Barbara's Wildlife Rescue

04/08/2026

Great decision for once!

Victory for Scottish seabirds 🌊🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

The annual hunt of gannet chicks on Sula Sgeir has been refused by NatureScot

A tradition stemming from a time when these once isolated islands relied on the meat of seabirds to survive.

Seabird populations have suffered over recent years, with gannets in particular being hit hard by the bird flu outbreak. The license to take up to 2000 chicks being rejected is a welcome step to conserving seabird populations for the future 🍃

Whilst this doesn’t mean future hunts won’t take place, it’s a reminder that just because there is tradition in an activity doesn’t mean it should continue without question.
Gannet | seabird | bird art | gannet drawing | northern gannet | seabird painting | Hebrides | positive news

10/02/2026

HE ISN'T SINGING. HE IS SCREAMING. 🦔🆘

You hear a high-pitched piping noise in the garden. Peep... Peep... Peep. It sounds like a lost chick. You look under the hedge and see a small hedgehog. You think: "He’s chatting to his mum." Stop. Hedgehogs are solitary, silent animals. They do not vocalize for fun. That sound is a Distress Call. It translates biologically to: "I have been abandoned for >24 hours and I am dying."

The Science of "The Squeak": 1. The Acoustic Beacon (Separation Anxiety) 📢 Hoglets (baby hedgehogs) are born with a specific vocal adaptation. While adults grunt or huff in defense, hoglets emit a high-frequency "Pipe" (4-6 kHz). This sound cuts through background wind noise to guide the mother back to the nest. The Rule: A mother hedgehog never leaves her young squeaking. If he is piping and no mother appears within 30 minutes, she is dead or has rejected him. The nest is silent; the squeak is the alarm.

2. The Winter Weight Trap (Brown Adipose Tissue) ⚖️ In February/March, this is even more critical. To survive UK hibernation, a hedgehog needs a reserve of Brown Adipose Tissue (BAT) to generate heat during arousal (waking up). If he weighs less than 600g now, he has burned through his BAT. He has woken up early because his body is eating its own muscle. He is Hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) and wandering in a "waking coma" looking for insects that don't exist yet.

3. The Parasitic Burden (Lungworm) 🪱 Why is he squeaking in daylight? Daylight behaviour in a nocturnal animal is a symptom of Systemic Failure. Weak hedgehogs are overwhelmed by internal parasites, specifically Lungworm (Crenosoma striatum). The parasites fill the lungs, causing pneumonia. The hedgehog struggles to breathe, forcing him out into the open air (air hunger) where he squeaks in panic and pain.

The Protocol: HEAT AND BOX. Do not just put down food and walk away. He is too cold to digest it.

Pick him up: Wear gardening gloves (ringworm risk).

The Box: High-sided box (they can climb).

The Heat Source: CRITICAL. A hot water bottle wrapped in a towel. He cannot generate his own heat. If you feed him while he is cold, the food will rot in his stomach (Ileus).

The Silence: Keep him quiet. The squeaking will stop once he feels the heat.

Call the Rescue: British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) or local vet.

The Verdict: If it peeps, it's an orphan. If it's out in the sun in Feb, it's dying. Grab the gloves.



📌 Quick FAQ
Q: Can I give him milk? A: LETHAL. 🥛☠️ Hedgehogs are Lactose Intolerant. Cow's milk causes severe diarrhea. In a dehydrated, starving hoglet, diarrhea kills in hours. Only offer water.

Q: What if he curls up into a ball? A: Don't be fooled. 🧶 Curling up is a reflex (panniculus carnosus muscle). A dying hedgehog can still curl up. The true test is: Does he uncurl quickly? Does he wobble? Is he cold to the touch? A tight ball does not mean he is "fine."

Q: I saw a big one, is he okay? A: The "Drunken" Walk. 🥴 If an adult hedgehog is wobbling or dragging his back legs in March, it isn't "groggy from sleep." This is often a sign of Dehydration or Metabolic Bone Disease. He needs fluids immediately.

02/11/2024

Does anyone have a heavy duty power driver I could borrow for a day or two? Dismantling decking boards from an enclosure and the one I have hasn't got enough oomph 🙄🤣 happy to get my own bits for it (wont wreck yours) x

01/11/2024

04/09/2024

We just love ‘Bones’ you have to come see him! ❤️ Both Loch Lomond Bird of Prey Centre and Loch Lomond Shores are a great day out! Grab the kids, learn something new, support a great cause and treat your tastebuds!

