I had a strange wildlife encounter yesterday. We were out walking by the Crag Inn in Wildboarclough and the dog frightened a bird from the road verge. It hopped along the ground and didn't look right to be where it was so we called the dog away. It turned out it was a kestrel. I'm not sure if it could fly or not, but it wasn't doing. I tried to pick it up but it kept making little hops away when I got close. So I threw my waterproof over it and lifted it up so I could take it away from the road. We let it go in some nearby woods but it didn't fly away. I hope it was a temporary lack of flying ability; otherwise we knew it wouldn't last long.
It was a shame to see such an iconic bird not flying. We had to re-explain the survival of the fittest concept to rationalise that it might be dead in a day. This was partly for the benefit of the kids and partly for ourselves.