Peterborough residents nurse dove back to health after firefighters rescue bird from balcony

The trapped dove was first spotted near the top of an apartment building on Eagle Way in Hampton by a passer-by on Saturday.

After it was established that the residents in the flat were not at home, later that evening, Melissa Jones phoned the fire brigade to ask them if they could assist the bird.

At around 10pm, Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service were able to send a crew of trainee firefighters to the scene, who both rescued the bird and used the incident as a training exercise.

A spokesperson for the service confirmed: “A crew from Stanground attended on Saturday evening at around 10pm following reports of a dove stuck behind a balcony.

“Firefighters used a ladder and small tools to rescue the bird, which was left in the care of the caller.”

The bird then spent the night with Melissa before being passed onto Laura Barker, who runs the Peterborough Nature Cam Facebook page, after concerns were raised about its health. Laura was able to spot that its talons had become wrapped together with some debris and took the dove to her house, where she had the right tools to seperate them.

She said: “There was hair, plants and other materials wrapped around her talons - everywhere - including keeping them pulled together.

“After a 45 minute, extremely intricate removal of said materials, I’m pleased to say that there is no serious damage and she is currently perching as she should be.

“Hopefully just an overnight here - as long as she’s eating and drinking well and she can be off home on Tuesday.

“The fire brigade actually used this as a training exercise and were very happy to help. Massive respect to them and what a brilliant idea to use for training!”

The dove has been named Flame, as chosen by Jamal, the person who first spotted it in distress.

After then spending the night with Laura and continuing to eat well and continue its recovery, the dove was well enough for the ladies to meet up on Monday evening and release her together.

Melissa added: “It was quite a night but I’m glad it all worked out perfectly.”