It was owl in a day’s work for the environmental services team at North East Lincolnshire Council who rescued a distressed bird from a fallen tree in Grimsby at the weekend.
The tawny owl had a close call when it was discovered in a huge fallen conifer tree just as workers were about to use chainsaws to clear it from Abbey Road.
Lead arborist Phil Smith placed the owl carefully in a box and took it home, but he feared the worst as the animal’s eyes were shut and it was breathing very deeply and lying still.
Phil said: “It was clearly shocked and looked pretty distressed. We took it out and wrapped it in a towel, when we noticed it appeared to have injured its wing.”
After taking advice from Cleethorpes Wildlife Trust, Phil left the bird in the care of his wife as he went back to work. He returned later to find it had recovered and was flying around the family living room.
He added: “I was so pleased to see it, and to be honest was almost in tears – it seemed perfectly fine.
The owl recovered and flew around Phil’s living room! | Photo: NELC
The owl was taken to Cleethorpes Wildlife Trust for a health check before being taken back to the area it was found for release.
Councillor Stewart Swinburn, portfolio holder for the environment at North East Lincolnshire Council, said: “The wind speeds and strength of the two storms but particularly Eunice, is something we do not witness often and it’s testament to the dedication of our teams that they work, day and night, to ensure our borough is kept as safe as possible.”
Wind speeds of up to 80mph battered the area during Friday, February 18 and into the night. Council workers were called to almost 20 incidents of fallen trees and large branches blocking roads, and strewn across parkland and green spaces.
The team worked into the night to clear debris in St James Square. They returned to the Duke of York Gardens early on Saturday, February 19 to assess the situation with a large section of Willow tree that had been felled.
The area around the Willow tree in Duke of York Gardens in Grimsby was taped off. | Photo: NELC
After making it safe the night before, the area around it was taped off to be cleared completely on Monday morning, which people are being asked to avoid at the moment.
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Nominations are open for schools and education settings to be recognised in the 2022 Lincolnshire Education Excellence Awards.
The event is organised by Stonebow Media, publishers of The Lincolnite, to celebrate the best school and teachers in Greater Lincolnshire.
The headline sponsors making the awards possible are Lincoln College Group.
Twelve categories are now open for nominations. The deadline for nominations is June 3, with a judging lunch scheduled for June 7.
Nominations are open from parents, carers, friends, families or education settings themselves, so if you know someone who deserving of winning now is the time to vote!
The awards ceremony will be held at the Engine Shed on July 7.
It’s been a week since the controversial statue of Margaret Thatcher was installed in Grantham’s St Peter’s Hill.
The £300,000 bronze monument immediately caused a stir and debate from both supporters and opponents of the first female Prime Minister of the UK.
Within hours of its 7am installation last Sunday, it had already been egged by a man later revealed to be 59-year-old Jeremy Webster, a deputy director at the Attenborough Arts Centre at the University of Leicester.
Mr Webster’s mother-in-law recently described his actions as “childish”.
Quoted in the MailOnline she said: “Margaret Thatcher lasted a long time in power. She was a trailblazer as the first woman prime minister and she had such energy, even though I know she slept very little.
“I’m very surprised to hear about all of this [egg throwing]. I’m going to have to call my daughter. I wouldn’t have thought Jeremy would be the sort of person to do this. It seems very childish to me – he has a responsible job.”
There have been reports of other antisocial behaviour taking place including people urinating up the statue, but investigations into these are yet to be confirmed by officials.
Away from the statue itself, others took to social media to react to the new monument.
Twitterer @BolsoverBeast thought Mr Webster’s actions should be expanded as a way to… get more people involved?
I think it would be a good idea to put Thatcher’s statue on a low loader and tow it slowly around the country so that we all have a chance to throw something at it. pic.twitter.com/uftMqr0LgR
— Chloe Schlosberg (@ChloeSchlosberg) May 19, 2022
Some called back to the fate of other statues
@Irritatedllama called back to the fate of slave trader Edward Colston who was thrown into the Bristol Harby in June 2020.
It's absolutely disgraceful that people are throwing eggs at the Margaret Thatcher statue in Grantham! We need to deploy a taskforce to give it jolly good wash!#Granthampic.twitter.com/RKftKUls4u
It wasn’t long before a parody account of the statue was set up on Twitter – nor before “she” was interacting with other parody accounts.
It was awful. I could see almost all of Grantham
— That Statue of Thatcher (@thatcher_statue) May 18, 2022
A… positive view?
There were supporters of the statue, however, Darren Grimes from GBNews was one of the few popular posts calling on people not to “give in to threats of petty vandalism”. He later posted the statue should be in parliament – where it was previously rejected from.
I honestly think Margaret Thatcher would have found this first round of petty vandalism of her statue to be utterly hilarious.
The statue looks absolutely glorious.
Almost a decade on from her passing, she’s still winding them up!
Some, like @Jonnyhibberd were more measured in their response.
I don't see a problem with a Thatcher statue and I also don't see a problem with people throwing eggs at it. Thatcher is an important part of our history, and so is what a lot of people thought about her.
— Jonathan Hibberd 🇺🇦 (@Jonnyhibberd) May 18, 2022
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