Mary Page: Tywyn's "patron saint" of lost birds

January 24, 2025

Mary Page: Tywyn's "patron saint" of lost birds

Mary Page grew up in a household full of "waifs and strays" - both the human and animal kind. "Dogs, cats...we took in everything. We even had a homeless man called Jock living with us for a while."

But right from a young age Mary's passion was birds, and for more than 50 years she's rescued and given sanctuary to hundreds of them. From sparrows and blue tits to woodpeckers and collared doves, she's hand-reared abandoned chicks, nurtured disabled adults and provided a "forever home" to those unable to fend for themselves in the wild.

Mary's speciality is corvids and today the large aviary in her garden houses nearly 30 crows, jackdaws and rooks. In an adapted shed nearby live Big Bird Crow, who's blind, Splitz Jackdaw, whose legs are damaged, and a female blackbird called Flip, who can't fly. "They can't live in the aviary with the others because they need warmth and quiet," explains Mary, who's lived in Tywyn all her life.

However busy her life has been, she's always found time to care for birds - even sometimes taking them to work with her when she and husband Barry ran a soft furnishings business on the High Street. "If I had young birds that needed care, I'd take them to work so that halfway through making a curtain or whatever, I could stop to feed them."

Mary feeds chicks next to her sewing machine at work

Now retired, Mary's services are still in great demand. Her Facebook page, Mary Page's Birds, has nearly 2,500 followers and not many days go by without someone asking for help or advice. But she's quick to stress she's a caring amateur rather than an expert, and that birds needing medical attention she takes to the vets.

"I don't go round rescuing birds like I used to - I'm nearly 75. I take the broken ones and give them sanctuary. Nowadays I mostly take in birds from rescue centres. At the moment I'm waiting for two rooks to arrive from Kent."

Mary was 20 when she saved her first bird - a nearly-dead baby crow that her younger brothers brought home. "I wrapped him up and put him on the windowsill. When I returned from my part-time pub job, I didn't expect him to still be alive, but I was greeted with two little eyes looking at me. Blackie, as I called him, lived with us for quite a while before he flew away."

After Mary married, birds took a back perch - although not for long. "To start with, I'd take in the odd bird, a pigeon or sparrow, but gradually it evolved," she recalls. "After my son Trevor went away to college, the shed he'd used as a worksop became my bird shed. But I soon realised I needed an aviary, because quite a few birds that were coming to me needed a permanent home."

That's when the Tywyn Animal Support charity stepped in, giving Mary the money to buy a small aviary. "That was in 2005, and the first birds to take up residence there were Sparky Starling and a collared dove."

For several years, Mary also had a garden pond that became home to - among others - three muscovy duck drakes and a mallard drake called Gorgeous.

As Mary's fame as a bird rescuer grew, so the need for a bigger aviary became more pressing. This time, she and Barry planned and designed it themselves, and a GoFundMe account covered the cost of building it.

The longest-term resident, Skater Rook, has been with her for nearly 30 years. "She was found with a shattered shoulder near the old skate park in Tywyn. In those days, vets didn't operate on those sorts of injuries, so I took her in. Rooks are the sweetest of all corvids, and Skater - who was about two or three years' old when she arrived - was fantastic with the other birds; she'd happily sit with sparrows and other small birds."

Skater Rook has been with Mary for nearly 30 years

By contrast, some birds have stayed with Mary for just a few weeks. In 2016, a woodsman brought her two lesser spotted woodpecker chicks he'd discovered nestled in a section of felled tree trunk. "He'd been about to put it in the cutter when he heard the birds," she relates. "He cut them out and brought them to me. I looked after them for a few weeks, hiding food in a tree branch in their cage to teach them how to feed in the wild. Then I released them into the woods at Ynysmaengwyn."

Not all the birds Mary takes under her wing survive. "I lose a lot of birds, but that's not surprising because most are already broken when they come to me. I used to try to release them all back into the wild, but that's not always possible, which is why I'm now a sanctuary for birds that need a safe home."

Mary is careful to prevent birds imprinting on her - even the permanent residents. Despite her best efforts, though, a jackdaw called Merlin bonded so closely that even after his release he would follow her to the shops, accompany her on dog walks along Afon Dysynni - perched on her arm or shoulder - and bring his mate and two broods of young to visit his foster "mum".

"Several years ago, Cambrian Vets phoned to say they had a fledgling jackdaw who'd fallen out of his nest in Machynlleth and would I take him? He was absolutely gorgeous and although I tried to prevent it happening, he really bonded with me. But only me. Normally, imprinted birds will go to anyone, but not Merlin; he adored me. When he was ready to be released, I set him free - but for some time he would come back each night and sleep in the aviary."

Merlin even learned to speak, says Mary. "A friend was here one day and she suddenly said: 'Did that bird say something'? And he had - he'd said 'come on', which is what I say all the time. He said it regularly after that - I've even captured it on film."

After six-and-a-half years, Merlin's visits abruptly ceased. "I had to assume he'd died. I miss him still. I've had my ups and downs and sad times with birds, but Merlin was my greatest effort."

Mary is supported by donations that come in from home and abroad. "I'm quite well known, so I'm very lucky. There are even people in the US who donate to my GoFundMe account. And local businesses are wonderful too. For example, the Happy Garden Chinese takeaway in town brings me leftover prawn crackers - the birds love those!"

Undoubtedly, Mary has done a lot for birds. What have they done for her?

"They fill my heart," she says simply. "Each one leaves its mark, so I have a lot of bird-shaped scars. I keep going because there aren't many people around who do what I do."