Liam heads to the downstairs bathroom to get a towel and I lower the bird carefully into the box. I’m worried it’s gone into shock; that’s usually how animals die in these situations. It’s huddled, silent, against the side, frozen in fear, and I think it might be too late; but then it turns its beady eye on me and exclaims a furious caw. I exhale with relief. It still has some life in it; it hasn’t quite given up the ghost.

I hurry to the cupboard and start searching for something to feed it with. It needs water of course, so I fill a small saucer and place it inside, and then take the oatmeal that I found in the cupboard, soak it in some milk and settle that alongside the water. That should do for now.

Liam comes back with a towel, which I drape over the top of the box. I’m right about the jacket. My new friend has crapped all over the inside of it, and now it reeks. I’ll have to try to get the worst out by handwashing, but I doubt I’ll be able to wear it again until I can get it dry cleaned. Given the turn in the weather it’s not the best situation to be in, but I’ll survive.

‘What now?’ Liam asks.

‘I need to examine it and then figure out how to splint the wing.’

I feel for the first time in ages a sense of purpose; a rekindling of a light that had been almost extinguished inside me. I have a life to save. ‘Do we have any tape or gauze?’

‘There’s a first aid kit under the bathroom sink,’ he says.

I run upstairs. In the en suite, I root around in the cupboard under the basin and find a small first aid kit. Inside there’s everything I need, and I hurry back down with it.

‘I need you to hold the bird,’ I say.

Liam looks less than happy at the idea, but I scoop the bird out of the box, and he can’t do anything but take it when I proffer it to him.

The bird snaps its vicious-looking beak at me but I fold the towel over its head so it can’t see. It struggles in Liam’s arms still and I shush it, stroking its feathers, trying to impart that I’m not a predator or a threat, and that it doesn’t need to be afraid, but the crow no doubt feels as if it’s in mortal danger and can’t be soothed. Liam grumbles under his breath.