PEOPLE are pretty familiar with animal rescue charities — Labrador Rescue, Greyhound Rescue and the like. But one of the less well-known organisations has a representative here in West Devon — and the charity is desperate for new volunteers to help out.

Birdline Parrot-Rescue was founded in 1992, initially to rescue and care for birds in the Warwickshire area.

Expansion soon became an urgent necessity, and volunteers were recruited, specialising in all species of birds, from finches to macaws.

A network of helpers and area co-ordinators work from their own homes, without payment, in order to provide a nationwide structure; thus permitting the organisation to offer a loving secure home to a wide variety of birds.

Lianne Carr, of Tavistock, became involved with Birdline after her beloved dog died.

She said: 'I'd never had birds in my life, I'd always had dogs. I lost my dog when she was 14 — I'd had her from a puppy and I couldn't cope with losing one again.

'We did rabbits, we had a hamster — my mother-in law always had birds so we got a budgie, then one turned into two and then we started talking about getting a parrot.

'I Googled a bit and I found out about Birdline.'

Keen to find out if a parrot would make a suitable pet for the family, Lianne agreed to become a 'safe house' for rescued birds — it seemed an ideal starting point, where she and the family could become parrot owners on a temporary basis.

'It's a good way of getting into it. You pay your membership and when you are a safe house, you get the bird for free, you only have to supply food and nine times out of ten they come with a cage as well.

'Vet bills are also paid for safe housing too, said Lianne, who freely admits, life has never been the same since she became hooked on parrots.

Lianne said: 'My first bird was a Lesser Sulphur Crested Cockatoo. She was absolutely lovely and she loved me — but she really hated the kids, if she was out of her cage she would make a beeline for them, so she didn't last very long.'

Not put off by the first experience, Lianne went back to Birdline.

'Then we got Mojo, who we are now going to keep — although had I known what a nightmare he was when I fell in love with him, I might not have!

'He is just like a naughty teenager — he screams and shouts for attention and he can be really naughty.

'I'll go downstairs ready to tell him off and he says, "Hello baby" to me and my anger just goes!

While Lianne is at work, Mojo, a Tucuman Amazon, Jasmine, an African Grey and Bertie, a Senegal parrot, live in cages. But as soon as she gets home, the cage doors are opened and the birds are free to fly around — apart from Mojo, who hasn't quite got the hang of flying.

'Jasmine will go to anybody and she's ever so gentle as well, but she'll make a beeline for me, she'll fly straight to my shoulder and put her head down into me,' said Lianne.

'She's also a talker, Mojo will be screaming and Jasmine will say "Shut up!", it's hilarious!

'She'll also do the telephone ringing — luckily it's not the same ring as mine.?She does laughing — she's learning new things all the time. I think she often does it to get people to come into the room.

'You do have to get into a routine of speaking to them. With Mojo you always have to say good night, and Mojo goes "Night night", while Jasmine says "Goodnight Jasmine".'

Lianne said parrots were very intelligent birds who loved company.

'Mojo gets really excited when somebody comes to the house, you have to take him and put him on someone's shoulder.

'He will be a show bird because he loves everybody and he's a real show-off as well.

'Jasmine is really very clever, she's coming on in leaps and bounds and she learns something new every day. She loves yoghurt and ice cream — if she sees me coming into the room with a yoghurt, she will say "What's that, mmmmm, yum yum!"

'She knows when the fridge door opens, and you'll hear "Mmmm what's that?" — she's always nicking food off Freya, my daughter.'

Lianne's parrots are fed according to the Birdline guidelines with birdseed — but they have very definite likes and dislikes.

'They'll eat anything we eat — they love chicken bones, which feels a bit weird, but they love to get the marrow out of them,' said Lianne.

'Mojo always has toast in the morning and he will go mental until he gets it. He's actually quite fussy — I think where he lived before they didn't give him things to try — and he doesn't like cold food.

'Bertie loves noodles and pasta — and they all love prawn crackers!'

Lianne said while not all parrots talk, they are excellent mimics — Bertie, for example, frequently fools her by making the sound of a play station bleeping.

'They pick up the tone of people's voices exactly — you'll hear one of them shouting your name and you think it's your other half calling you.'

Lianne now acts as an area co-ordinator for Birdline.

She, like the other volunteers for the charity, takes their birds to shows and events in an effort to raise money and awareness of the organisation.

The birds like the attention and excitement of going somewhere new — although care does sometimes have to be taken with which birds can be taken to meet the public.

'We have got a few we just can't take to shows, because they have real potty mouths,' said Lianne — a reminder that parrots will repeat what they hear their owners saying!

Not all the birds that the volunteers take to shows are perfect parrot specimens. They also take ones that are going bald — to illustrate how much care has to be taken with the birds. Parrots will pluck out their feathers if bored, stressed or ill.

There is a great and ongoing need for homes for parrots. They are long-lived birds and many even outlive their owners. And being intelligent and full of character, sometimes a bird just doesn't suit the individual that owns it.

They also require love, attention, stimulation and commitment. But as Lianne has discovered in the short year she has been involved with parrots, that love and attention is a two-way thing.

'They are incredibly rewarding — they are so much fun,' she said.

Birdline has helped more than 1,500 birds to find new homes,

In the last year Birdline has had over 1,000,000 visits to their main website, taken more than 30,000 telephone calls for help and advice, and aided countless birds and pets that owners cannot look after, either on a short or long-term basis.

They have assisted with behavioural problems, damaged and crippled birds, mutilated and neglected birds and have formed a strong liaison with many bird charities, police forces, zoos and other rescue organisations, not only in the UK but in many other countries around the world.

There is always a need for more volunteers, as more and more people take on a parrot without fully understanding the level of committment that is required, and later find that they cannot cope.

For more information about Birdline and how you can help, go to the website http://www.parrot-rescue.org.uk">www.parrot-rescue.org.uk