We once found an oiled cormorant on the beach. We were standing there wondering what to do when a woman handed me a large beach towel, asked me to carry the bird to the top of the beach (about a mile away!) and disappeared - she wanted the bird helped but was too scared to handle it herself!

Anyway, I managed to wrap the bird (after several attempts) with just its head sticking out and gripped the rest of its wrapped body very tightly.

But what a head. It writhed and wriggled and gradually freed more and more neck until it was able to attempt some vicious whiplashing in the direction of my face. And I dunno whether you've noticed, but cormorants have a very nasty downturned hook on the end of their beak... That was a tough half-hour!

I got it to the top and the lifesaving club found me a strong cardboard box. We got the beast to the vet in town and, as far as I know, it got cleaned up and lived happily ever after...