Like many of us, Amy Nettleship was doing home renovations during lockdown.
Unlike most of us, however, a tiny bird hurtled into her bedroom through the chimney.
The bird had lost its mum and wasn’t strong enough to be on his own in the wild, so animal lover Amy, 35, decided to take him under her wing.
She converted her study into a makeshift room for the curious little creature, who she named Jack, and put him in a specially made birdcage.
For the first few weeks, Amy, a building inspector from Epworth, North Lincolnshire, hand-fed Jack cat food every single hour.
After a month, the bird learned to fly and has now moved out of Amy’s house to live in the wild.
But Jack remembers his roots and occasionally comes to visit.
Amy said: ‘It’s been such a joy getting to know Jack – he’s quite the character.
‘He will literally fly up and sit on my shoulder like a parrot without a care in the world, it’s quite incredible.
‘I was sad to see him go but it looks like he has lots of bird friends now so that’s good.
‘And he still comes back every now and then to say hello.’
Amy moved into her house over Christmas and began doing renovations during lockdown, while she was working from home.
She was clearing out a chimney in her bedroom when the bird’s nest fell into the fireplace.
Sadly, two of the chicks died but Jack was still breathing.
Amy added: ‘It was quite a shock to end up with a bird’s nest in my fireplace.
‘Jack was too young to be by himself or go outside so I decided to look after him.
‘I’m an animal lover so I just wanted to help him.’
Amy thinks he was two or three weeks old at the time, as he didn’t have all his feathers and was clearly unable to fend for himself.
While living in the house, Jack struck up an unlikely relationship with Amy’s cat Jasper and dog Charlie.
The three were even pictured together in a comical photo.
After a few weeks of hand-feeding, Jack began learning to fly, and in no time, was taking off all over Amy’s house.
‘We took him into the garden so he could spread his wings but he would just follow me around,’ Amy continued.
‘I think he had become quite tame and attached to me.
‘As he got bigger, we let him out more and more, and then one day he just didn’t come back.’
Amy thought Jack was gone forever but then while out jogging in June, she saw him perched on her 83-year-old neighbour Norman’s shoulder.
Since then, the jackdaw has become a bit of a local celebrity, with plenty of other local residents getting to know him.
Amy said: ‘Because he is so used to people he will just fly up and perch on people.
‘I love it when he comes back to see me, we have struck up a great relationship.’
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/09/06/mum-takes-in-and-raises-newborn-jackdaw-bird-after-it-falls-down-her-chimney-13230611/
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