserve to live. I disagreed, however. After all, the Pigeon would have been fine if a human hadn't put up a fence for it to fall down, so wasn't it my duty to help it out? Either way, the incident got me thinking about some of the other brushes I've had with our feathered friends over the past few years.

Like all birds which have been caught by a cat, this young Blackbird needed an antibiotic injection at the hospital

Roughly 90% of all the casualties I'm called out to every year are birds. Of that 90%, probably half are healthy fledglings that people have found in their gardens unable to fly. These birds are usually best left alone, as in most cases the parents will still be close by and will continue to feed their chick until it's old enough to fend for itself. It takes patience to be sure though, and watching the bird from a window for an hour or two is the only way to confirm that the young bird is not orphaned. If no parents come down to the bird within a few hours, it is safe to assume that they have perished, and the fledgling will need to go to a wildlife hospital to be fed by hand until it grows up. 

Sometimes, in gardens regularly visited by cats, it may be too dangerous to leave any fledglings out in the open, even if their parents are coming down to them. This was the case recently, when someone called me about three Robin chicks they had discovered in their garage. After a quick search I couldn't find any nest to put the birds back into, so I left them in a sheltered cage outside, with bars through which the parents could continue to feed them. This way the little Robins were protected from predators, but could still be raised by their parents in their natural environment, and released after a few days when they were old enough.

Raised in a cage- these Robin fledglings were fed by their parents, but still protected from local cats

The other 50% of birds I deal with are injured, usually after being caught by a cat or dog. Many of them have already suffered heavy blood loss by the time I reach them, and go into a condition called Hypovolemic Shock as a result. I've lost too many birds to shock, which is usually exacerbated by the stress of being picked up and handled- they start panting before going floppy in my hand and dying, all within a matter of seconds. 

This began to change when I invested in a heat lamp last summer. Shortly after, I was called to a Pigeon in the village that had been caught by a dog. At first the bird didn't seem too badly affected by the attack- it had shallow puncture wounds to its sides which had stopped bleeding, but otherwise seemed lively enough. Soon, however, it began displaying those soul-destroying signs of shock, although this time I was prepared. I quickly placed the bird under the heat lamp (warmth moves blood out of the centre of the body), and left it in a dark, quiet room to minimise its stress. Uncertain as to whether it would live, I was greatly surprised (and relived!) to find that the Pigeon had perked up completely after half an hour under the lamp, and it survived the journey to the wildlife hospital where its wounds could be treated. My heat lamp hasn't failed me since.

Sitting under a heat lamp in the dark for half an hour saved this Pigeon's life!

My top tips for rescuing birds:

1. Purchase an Aviary Net
Even when injured, a bird will still try its hardest to escape you. Birds with broken wings can still run, and birds with broken legs can still fly, so sometimes catching the casualty in a net can be the only way to secure it quickly and safely. Aviary nets have padded rims which ensure no further damage is caused to the bird whilst you're trying to capture it. But if caught without one, a light towel or jumper thrown over a casualty which can't fly should work just as well.

2. Always hold a bird so that it can't open its wings
The safest way to hold a bird is in a way which prevents its shoulders from moving and its wings from opening. This gives you more control over the animal and helps keep it calm. A small bird (like a Robin or Dunnock) can be held in one hand with its back against your palm and its head poking out between your index and middle fingers. A larger bird (such as a Pigeon or a Dove) needs to be held with two hands against its back-one for each wing. Never put any pressure on the bird's abdomen as this will stop it breathing.

3. Keep handling to a minimum
Birds are particularly susceptible to stress which (as I mentioned earlier) can worsen the shock that any injured animal will already be experiencing. To minimise any stress you may cause to the bird, only handle a casualty when catching or assessing it. If the bird starts to pant, immediately put it into a warm, dark and quiet cage for at least 30 minutes. This will help slow down its metabolism and counter the effects of shock.

4. Transport the casualty in a suitable container
An injured bird should be transported to a wildlife hospital or vet in a container (a box, cage, etc.) that restricts their movement and stops them tumbling about on the journey. This is especially important for birds with broken wings, as being able to flap them about in a spacious cage may cause further damage. If you only have a large container, wrapping the bird's body loosely in a small towel will also suffice. Obviously don't put a casualty into anything that is too small. I was once called out to a Collared Dove which had been stuffed into a hamster carrier. Needless to say, it died. 

5. Never release an entangled bird
Birds can often get caught in the netting and rubbish that we leave lying around. As with all animals which find themselves caught up in such ligatures, entangled birds should never be cut free. Instead, take the bird to a wildlife hospital with any bindings still attached to it. Otherwise a condition called pressure necrosis can develop, which will eventually result in death.  

Cuckoo for Cuckoos!

I've only ever seen a Cuckoo twice before. The first time was a couple of years ago. I'd got up at sunrise to go out looking for foxes, but got sidetracked by the melodious call of a Cuckoo close by. I looked up in the trees and saw the beautiful bird calling; a spectacle which I managed to get some grainy footage of in the dim early morning light.

The second time was on Saturday. Once again I was alerted to the presence of the bird by its call, which I followed through the field. After much jumping over brambles and being stung by nettles, I caught up with the Cuckoo which was darting about between the shrubs.  

The zoom on my camera enabled me to get some clear shots from a distance, but when I tried to get closer it spotted me and flew off. Even as I type I can hear the bird calling outside, so I think I'll set up my hide in the field later and see if I can get some close ups of this increasingly rare animal!