I was driving to Beckford, to my bed & breakfast (it was the night before one of my training days at Vale Wildlife Centre). As I was driving along a busy main road, I noticed a small dark object in the middle. I looked closer and could see it was a bird! It was staggering; I assumed it was unable to fly and, as it was in the middle of the road, it was in imminent danger from passing traffic!

At the earliest moment, I did a U-turn, parked the car up in a bus stop and rushed towards the bird. By this time, it was no longer staggering and instead lay still. I was concerned that I was too late and it had died, but decided to go and get it anyway - even if it was dead, it could still pose a deadly temptation to cats, foxes etc, who may venture out into the road to retrieve the carcass. As I got closer, I was relieved to see it was still alive!!

It was a young blackbird, still with brown speckled feathers. It made no attempt to escape as I knelt down and cupped it in my hands. It was cold and was panting; sure signs of shock. I hurriedly took it back to my car and placed it in a small animal transporter box, lined with a towel. I placed the box in the passenger footwell and put the heater on full to counteract the shock and, after another quick U-turn, hurriedly travelled the 10 minutes to the wildlife centre.

The blackbird was assessed for physical abnormalities (none) and was placed on the floor to see if it could fly - it could... kinda... It was concluded that, as the bird was a fledgling, it must have left the nest too early and exhausted itself from flying etc. It was ringed for ID purposes (number 23 - my name for it) and placed in a cage with similarly-aged blackbirds.

I'm happy to report that 23 is doing just fine and, as soon as it puts on a bit more weight, will be moved to an external aviary prior to release.

It's always worth keeping a "just in case" wildlife rescue kit in the boot of your car for occurances such as the one I have just mentioned. This could be as basic as a cardboard box with air holes lined with a small towel! If I hadn't had a box in the car, there would have been no way I could have transported it safely. Small animal cardboard transporter boxes are very cheap - around £2 in pet shops.

• An emergency response service between the hours of 7pm-7am weekdays and 24 hours on weekends
  
• A 24-hour helpline to a mobile phone so I can help with queries whilst at home and in work - this way if an emergency occurs out-of-hours, I can ring the relevant people to get to the scene and act on my behalf
  
• Keep a list of contacts in the area who can assist in rescues or foster wildlife as and when necessary
  
• Foster small wildlife (e.g. hedgehogs, frogs, birds etc.)

  To Fund the Service
  

• A Pet-to-Vet service on weekends and evenings (charges will apply)
  
• Supply a range of pet products available via the website. Orders will be delivered via mail or by hand, dependent on distance (postage costs will apply)
  
• Regular eBay auctions
  
• Corporate sponsorship (money in return for advertisement)

My big passion is animal welfare, it always has been. I've grown up with animals my whole life and currently share my home with two gorgeous beagles - Logan & Tehya. I previously owned 3 cats, 2 of which recently died at the grand old age of 15. The third cat, well, she's part of the reason I decided to do this...

It breaks my heart that, when driving, every day without fail I see dead animals on the roadside - cats, hedgehogs, foxes, rabbits, squirrels... it makes me wonder whether they would've survived if the person responsible for their death had stopped to help or had at least rung somebody who could help. I used to think that if an animal got hit by a car then that was it - lights out... however, 2 years ago my cat was run over. The gentleman responsible (who, incidentally, knew nothing about animals) ran after her, picked her up and took her to the vets. Although she'd suffered head injuries, she survived. I cannot thank this man enough for his kindness. About a year later, the same cat got ran over again (she, unfortunately, was not one to learn from her mistakes). However this time the person responsible did not chase after her and drove off. We found her a week later in a neighbour's garden. I accept that accidents do happen but there is no excuse for leaving an animal to suffer.

It was at this point that something within me lit up... this is when I decided that something needed to be done to help innocent animals that are suffering because of modern technology. We are a nation of animal lovers, after all.

In the coming year, I will be establishing an emergency response service to attend and administer first aid to animals in need, particularly wildlife. I've researched first aid techniques and will be attending Pershore College in the spring to gain an OCN in Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation. When I wait for this course to start, I will be gathering all the experience, equipment and contacts needed to ensure the success of this service.

You may also be interested to hear that my nearest wildlife centre is in Gloucestershire, at least an hour away!! This nation of animal lovers seem to be failing our native species!!

I'd welcome any comments/advice on this service. Although I would never hesitate to stop and help an animal in need, kick-off date for the service is July 2008 when I have gained my qualification and furthered my knowledge on the relevant legislation.

Bye for now!