It wasn't a great tit, that's for sure.

Dear Mr Oddie

Having been married to an enthusiastic ornithologist for five years, despite the fact that he is Belgian, I would very much like you to clarify something for me.

Last weekend was spent with some friends of mine and although I am no longer married to the keen twitcher that my husband was, his love of bird-watching has somewhat stayed with me, as have the binoculars that he gave me and for which I had to fight a long battle for during our divorce settlement.

Getting back to the point, Mr Oddie, is thus: during a long, relaxed brunch on Sunday where we devoured bacon rolls, strawberries and champagne we were suddenly aware of a rather large bird approaching us and despite our attempts to shoo it away, it became evident that it couldn't fly as it's wings were far too small for it's size and weight. It had extremely beady eyes and in our effort to scare it away we completely missed the object of this bird's desire. It was nothing other than a piece of bacon from one of the rolls.

The bird rapidly snatched the bacon and made off with it as it hung out of it's very pointed and rounded beak, something similar to a dodo, to be precise. When I returned home I checked up in my bird book (I only ever use books by Heinzel, Fitter and Parslow - the drawings are very accurate) to see what this bird could have been but it doesn't seem to exist.

Do you think that two different species of bird could have mated producing a bird that looks like a dodo ?

I would appreciate a reply,

With many thanks,

Zoe