Rare bird of prey taken to rescue centre (From Clacton and Frinton Gazette)

Thorrington: Rare bird of prey taken to rescue centre

9:00am Friday 18th January 2013 in News

A RARE bird of prey with an injured wing is being nursed back to health at an animal rescue centre.

The merlin was brought into Thorrington’s Wildlives rescue centre by a member of public who discovered the crippled bird.

Only a handful of merlins are spotted in Essex each year.

But the injured bird is set for a lengthy stay as Wildlives staff need to get it back to full health before releasing it again.

Rosie Catford from Wildlives said: “Merlins come south for the winter but they are very rare around here.

“We’ve never had one here before and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen one.

“Unfortunately this one has sustained an injury to its right wing. It is broken and has become infected.

“We’re not sure how it happened. It may have become tangled in something or it she could have been attacked.

“We will clean it up and get rid of the infection then make sure the wing is a hundred per cent better before we let her go."

Staff at Wildlives have named the bird Alida, which is Latin for small winged one.

Rosie added: “Alida will be with us for about a month. We need to get her back in the air before the rest of the merlins start moving north again.”