St Albans baby bird hand-reared after kitten catches it Published duration 4 July 2015

image copyright Rob Frazer image caption The house martin chick is being hand-reared by the family

A reluctant cat owner is teaching his children to hand-rear a baby bird after it was brought home by their new kitten.

Rob Frazer, from St Albans, Hertfordshire, agreed they could have a kitten, however, when it came back with a live baby bird, he had a dilemma.

"The cat I didn't particularly want brought a baby bird home with it, so now we are looking after that too."

Mr Frazer is hoping he will be able to release the bird when it is stronger.

Kitten Theodore joined the family eight weeks ago. This was the first time he had brought home any "prey", Mr Frazer said.

image copyright Rob Frazer image caption Mr Frazer said the family kitten had "a few strange habits"

"He just turned up at the door with this chick in his mouth and all the kids started shouting, but we managed to get it out of its mouth fast and looked up what kind of bird it was - a house martin."

'Flappy'

At first they considered putting it back in the garden, but were afraid the cat would find it.

image copyright Rob Frazer image caption "The cat still wants to kill the bird," Mr Frazer said

"I decided to nurse it back to health as the kids would have asked incessant questions about what would happen to the bird all alone in the garden without its mummy and daddy, so it was actually the only option.

"And they are really enjoying seeing it get bigger and starting to flap its wings," Mr Frazer said.

image copyright Rob Frazer image caption The bird is being fed worms

The bird, now named Flappy, is being fed worms and is given water through a small syringe from a children's medicine bottle.

"It should be able to survive from what I have researched," he said.

image copyright Thinkstock

The expert's view