A widow has formed a remarkable friendship with a seagull she once found injured in her garden.
The friendly bird has been visiting Maggie Burns-Bellingham twice a day for the past seven years after she nursed it back to health.
Maggie, 71, first spotted the seagull hopping on one leg outside her home.
She decided to feed the creature some chicken from Marks & Spencer and nicknamed him Mr Seagull.
Maggie said: ‘When Mr Seagull first came, he kept trying to walk using one leg.
‘I felt sorry for him and I just wanted to help.
‘I ended up giving him pieces of chicken and hid painkillers inside them, and I did that for a couple of months.
‘He would arrive in the morning and come back at teatime.
‘He then went away at the end of June and came back in March – that must be their mating season.
‘He came back the following year and both legs were on the ground.
‘I would have not normally fed a seagull but he was special.’
Maggie, who owned a bridal shop before retiring, is visited at her home in Perth, Scotland.
She said her late husband Frank, who used bird feeders, would be proud of the unlikely friendship.
Mr Seagull gets Maggie’s attention by sweeping across her window and tapping her conservatory roof.
She said: ‘I feed him M&S chicken, he must love it – he swallows it in one go.
‘It makes me happy to see him all the time.
‘I never intended to have a friend like him but he must have trusted me.
‘I have no idea how old he is but I believe the birds can live for 40 years.’
Her neighbours are understanding of their friendship, despite the species’ bad reputation.
She added: ‘If I was attracting hundreds of seagulls they wouldn’t like it but he is lovely.
‘He should be away in his travels by now but he has not gone away.’
