It seems the mystery of the Woolbrook cormorant has been solved after a resident revealed it was hauled away by the RSPCA after eating fish from a pond.
In last week’s Herald bird-lover Leslie Harris wanted to know what had happened to the bird, seen crossing Woolbrook Road last month, and a fellow resident of Manstone Avenue got in touch to fill in the gaps.
Laura Thistle, whose house backs on to the river, said the greedy cormorant, which her and her housemates nicknamed ‘Clive’, took more than five goldfish from the garden and pinched around 10 fish in total before it was caught.
She called the RSPCA as the bird seemed unable to fly, hence why it was seen walking around Woolbrook by bemused Sidmouth residents.
She said: “We first saw it in the neighbour’s garden before it moved into ours in late July.”
“It had obviously wandered in from the river and as it clearly couldn’t fly I guess it found the fish in the pond an easy target really!”
The RSPCA caught ‘Clive’ with a net, checked the bird out then took it to West Hatch animal rescue centre in Somerset, so it is unlikely he will be seen wandering through Sidmouth’s streets again any time soon.
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