Firefighters helped rescue a falcon trapped on a rockface for over 24hrs in Bridgnorth on Monday.
The alarm was raised by birdwatchers who had been keeping their eye on a nesting pair of protected Peregrine Falcons in rocks in Low Town.
They had spotted the female protected bird was in distress after becoming trapped behind metal fencing put up to prevent rockfalls onto the road below.
They alerted the RSPCA who called Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service which sent a crew from Bridgnorth to assist at the scene.
“The bird had been trapped for about 24 hours since Sunday and we were asked to attend. The bird seemed fine, not overly distressed and had gone into a shelter away from the heat,” said Bridgnorth Fire Station’s Watch Manager Ashley Brown.
But as it was near “rush hour” the rescuers had to wait for traffic to subside until closing the A442 road below at 6.25pm.
An RSPCA officer and a firefighter went up in the fire and rescue’s Aerial Ladder Platform to a height of 50ft. Part of the metal casing was opened to allow the RSPCA officer to safely capture the bird which was taken to the Cuan Wildlife Rescue centre in Much Wenlock run by Shropshire firefighters Sean and Anna Nicholas.
After a checkup, the falcon was released the same evening back to the site none the worse for her ordeal.
This is the second falcon rescue from the rock face in two years. Last summer, a falcon trapped 100ft up was rescued by firefighters in a similar incident.
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