Flossie and I in a flap after bird flies in

Suzy Pope and Flossie Flossie and I have had another wildlife encounter. This time, it was a bird, and it was in the house.

We were sitting together on the sofa, as we do now, side by side, watching the evening news, when we heard a banging noise coming from the kitchen.

We looked at each other and I rushed to investigate, with Flossie hot on my heels.

A dear little bird had flown in through the window and was crashing about trying to get back outside.

As we know from the toad story last month, I am not brave in these situations and I did become slightly shrieky.

I hastily flung open all the windows, hoping that the little thing would find its way out again.

Unfortunately, the bird ricocheted back and forth into the glass in a complete panic, somehow missing the openings in its bid for freedom.

By this stage Flossie was getting rather over-excited and, as she jumped up and down (perhaps trying to be helpful?), the bird bounced off a window pane and straight into her mouth.

I was horrified. I shouted at Flossie to drop it. She didn’t.

She trotted into the living room and settled down on her mat, presumably to tuck into her unexpected evening snack.

I started running towards the back door, calling Flossie with a rather desperate edge to my voice.

Flossie thankfully followed perhaps some of my training has worked after all - bringing her new feathered friend with her.

However, her mouth was still firmly wrapped around the poor bird. I rushed inside to fetch a tasty and tempting chew.

Only then did she decide she would give up her treasure.

Sadly, the bird was no longer of this world.

All that remained for me to do was to scoop it up into a poo bag and place it in the dustbin, feeling rather sorry about the whole incident.

I tried to do it as respectfully as I could. RIP little bird.

Suzy Pope is a writer and shares her life with rescue dog Flossie. Read more at www.flossiedog.com.