A parrot's squawking impersonation of a smoke alarm led to firefighters being called out to a home. A crew arrived at the property in Windsor Close, Daventry, at 15:45 GMT after the alarm was ...

Suddenly over the sizzle of the sausages I heard an extraordinary noise and a flock of about sixty bright-green birds flew squawking overhead. Ring necked parakeets, our only naturalised parrot.

"I thought, no, they don't belong here. I was a bit surprised to hear squawking and I thought, hang on, that sounds like a parrot," she said. Ms Gazeley said: "It was surreal - a bit like being in ...