Why Freaky Beaky is feeling peaky

Last updated at 09:09 29 March 2007


Ordinarily, blue tits have a tiny beak and feed happily on nuts and seeds.

But this appears to be no ordinary blue tit.

Wildlife photographer Richard Lawrence took the shot of the bizarre-looking bird, nicknamed Freaky Beaky, from inside his mother's house.

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It has an inch-long beak - almost five times the normal size - and is forced to live on fried bread, says Mr Lawrence. The blue tit is a regular visitor to the garden of his mother's home in Brambridge, near Winchester.

Mr Lawrence, 51, from Looe in Cornwall, said: 'My mother had been going on at me about coming over to get a shot of Freaky Beaky. But I couldn't believe it when I actually saw him.

'He wasn't able to eat anything like peanuts

because of his long beak. But my mother found he loved bread fried in dripping. She just put it inside the bird feeder. He keeps coming back every day because he can't get food anywhere else.'

Andre Farrar, of the RSPB, said: 'Normally blue tits' beaks are tiny. Such a long beak will make it very difficult to pick up nuts and seeds. But this is clearly an adult bird which has survived the winter so he may do just fine.'

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