AN Amazon Green Par-rot with a taste for crab apples has taken up residence in a Barnards Green garden.

Tracey Layland, of Avon Close, first spotted the parrot sitting in a tree in her garden two weeks ago.

"I wondered where on earth it could be from. It's a beautiful looking bird," said Mrs Layland, who contacted local vets, the police and the RSPCA in an effort to find its owner.

So far, Mrs Layland has not found out where her exotic new garden resident has come from.

"They are expensive pets. I can only assume it's escaped from somewhere," she said.

The bird has refused to be enticed down from its perch in the tree despite being offered a dish of colourful fruit.

"It seems to prefer the crab apples. It seems quite tame but not tame enough to catch," she said.

Mrs Layland contacted the Safehaven Parrot Refuge for advice and Paula Bailey, who looks after six birds in Malvern for the national charity, lent her a cage to see if the parrot could be caught.

Mrs Bailey said many exotic bird like parrots, macaws and cockatoos proved too much for owners, who took them on without much thought.

"These birds live a long time, 100 years even and can outlive their owners. They are also incredibly noisy, messy and destructive. People see them and think they look beautiful but they don't realise what they are taking on," said Mrs Bailey.

Mrs Layland hopes to get the parrot used to her presence so that she can get near enough to catch it.

Safehaven would then care for the bird until its owners could be found or it could be re-homed.

Anybody that knows the parrot's owner can contact Mrs Layland through the Gazette on 01684 892200.