Dead birds tested for traces of poison
The Department of Environment and Conservation has not ruled out poison as the cause of death of more than 190 birds on the South Coast.
The Department of Environment and Conservation has not ruled out poison as the cause of death of more than 190 birds on the South Coast.
Two fire-red birds swooped screeching through the forest, flared their yellow and blue wings and alighted on the upright trunk of a dead palm tree. In the green shadows, the scarlet macaws were dazzling; they might as well have been shot from flamethrowers. One slipped into a hole in the tree, then popped its head out and touched beaks with its mate, whose long red tail pressed against the trunk. The birds eyed us suspiciously.
For one family the icy cold snap has brought a special feathered visitor seeking a homely refuge from the big freeze to their back garden. Housewife Mandy Wright (42) and her family have been looking after a ring-necked parakeet since New Year's Day after the beautiful bird first flew into the garden of their home in Wisteria Road, Yaxley, near Peterborough.
The parakeet - which is the only parrot that in the wild in the UK - was first spotted by Mandy's nine-year-old son Lewis, who saw it from his bedroom window.
Since then, Polly - as she has been named by Lewis and Mandy's three-year-old daughter Ruby - has been a regular feature in their garden, appearing everyday for a morning meal of apples and bird feed.