It’s not every day a royal visitor comes to stay – but a Spalding pigeon fancier has been playing host to one such guest.
Tony Skillington has been keeping pigeons for decades, and he thinks his pigeon loft at his home is fit for a king –but so it seems does one very special bird.
Last week Tony was surprised to see one of the Queen’s very own pigeons had stopped by – perhaps on its way back to the royal estate in Sandringham, Norfolk.
Perhaps the hapless fellow, who was sporting the Queen’s special ER leg ring, was a little bit lost and misread the sign at the top of the road where Tony lives – Sandringham Walk.
But this is not the first time Tony has found one of the Queen’s birds in his loft – the last time was more than 40 years ago.
Tony’s daughter Trudy Roberts said: “It’s not something that happens every day, but I think it’s probably happened three or four times and there’s a picture of Dad and my sister Sharon with one of the Queen’s birds taken 43 years ago.
“The Queen loves pigeons and is involved in pigeon racing.
“Dad is in touch with her loft manager at Sandringham.”