I ran to the wildcat today but had no idea my first aid skills would be required.

We found a poor squirrel drowning in a freezing cold tank of rainwater. There was a lot of panic amongst the others but i think a combination of being a farmer’s daughter and having ADHD sprung me into action.

[If anyone wonders why I mentioned the ADHD - we are brilliant in an emergency. The brain floods with all the dopamine and other emergency hormones that we lack in everyday life and we are able to think on the spot and act in the moment. We can’t be on time for all the money in the world but put us in an emergency situation with a problem to solve and we are your people.]

So while everyone wondered what to do, I grabbed the nearest long piece of wood I could find, and fished the poor creature out.

The squirrel was not moving at all and barely breathing. So I covered him with straw to keep warm and decided the best thing to do was to let him rest. Past experience has taught me that sometimes the animal may sadly die from stress, but sometimes they will be so exhausted that they just lie there, recovering from their exertions.

After an hour, he had run away! Hopefully he will make a full recovery and isn’t too traumatised. So glad he was ok 🥰

We made sure we covered the water tank so it cannot happen again. Something to think about for sure. If the water container can’t be sealed, I’ve since learned that just putting in a plank of wood for animals to use to crawl out is the safest option.

Oh and then I did some normal Wildcat stuff. But it was mostly squirrel drama today.

I ran to the wildcat today but had no idea my first aid skills would be required.

We found a poor squirrel drowning in a freezing cold tank of rainwater. There was a lot of panic amongst the others but i think a combination of being a farmer’s daughter and having ADHD sprung me into action.

[If anyone wonders why I mentioned the ADHD - we are brilliant in an emergency. The brain floods with all the dopamine and other emergency hormones that we lack in everyday life and we are able to think on the spot and act in the moment. We can’t be on time for all the money in the world but put us in an emergency situation with a problem to solve and we are your people.]

So while everyone wondered what to do, I grabbed the nearest long piece of wood I could find, and fished the poor creature out.

The squirrel was not moving at all and barely breathing. So I covered him with straw to keep warm and decided the best thing to do was to let him rest. Past experience has taught me that sometimes the animal may sadly die from stress, but sometimes they will be so exhausted that they just lie there, recovering from their exertions.

After an hour, he had run away! Hopefully he will make a full recovery and isn’t too traumatised. So glad he was ok 🥰

We made sure we covered the water tank so it cannot happen again. Something to think about for sure. If the water container can’t be sealed, I’ve since learned that just putting in a plank of wood for animals to use to crawl out is the safest option.

Our coldest group run of the year so far and 10 brave goodgymers gathered at Glass Mill ready to do good. It was a last minute change of task due to bulbs not arriving in time at Florence Green.

We made our way up to The Albany and set about choosing between weeding and litter picking! There was a significant amount of both weeding done and litter picked with the area looking much tidier than when we arrived. Or so we hope, it was quite dark!!

The group got smaller and smaller by the time we got to Glass Mill. Time for a quick stretch and then home to warm up!