Dying peregrine falcon saved to fly free again in the wild
HISSY the peregrine falcon – saved from drowning, nursed back to health and taught to hunt again – has finally gone back to the wild.
Ffion rescued the bird and taught her to fly again
Boat skipper Ffion Rees said: “I was dreading it but had to set her free.
"I wiped away tears on the clifftop.”
Six months earlier Ffion was taking tourists around the Pembrokeshire island of Ramsey when she saw Hissy plunge like a stone in the sea.
Ffion, 42, of St David’s, said: “Peregrines cannot swim.
I wiped away tears on the clifftop
"It wouldn’t have lasted for more than a minute.
"I scooped it up.
"Hissy couldn’t fly because her feathers had rotted.
"I trained her by flying to a lure.”
The story is told in a show of paintings by Ffion’s friend Jackie Morris at the National Botanic Garden of Wales.