Injured owl found by roadside returned to the wild

A tawny owl found injured in the middle of the road has been nursed back to health and released back into the wild.

The juvenile bird was spotted in distress by Victoria Moore on the A517 between Ashbourne and Hulland Ward in Derbyshire last month.

After moving the bird to relative safety, she managed to get in contact with a couple in the area who volunteer for charity Raptor Rescue and rehabilitated the animal for a number of weeks after surgery.

Ms Moore said: "It was so lovely to see the owl being released back into the wild, it was amazing to see."

Ms Moore said the tawny owl managed to hop on her foot and she placed it away from the road under a hedgerow.

She posted an appeal on social media for help and the post found its way to Caroline Beresford, who lived nearby.

Armed with a high-vis jacket, a headtorch and a box, she safely secured the owl and took it home.

"Victoria gave me some really helpful instructions on where to find it," she said.

"I quickly realised the bird was in a precarious situation, it was rush hour traffic and it was perched on the slimmest of grass verge by a hedgerow."

Herself and her husband Mike, 75, known in the Ashbourne area as the "bird man", looked the injured owl over and realised it needed medical attention as it had a broken lower mandible, the jawbone in the beak.

Paul Revell, a vet in Ashbourne, said the bird's beak could be wired into place and the owl was then taken in by the couple for rehabilitation.

"I can't thank Paul the vet for his fantastic work enough for his help, it was a great result all round," Mrs Beresford added.

Mr Beresford, who says he has worked rescuing birds and other mammals for nearly 60 years, hand-fed the owl for three-weeks twice a day with tweezers, placing the food carefully into its throat.

"This is a special case... the bird's lower mandible was hanging loose and it was more than likely hit by a vehicle but luckily, nothing in the body was in a bad state," Mr Beresford said.

"I took the owl to the vets and I thought there was no way it was going to survive because it would not be able to eat in the wild.

"We took it back for assessment and I was amazed at the result so to be able to release it back into the wild, it was really special."

The owl was released back into the wild on Christmas Eve and the moment was shared with Ms Moore and her daughter.

"Both Mike and Caroline have been fantastic with what they've done... she got in touch to say the owl was healthy, hooting away and it was ready to be released," Ms Moore added.

"To be a part of that was really special, it was lovely for my daughter to be a part of that as well to see it back to health, flying off into the trees."

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