Of all the weird and wacky things I thought I might be doing today, rescuing a drowning Coal Tit was definitely not one of them. In fact, I'd only gone out into the garden to hang the washing out, and Mr Penry had come with me to dig a hole to stop the clothes prop falling over.
I'd gone to get the spade for him and happened to glance down into one of the many water buckets we keep for the dogs in the hot weather, when I saw what looked like a dead bird floating in it. I picked it up and was surprised to find it was still alive.
Somehow it had managed to keep its beak above water, but it was cold, terrified and shaking like a leaf. Worse, it was covered in dog drool that was gluing its feathers together.
I took it to the bench where it's really warm and sunny and went and got some kitchen towel to help dry its feathers. You can't really rub something the size of a Coal Tit, but when he sat on the paper towels they absorbed a lot of the water. Then I gently washed down his feathers and spread them out to make sure the last of the drool had gone.
After that it was just a waiting game. For ages all he did was shake. His feet were stiff and twisted; once he keeled over and lay on his back with his legs in the air, shaking.
About twenty minutes ago, I went to see how he was and the shaking had stopped. He was looking around now with some interest and I could see his feathers were dryig out.
Then, just now, I went to look again, peeping around the front door so as not to startle him. He saw me, hopped onto the back of the bench, and then took off across the garden.
It was quite a magical experience. He seemed to know I wanted to help him and was perfectly co-operative, never showing any alarm or struggling.
I'm just glad it all turned out well. And he'll have a great story to tell his Mam and Dad when he gets back to the nest tonight!
