Exotic birds add colour to town's daily life
Tuesday, April 9, 2002 at 14:34 
Hybrid macaws on the roofs of Kirby Stephen. The average tourist will often rub their eyes in disbelief when they spot them. But to the residents of Kirkby Stephen, in Cumbria, the dozens of exotic birds who swoop over their heads on a daily basis is a familiar sight.
The 50 or so magnificent parrots and parakeets belong to bird fancier and staunch conservationist John Strutt, who set up the wildlife charity the John Strutt Conservation Foundation eight years ago.
The birds, which he has collected from British breeders since the 1970s, are based at his aviary outside Kirkby Stephen.
Each morning after breakfast, the birds set off for their trip around the town, pausing to take in the visitors from their vantage points on top of a roof or two, before heading back to their aviary for dinner.
Mr Strutt, 67, loves nothing more than to see the birds flying free.
"I get vicarious pleasure because they're happy and that makes me happy," he said. "I don't like to keep them in cages. They come in to be fed whenever they want, a bit like a restaurant, so they're totally free all the time.
"I've always been interested in wildlife ever since I was a small boy, I think it must be in the genes."
Over the years, people have called Mr Strutt to say they've spotted his birds as far as 12 miles away.
"They land on the buildings and sometimes they nest in chimneys but they always come home," he said.
A spokesman for the Tourist Information Centre in Kirkby Stephen said visitors were often taken aback by the sight of the colourful creatures.
"They are quite lovely, and they always fly over in pairs. They squabble the whole time they're flying so they sound as if they are talking," he said.
"During the summer we often get people coming in asking where the police or the RSPCA are because they want to report an escaped parrot and we obviously tell them that they're just free flying.
"They're a definite sight."