A (very) small distraction

I’d just sat down with my breakfast this morning, and opened my photos folder to select some photos of my recent trip to post, when Gordon, who’d set off with the dogs a few minutes before for a morning walk, appeared at the window. Curled up in his hand (the other was holding the dog leads) was a small ball of fur. He’d found it at the bottom of a tree – cold, probably in shock, but alive. Because it’s head was tucked in, we assumed young possum, and I took it inside, found a box, wrapped a hot water bottle in a towel, and placed the little bundle of fur into an old woollen hat.

A little later, after we’d done some Googling and it had had a chance to warm up, I fed it some diluted milk with a touch of honey, which it seemed quite keen on:

It’s actually not a possum, but a sugar glider, and therefore rather more grown than a similar-sized possum would be. It wasn’t injured, from what I could see, other than an infection or some damage to one eye.

So, I’ve had a bit of a busy day with this small visitor, liasing with WIRES, the wildlife rescue service, making sure it stayed warm, feeding/hydrating it, and finally handing it over to a friend and ‘neighbour’ – she lives about 10km away – who is a wildlife carer. And I still haven’t sorted out the photos to post, or drawn the winner of the Birthday Bonanza blog! It’s late now though, and I’m heading to bed shortly. Tomorrow is another day…