Solo flying – in company

ONE of a parrot-keeper’s worst nightmares. 9.05am: I open the kitchen door, forgetting that the baby military macaw Solo (born June 26) is 10m away in the adjoining room on a parrot stand, eating sprouted seeds. Then a gush of air as Solo – who’s never flown more than 5m – whooshes past. Mina, his fellow military, follows him and they vanish.

I run in the direction they’d flown. A hundred metres of unpaved lane and you’re in a wide-open vista lined with trees, with Abberton Reservoir in front of you. No macaw in sight.

Mina, trained to free-fly with Benni the blue-and-gold, had done so for two years. Since Benni’s untimely death in April, Mina still takes daily flights. Her behaviour