Trainee veterinary nurse takes baby goldfinch under her wing

Amazing baby bird survives against all odds! (Image: Archant)

Narissa Merry, 20, is nursing the tiny bird back to health, taking it home with her every night and ­bringing it into work in a hamster cage to be with her at Amical vets, in High Street, March.

Amazing baby bird survives against all odds! (Image: Archant)

The bird, which she has called Peewee, was dropped off a fortnight ago but nobody else wanted to take it on. It had no feathers and its eyes were still shut

Amazing baby bird survives against all odds! (Image: Archant)

She said: “I thought the bird was likely to be put to sleep so, with time on my hands, living at home, I thought I would give him a chance.

“I’ve been hand-feeding him and he is doing really well. He has started flying, he likes to stretch his wings, and I plan to keep hand-rearing him until he learns to feed himself.”

Peewee is so used to human company that Narissa has found a woman, experienced in caring for birds, who is hoping to take on the goldfinch.

“He is so used to being around people that we are not sure how he will cope being released back into the wild, but it is something that we will try,” she said.

Narissa has been at Amical for a year after studying an animal management diploma. She is set to resume college studies in September.

The bright red face and yellow wing patches of the goldfinch are nearly five times more likely to be seen in British gardens than they were in the mid-1990s, according to the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).

The increasing use of fine seeds, such as nyjer seed, and sunflower hearts in garden feeders has so successfully wooed the colourful visitor that it has flown from 20th place to 10th on the list of most commonly reported species since the BTO’s Garden BirdWatch survey began in 1995.