Retired builder has very special friend - a young house martin

Mr Dickinson, from Edlington, near Horncastle, became guardian to the house martin after a nest fell from the eaves of his bungalow in the summer.

Two other birds died but Mr Dickinson has hand-reared the survivor.

The task has certainly kept him busy.

After all, what do you feed a hungry young house martin?

Well, Mr Dickinson has trapped more than 1,300 blue and green bottle flies to feed to his very small and gentle friend.

Thanks to Mr Dickinson’s dedication, the house martin is much stronger.

It now eats a box of meal worms every week...as well as keeping the local fly population in check!

It lives happily in the bungalow and flies around the lounge.

It spends the night in a safe and secure cage.

However, when Mr Dickinson is reading or watching TV, it sits on his shoulder...or inside his shirt!

Rumour has it their favourite programmes are the hit comedies Birds of a Feather and The Liver Birds..or even Beaky Blinders!

There’s no indication how long the friendship will last.

Perhaps the little house guest will want to join other migrigrating house martins, swallows and swifts next year on the long flight to sub-Saharan Africa.

There again, it might just prefer the now familiar surrounds of Edlington.