30/05/2024

THE TIME TO BATTLE FOR THE WILDCAT
We wanted to let you know that after a after great deal of work, research, discussion and conference calls, that we have now successfully lodged our Note of Argument for our appeal. This is the core document which will form the basis of the points we want to make in the upcoming appeal. The date is yet to be set but we will of course let you know immediately.

The stakes could not be higher, the Clashindarroch is the most important site for wildcats in Scotland and as you all know, the Scottish wildcat is the rarest feline in the world. It defies all logic, reason, sensibility and just plain old common sense, that this site would even be considered for further development and industrialisation. If this forest contained the most important population of giant pandas, gorillas or tigers, then even the thought of clear felling part of it would be considered madness, yet the Scottish wildcat is at least ten times rarer than all these other species. It is being betrayed by the very government that is meant to protect it and is being dismissed by Vattenfall, a multi-billion pound Swedish owned company.

Well, that is were we all come in. We are not daunted in any way and we are giving the Clashindarroch wildcats a voice and thanks to you, it is a very loud one. It is a huge deal that our appeal will be held in Inner House of the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land. We can guarantee that we will do everything in our power to do the wildcat proud.
THE TIME TO BATTLE FOR THE WILDCAT
The Clashindarroch still currently remains without disturbance which fills us with great optimism and we have cameras set in anticipation of hopefully getting kittens on camera once again. It is for those mothers and those kittens that we fight so that they are never forced out of their forest home.

We want to thank each and every one of you who contribute, send in emails and comment across our platforms. You give us the strength and belief to carry on and whilst we simply don’t have the capacity to respond to all of them, I can guarantee that we read and cherish each and every message, so please do keep them coming.

To find out more about our project then please visit:

www.wildcathaven.com

We have very important updates coming shortly, so keep watching and thanks again. You are all our Wildcat Heroes.

Very Best Wishes

Emily and the whole Wildcat Haven Team

20/03/2024

As the temperatures start to rise hedgehogs will be coming out of hibernation, they will be hungry and thirsty. Please start putting food and water back out and please be careful when gardening 🦔

30/09/2023

10+ RED deer on highroad opposite Heronlea ... Be careful they are big!! 🦌🦌🦌🦌

09/06/2022

Long, but important post.

I’m incredibly sorry to announce that The Wildlife Rescue is closed for the foreseeable.

We have come to this difficult decision for a number of reasons;

Site: We have made the decision not to appeal the planning application as doing so wouldn’t address the limitations we have, running from the house was never going to or ever meant to be sustainable.
We are continuing to try to secure an area of land we have been pursuing for some time and we hope this will be a temporary closure but we won’t be reopening unless/until such time that we have external rescue/hospital facilities.

Volunteers:
Not withstanding the above we have struggled to get consistent volunteers for the last 18months. Again, only running with volunteers was never something we expected to need to do this long but we simply couldn’t offer employment within the limitations of a domestic property.
We also couldn’t offer the additional support required to offer various placements as per our aims.

(We do still have residents so there is still scope for a couple of volunteers happy to occasionally work short shifts on their own after training, please get in touch if this is of interest).

Funds:
Funding is always an issue with any charity, especially those that don’t fall under ‘standard’ criteria for grants. With the exception of our amazing supporter contributions and fundraising we have been self funded and sadly this is no longer possible. I’m currently back working full time out of town.

Current and next steps:
We have transferred all animals still in treatment to other rescues, mainly Hessilhead and this we had planned to continue to do on an emergency basis until August when we can no longer run from the house, however as you may be aware Hessilhead has unfortunately since been affected by Bird Flu and currently we don’t know when they will be in a position to take avian patients (they can take mammals). They are working with DEFRA to get their site back open so hopefully not much longer. We will update on here as soon as we know.

I would like to thank all our supporters, current and past volunteers and Bute & Cowal vets and staff from the bottom of my heart, without you we would never have got this far. ❤️

Please follow all previously advised baby protocols (I’ll repost them shortly) and contact Bute & Cowal Vets or Hessilhead for advice or if you have wildlife in need, please bare in mind neither will be able to catch it, you must have it secured for them to do anything.

Thanks again and I hope to be back with more positive news soon. Barbara and the team at BWR xx