BIRDS OF PRAY!
Church closes after blue tits set up home – in the lectern
MOST vicars would rejoice if their flock expanded. But at St Thomas a Becket church it meant closing to the public and silencing the bells.
For the flock in question were a pair of blue tits and eight newly hatched chicks found nesting in the lectern.
Daily life at the village church in Sourton, on the edge of Dartmoor, Devon, was put on hold after maintenance man Tony Batten noticed the birds flying around the ornate stand.
Shining his torch through the carved holes, he discovered the chicks inside.
To avoid disturbing them, the church was immediately closed to the public and bell-ringing stopped. Some services went ahead but the organ was put out of use because it was too close to the lectern.
Photographer Colin Sargent, who took these pictures, said: ‘The chicks were very small so it was all about keeping people out so they didn’t disturb them.’
Members of the congregation blessed the blue tits after each service and waited anxiously for news. And two weeks later the fully fledged chicks and their parents departed.
‘With a little human intervention and doors and windows left open, they safely left,’ Mr Sargent said.