Our Crew rescued a Bird of Prey from the river Thames

One cloudy September morning, while our crew were en route to Tower Millennium Pier from the Victoria Embankment, they noticed something unusual in the river. Our Skipper Ed and guide Chris soon noticed that what they could see struggling to stay afloat was in fact a Bird of Prey in distress. The bird was attempting to make its way over to the boat out of desperation, and our crew knew they had to help the animal.

They retrieved the amazing bird from the water and with a marine police unit soon passing by the bird was taken to the Wapping Police station, where it was relocated to a sanctuary, hopefully, to have the owner traced. The Hawk was lucky in its choice of day to go for a swim, or maybe he was just up-to-date on his Notice to Mariners; the Port of London Authority published in February ’21 all the dates of the forthcoming Thames Barrier Closures, ‘Sunday 19th September From 0625 to 1625 BST’ being the closure which saved this bird’s life. Had the tide been flowing as normal, it is highly unlikely the poor creature would have stayed above the surface long enough for anyone to notice it.

All kinds of adventures take place on the River Thames, well done Ed and Chris for rescuing such a majestic animal.