It was with some sadness that I learned of the closure of Wychbold swan rescue after nearly 50 years of rescuing and rehabilitating wildlife. I first had dealings with Jan Harrigan after a number of birds were hitting powerlines at my local nature reserve, with some of the survivors going there to have their broken wings amputated. She was lucky to have two main vets, one Jason Waine who was one of the top avian vets in the country and the other Barstow who specialised in wing injuries. This second chance for these type of man-made casualties was so different to the eugenics of the RSPCA and other organisations I could mention. Swans that were put back into the wild CAN have a good life and have bred again.
When I first met Jan and going to the centre for a day to volunteer, based in her own farm and business setting, I somehow ended up going shopping with her to the local supermarket and she was welcoming and maybe a little probing into why I was interested in birds. I got the impression that she liked to size people up and know what they were about.
Birds from a very large area of Worcestershire, Warwickshire, the West Midlands and even South Wales were patients at Walkmills Farm, with Worcester having its own river “sanctuary” where fishing was not allowed, and many birds were released here.
Wychbold were also involved in the casualties from Rattlechain lagoon, and at that time we were all still clueless as the cause of death from that place, which we later would discover, though without any thanks to the liars from Albright and Wilson/Rhodia as to the systemic poisoning from white phosphorus in the waste that THEY put there.
She attended several meetings that were held at the Oldbury offices, and even though the liars never gave away their secrets, it was good to have an ally of such formidable experience and knowledge in your corner.
A swan taken in that had been on rattlechain, and whose mate had died after being poisoned on there.
Jan’s major campaign was about lead shot from fishing where she would give talks about the issue and was involved in a pioneering blood lead test funded by the Environment Agency in partnership with Keele University. Unfortunately, this quango body is an angling funded waste of space, and so whatever results were shown, whatever changing new targets they set, those at the top would not reach any conclusions put before them, and eventually the study was dropped despite the efforts of many who tried to expose the truth and not the avarice protection of the angling trade.
Jan was also a vociferous voice for mute swans at many swan convention meetings at Stratford which were interesting, and the same issues frequently came up there with regards to the impact of lost and discarded tackle on wildfowl.
Many a time a call to Jan was made in relation to contaminated swans on the millpool, birds that had been shot or attacked by dogs, and sometimes the usual glut of fishing related problems- Wychbold dealt with them all when arrangements were hastily made to get them down to Junction 5 of the M5.
Not everything went well at Wychbold. Aside from the outbreaks of DVE and more latterly “avian flu”, I did sometimes feel that she had taken too much on and the facilities were looking dated and not large enough- especially the hospital pen. These were however greatly improved and a new “Pershore place” pool housed many birds that we took in there for short periods.
Jan was awarded the MBE in 2004 for services for the protection of swans, and I think that she would be the first to say that keeping the swans and other birds afloat and the arduous work of cleaning them out and giving treatments was not a “one woman’s battle”, but the efforts of many who shared her passion for helping these creatures, including some who are no longer here.
Worcestershire Weekender July 2003
I first met John Stewart and his wife Phyl, the long term lieutenants at Wychbold on a rescue at Trittiford Mill in Birmingham that involved botulism in 2001. There would be many more outbreaks of this in this pathetic run local authority on many of its pools, and unfortunately they still occur. They have passed on their knowledge of swans to others and it is fair to say, that in the last few years, they have kept the place running.
I am perhaps not surprised by the closure given Jan’s age, though still spritely, but the pressures of the draconian Defra and APHA diktats and control of wild birds with their “pandemic” human hoax nonsense have made it more difficult for people who care to operate to save wildlife. Bureaucrats and civil servants are only in it for themselves, or backhanded by corporations to pass through legislation to profit their aims. They will never get that some people are in it altruistically, and they have no concept of the struggles of those who try to help others.
The future without this centre looks increasingly bleak for wildfowl, given that other wildlife centres are not focussed on specific species but many other wild animals as well as birds. The West Midlands County is barren of any wildlife centres of this scale and it will be increasingly difficult to cater for injured birds that need specialist treatment.
This is where someone will hopefully step in to pick up the baton where Wychbold lit the flame of hope. If only those lottery numbers came up eh……..