A MARMALADE-loving parrot, who was stolen from his cage, has been safely returned home thanks to an observant neighbour.

The 25-year-old Green Amazon bird named Henry, valued at between £800 and £1,000, was returned less than 24 hours after his owner Sharon Levi realised that he had been taken from his cage inside her Wychbold home while she was in the garden on Wednesday, October 15.

After a neighbour noted the registration number of a vehicle seen near their two homes, officers recovered Henry from a house in Kidderminster and arrested the car’s registered owner.

The man has been bailed to return to Worcester Police Station while officers continue their enquiries.

Mrs Levi said: “I was just devastated when I realised that someone had taken Henry. I was so upset that I didn’t look elsewhere in the house to see if anything else was taken. I later realised that it hadn’t.

“Now that Henry is back safe and well, and doesn’t appear to be upset by what has happened, I want to thank my neighbour and the police, who acted quickly. If he had not been found in the first few hours, I am convinced that we would never have seen him again.

“My biggest fear was that he would sink his beak into someone who did not know how aggressive he can be. He does not let go without a big struggle and whoever he pecked would almost certainly have had to hit him with something very heavy to get him off. I really didn’t think that I would see him again,” she added.

Mrs Levi, who is married to husband Paul and has two children, Harriet, aged 15, and 18-year-old Matthew, bought Henry for £200 after passing her driving test 25 years ago.

Mrs Levi said Henry’s favourite foods include marmalade on toast, chips and crisps as well as fruit and vegetables.

“If we give him toast without marmalade he just throws it away. On the other hand, when he sees that we are preparing something that he really likes he makes very encouraging noises like: ‘well done’ and ‘come on’.”

She said that while Henry can be aggressive and does not like anyone’s hands in his cage, his attitude changes substantially when he sees young animals, such as orphaned lambs.