A mum has told how her daily school run was interrupted by a bizarre discovery.
Jessica Strode was walking her son to school when she saw a parakeet stuck in a drain.
She tried to help the bird and get it to safety, but was shocked at what she found next.
READ MORE: Lost seal found in park 13 MILES from the sea
- Advertisement -
The welfare-rights worker from Hither Green in South London, found two more of the exotic birds with a ‘soggy’ appearance.
Worried about their fate, she even enlisted the help of a local wildlife team.
“As I walked my son to school for one of his final days in Parakeet class, we noticed something under the drain cover outside a neighbour’s front door,” Jessica told What’s The Jam.
“We peered in and there was an eye staring back at us.
“We both jumped!
- Advertisement -
“It was a parakeet hanging onto the bottom of the drain cover by its beak.
“We thought initially it was dead, but then I saw its chest move. It was breathing!”
In a bid to rescue the bird, the mum lifted the drain cover, but was shocked at what was lurking beneath.
- Advertisement -
She said: “I lifted the drain cover and the bird came out attached by its beak.
“It looked very scared and sorry for itself, wet and filthy and it couldn’t fly.
“It limped off to hide under a table.
“It was then I noticed there was another parakeet – its tail feathers were poking out of the drainpipe.
“I didn’t want to leave them as they were very vulnerable.
“I messaged my neighbours to ask them to keep their cats inside until I had moved them as I thought the parakeets would be an easy snack for a cat or a fox in that state!”
But Jessica’s rescue efforts proved fruitless at first.
She said: “I put gloves on and tried to reach the second bird, but it went further up the pipe.
“So I tried to catch the first, sorry-looking one to put in a box to take to a rescue centre, but it hobbled away and climbed into a bush using its beak and feet.
“It was quite well-hidden and I didn’t want to frighten it so I went back to the drain, to find the second bird had made it out and a third parakeet was in there!
“Each one that came out was a bit drier than the last and a bit happier.
“Jessica enlisted the help of Greenwich Wildlife Network, who she says, “were brilliant and addressed the situation”.
But by the time they made it to the scene, the birds had moved to nearby trees.
She said: “We couldn’t reach the birds where they were, but we worked out that the drain was from the guttering on the roof so they were only wet with rain water and will hopefully dry on their own.
“The day before I had seen parakeets eating something in the guttering, so I think they must have climbed down the pipe, not realising they wouldn’t be able to get out at the bottom.”
She quipped: “I think they like tunnels.
“It’s very lucky it didn’t rain as I think they would have drowned, hopefully they won’t do that again!”
The adventure was particularly poignant for Jessica.
She added: “I used to read a children’s book called But Where is the Green Parrot? by Thomas & Wanda Zacharias.
“This was the closest I have come to living that book. Searching the garden with Greenwich Wildlife Network.”
READ MORE: Shocked Londoner spots SHARK swimming in River Thames
