As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Thursday, 22 August 2019

Scots woman visited twice daily by seagull she formed unusual friendship with 10 years ago

Maggie Burns-Bellingham, 71, was moved when she saw the injured bird hopping around her garden on one leg, back in 2012.


Arthur Vundla
Lynn Love
10:35, 21 AUG 2019

A widow told how she formed a friendship with a seagull nearly a decade ago - which visits her twice a day.

Maggie Burns-Bellingham, 71, was moved when she saw the injured bird hopping around her garden on one leg, back in 2012.

She named him Mr Seagull , and began hiding Nurofen inside bits of chicken from M&S to nurse him back to health.

But the brazen seagull hung around after he recovered - and for the past seven years, he has visited twice a day.

Maggie said: "When Mr Seagull first came, he kept trying to walk using one leg.

"I felt sorry for him and I just wanted to help.

"I ended up giving him pieces of chicken and hid painkillers inside them, and I did that for a couple of months.

"He would arrive in the morning and come back at teatime.

"He then went away at the end of June and came back in March - that must be their mating season.

"He came back the following year and both legs were on the ground."

Stunned Maggie, who owned a bridal shop before retiring, told her friends - who refused to believe her.

She added: "No one could believe it was him but it was. 
"It felt so nice to see him at his best.

"I would have not normally fed a seagull but he was special.

"He also needed help."

Since her husband Frank died 12 years ago, from Alzheimer's disease, Maggie has lived alone in a cottage in Perth .

She believes Frank would be proud of her friendship with Mr Seagull.



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