Well now I ve got a dilemma

You're a good egg Bluebelle! Brightened my day no end, thank you.

Oh well done to you BlueBelle. Pretty" heart in the mouth " at times but overall very heart-warming.

Seagulls are a protected bird and are really beautiful when the adults land in the garden, huge too. As Glammanana said, being on the doorstep of the Mersey river their cries are a familiar sound and I'd miss it if I didn't live here.

No he didn’t seem keen or maybe able to eat of a dish so I was just throwing chunks by his feet for him to shovel up I m going to look up what else they can eat I think cat food and
I m not sure how regularly I m not giving him too much as I m hoping mum is still going to feed him and visit him my gardens only small and enclosed with lots of greenery so hopefully he ll find somewhere to hide and keep dry

He wouldn't be able to feed himself from a dish - at this age his Mum would be pushing her food down his throat for him. Obviously he's growing at a rate so needs regular feeding. Since he's possibly a herring gull, he looks big but is still a chick, has no flight feathers and is still quite fluffy, so normally wouldn't have fledged yet. When they fall off the nest, they're a nightmare. So far he seems to have used up a lot of his lives, so thank heavens he has you, BlueBelle. Your poor nerves must be worn to threads! Keep feeding stuff very smashed up, like fishy cat food or something well soaked (like cat biscuits) which he can easily manage, from the ground or pushed onto his tongue if he opens his beak for you. If he has a safe place to hide, his Mum will watch him almost all of the time and hopefully attack anything which threatens him. As long as he keeps off the road - where she couldn't protect him - little Stephen will soon be able to fly....and you can relax. Well done for your kind fostering ! Lovely story.

Yes grandmafrench I ll get some more sardines tomorrow they seem to be going down very well He’s had some cat food tonight and managed it well, he’s able to eat off the ground
I m guessing he’s about a month old so needs a couple more weeks before his feathers will start coming through
I could kick myself for not putting him in my garden yesterday but I was thinking the mum would see him on the flat roof but he ll be warmer and safer on the ground I ve put a dish of water out so fingers crossed
he’s fast and has a strong peck I m just hoping no cats visit but I think his mums watching over him too so hopefully she would dive bomb a cat
Fingers crossed

I think we're all wishing so hard that you'll be able to give him a smile and wave him off on his new life in the very near future. In the meantime, you must promise yourself that you will never look up any chimneys again - unless it's Christmas Eve !

I think you’ve a job for life, Bluebell! What a pampered chick! ?

I hadn't caught up with part 2 of the Stephen Sebastian Seagull Saga, Bluebelle.
How lucky you were there and he's eating the sardines. However, sardines have been out of stock on our supermarket website.
Cat food sounds fine and apparently plain cooked spaghetti is good too.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202007/medium-306990-4c7a3209-1ca7-41ff-9509-64874e3fd156.jpeg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202007/medium-89867-384fea16-ed7d-49b4-b42e-6227dc427eae.jpeg

Stephen has weathered the night I didn’t hear any crying and he was waiting by my back doorstep when I got up she’s now munching some mashed up cat food Yay I feel more hopeful

He's having no trouble gobbling the cat food!

Oh thank goodness, I was hoping he'd be ok. What a sweetie. So pleased, well done BlueBelle.

I'm late to this thread, and have so enjoyed reading through. BlueBelle you are a true superhero, well done! Stephen Sebastian certainly fell down the right chimney, didn't he? Straight into your loving heart. It could have ended so differently with someone else's chimney! Thank you for starting my day with a smile and a nice warm melty feeling in my heart

(If you ever feel the urge to change your username, you might want to consider BirdWoman )

It’s funny Bathsheba I m not that much of an animal or bird person but I can’t bear seeing one in trouble without trying to fix it ...it doesn’t always work fingers crossed for this chap (or to be fair chapess, and I m not looking?)

Haha, I wouldn't know what to look for! Isn't their anatomy rather different from ours?

Stephen Sebastian has adopted you, Bluebelle.
You're his new Mum.

We’re all enjoying this saga * BlueB*? I would do the same,
I know we can’t intervene all the time, but in this case, if you feed him he will build up strength to fly soon.Your next project is to make him a faux nest to sleep on.....newspaper?

Bluebell I just found this video about someone in a similar situation to you, but they had a Kevin. I hope you have no holidays booked for the next 40 days or so. (chance would be a fine thing). I think they also like dog and cat food. What a great thing you are doing.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt7CK5kj8UQ

I am, as my dds would say, so invested in this story, Bluebell! I woke early this morning and heard a pigeon and immediately thought of Stephen Sebastian.

From your latest photos, he looks as though he’s grown - well done!

It's looking like you have become a surrogate mum bluebell!!!
He / she is so cute.

I’m so longing for a Happy Ever After!

Twice this week I’ve been worried about two baby starlings that appeared to have been abandoned. I watched and waited and eventually their Mums turned up. A bit like the babies ‘parked’ outside shops in their prams and Mums arriving home, then frantically racing back to retrieve them! ??

I got home from work about 2 pm went straight to the garden to say hello to Stephen couldn’t find him anywhere it’s not a big garden but full of greenery I hunted high and low thinking oh no he can’t have got out ...anyway I put some cat food out and as soon as I went indoors there he was eating his dinner when he finished I quietly followed him and he’s made a sort of hidey hole amongst old fallen leaves under my big old caster oil plant its darkish and shady and hopefully nice and safe (bit lonely though)
Here he is going back to his ‘nest’

Looks as though you have a permanent lodger! S/He’s not daft! ??

bluebelle. Or maybe bluebird. I’ve enjoyed following this so much. It has done nothing but rain against a dark sky all this week and your story has brightened everything up. Please, please keep the thread up to date. Thank you so much.

BlueBelle
You are working wonders with this poor creature. I think we are all enthralled with the regular updates about Stephen so please keep 'em coming! Well done, lovely lady! ❤️

Well today Stephen popped out to see me as soon as I made some clucking noises at breakfast time I gave him his food and went in, he cautiously ate it all up, there is a low bowl (well it’s a plant pot saucer) of water next to it but I haven’t seen him have any yet
I m feeding him three times a day (I ve read up)
This afternoon I was pleased to hear him having a conversation with his mum on the roof I don’t think she can get into my garden as it quite small and very full at the moment ( No landing strip) anyway he was using a quiet little chirruppy voice and she was calling back, this went on for quite a while about 15 minutes and when I quietly went out for something Mums voice went into a loud screech so she was obviously saying ‘stay away‘ and still looking out for him
So far so good
Here’s today’s picture it ll be fun to see his plumage change if he stays with me