After three and a half months in care a sick bird has brought many smiles to faces of people on the Isles of Scilly, as against all odds it has made a full recovery and been released today back into the wild.
In early October 2000 Paul Dukes picked found an injured “Bonxie” on the island of Gugh on the Isles of Scilly.
The bird was transported to St.Mary’s for veterinary treatment by Scillies vet Rick Barrowman. The bird had a deep wound on the upper breast exposing the air sacs and gullet possibly incurred by becoming entangled in the rigging of a trawler or the like. The outlook didn’t look overtly good, but the vet carried out the necessary surgery and the bird was put into care.
For three and a half months the bird has been looked after by John Clare and Anne Hardeman at Evergreen Guest House on St.Mary’s. They have nurtured it back to health on a diet of Whitebait, which has been paid for by donations made by the four hundred plus birders who visited, mainly in October.
One question still hangs over the bird however, even after it was released and flew off strongly from the islands. What exactly is it?
The bird is released back into the wild by it’s carers.
Birders have been left perplexed and confused as to its identity. The favoured suggestion is Great Skua, or Bonxie as it is often known, or the previously unrecorded in Britain, South Polar Skua. Pictures have been put on the Internet and sent all around the world to see if the identity can be clarified, but the experts are well and truly split.
It is quite remarkable that a bird under such close scrutiny for such a long period of time should remain unidentified. A well as being miraculous in its recovery, it will be remembered for the fact it was never named!