This is Barnard the barn owl. He was brought to Jodie one night in the snow and ice. He had hypothermia and his eyelids were frozen shut, meaning he couldn’t hunt for food. He was extremely close to death. In fact the night he arrived, Jodie got an owl expert to come and assess him and was told “don’t get your hopes up, he’ll be dead by the morning” because, as well as being so cold and ill, he was massively underweight. With lots of love and time and effort, Jodie managed to rehabilitate him. After a week of force feeding him and coaxing him to eat, he finally started to eat on his own. Once he started to get better, Jodie moved him into a temporary aviary so that he could build his wing muscles again. He’s now ready for release back into the wild and Jodie is going to release him at her new house which is surrounded only by farmers fields and forests. We are all so proud of, not only him surviving, but also of how far he’s come!! He currently eats 5 medium mice a day. We can’t wait to release him!!!

Update: Barnard was released at the new property and it was a huge success. Photos and videos of the release can be seen on our Instagram page.

This tawny owl was found sitting in the middle of the road in the snow and brought over to Fripps. She obviously couldn’t find food as she was starving and underweight. Within two minutes of her sitting on Jodie’s lap for the first time, she had wolfed down two mice. She’s gone from strength to strength and now eats a very healthy 5 medium mice a day. She was quickly moved into a temporary aviary so that she could build her wing muscles again and she is now ready for release. We are going to release her at the new place as it’s surrounded by farmers fields and forests. She’s the most beautiful owl ever and we all adore her. We’ve called her Tallulah.

Brian the buzzard came to us after he flew through a bedroom window in Camden. He was being attacked by magpies and he had canker. Canker is an infection that makes it difficult for them to swallow. We treated him for canker and he started eating like a horse, getting through 10 mice a day. As soon as he was fighting fit again we released him.

Summer is a little fox cub who came to us covered in mange. Left untreated, mange can kill foxes. Luckily we’re friends with the Fox Angels Foundation (you can find them on Facebook) and they sent us some mange treatment. After a short months stay at Fripps, being fed the very best food, Summer was ready for release, having fully recovered. She only had one eye when she came to us so we don’t know how she lost it. We released her back to where she was found as foxes HAVE to be released back to their own territory. They don’t have a high survival rate if they’re released to an area they don’t know. We are so proud that we got her back to full health as she was in such a sorry state when she came in! It was so wonderful to see her running off to live her life when we released her! The video of her release is on our Instagram page!

One day we got a call asking us to help a swan that was lying in someone’s back garden and who couldn’t stand up. They had already called another big animal charity and they told her “leave her there and let nature take its course”. We went to get her. She was badly concussed, had a head injury and was severely dehydrated. We tended to the wound and gave her water and food which she lapped up. We kept her in an enclosure while she was getting better and then released her onto our pond. She made a full recovery. We loved going out and seeing her every day. One day, months later, we came home and the swan wasn’t there. Jodie checked the CCTV and watched her fly off over the farmers fields. We are so happy that she’s gone off to live her best life. She has probably gone to find a partner. From not being able to even stand up to fit and healthy, this was a job well done !!

Ken was brought to us with a broken leg. We took him to our amazing vet who managed to fix it! We then released him back into the countryside, close to where he was found. You can watch his release on Filthy, our show on YouTube. We all fell in love with him but we didn’t spend any time with him as we didn’t want him to become tame or dependant on us!! Another job well done!!!!

Our friends land flooded in all the heavy rain. One day a mother swan and her two cygnets appeared on the floods. Two weeks later, the water dried up and mummy and one cygnet flew away. Our friend waited a week and the second cygnet didn’t go away. But by now there was no water at all. We went to get her. We kept her in an open front shed for a day to check her for injury and make sure she was eating (which she was - loads!!) and then we released her onto our pond with our other rehabilitated swan. They quickly became friends and would sleep together. One day our other swan flew off for pastures new (Jodie watched her on the CCTV) and the day after that, the cygnet flew off too!! Again, Jodie watched it on the CCTV. She flew in the same direction as the other swan! We’re hoping they’ve gone off to find partners and that they’ll come back one day with a family of their own!!!