It was surprising when someone called and described a bird she had found in her garden.

The bird had been there all day, and although the lady said it could occasionally fly onto a flat roof, she’d eventually managed to catch it.

She had the bird in a box and I asked for a description. It sounded like the perfect description of an adult male blackbird: thick black feathers and bright yellow beak.

The lady didn't know what had happened to the bird. She had seen it in the morning and occasionally throughout the day, but only tried to catch it before dark. I imagine it gave her the runaround. Blackbirds are like that!

A lovely lady collected the blackbird. He was quite calm in the box, but when I reached in to take him out, there was a bit of a scuffle.

Blackbirds don't like being handled and this one was particularly jumpy.

I managed to get hold of him and discovered a nasty wound under his shoulder. Most flight feathers were missing and he didn’t seem to see in his left eye. I gave him antibiotics and eye drops.

I made up a cage with a bowl of prosecto (insect food) and a small turf of grass. If anything will encourage a blackbird to eat, it would be this.

A week later, the blackbird is looking good. He will need to spend time in an aviary till his feathers grow. Then hopefully he will be out in time for breeding.