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A seagull has been visiting an 80-year-old man every day for 12 years after the pensioner saved his life when he had a broken leg.
John Summer says he and his feathered friend, Chirpy, have a special bond.
They spend time together every day, according to Metro.
They became friends after Summer found Chirpy with a broken leg and nursed him back to health in 2007 at Instow Beach near Yelland in southwest England.
"I saw him screaming and shouting above my head in agony and I didn’t know what to do.
"The next day he came around me again and tried to land but was screaming in pain. I didn’t think he’d live; his leg was completely broken."
To help the bird, Summer fed him dog biscuits that he brought along for his pooch, Jack, a process that he repeated each time he returned to the beach.
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Soon Chirpy’s leg healed, although a bit crookedly, and he was back to his old self.
Now the seagull, who’s believed to be about 20 years old, won’t go near anyone else but will fly straight over to Summer as soon as he arrives at the beach, the Mirror reports.
"He comes right up to me, he gets so close, so he has got some sort of relationship with me," Summer says.
In March, Chirpy will go off to nest and then be back in September.
"He encourages the rest to come over but he’s the only one that comes close to me and he’ll just stay there and hover.
"People are aghast when I tell them. They can’t believe a seagull would come back like that.
"It makes you wonder what kind of world we actually are in – do they know more than we think they know?"
Sources: The Mirror, The Metro, iNews
