Do you recognise this budgie?

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A lost budgie who was found flying around the Library courtyard last month has yet to be reunited with its owner.

The male bird, with green and yellow colouring, is still recuperating after its ordeal on 30 October, when Library staff noticed its feeble flapping outside their windows.

Louise Mayers, from Reader Services, went to its rescue. "He wasn't frightened and has clearly been a much-loved pet," she said. "I approached him with caution and, as soon as I was close enough, I threw an apron over him."

Louise, who has previously been called upon to catch all manner of birds, bats and squirrels that have wandered into Library territory, put the bird in a box until a cage could be brought in.

The animal was taken home by Library assistant Heather Tugwell, who keeps finches at her Saltdean home and had a spare cage. "We checked him over and he had no visible signs of injury," she said. "He was rather quiet for a few days, but then started to cheep and be more cheerful."

The budgie does not have a name tag or say anything, so Heather has no idea about his identity. "We did contact a woman who had put an advert in the Argus about her lost budgie. But when she came to see ours, she said it wasn't her Joey."

Quite how the budgie came to be in the Library courtyard is a mystery. Students aren't allowed to keep pets in University accommodation, so the bird must have either flown a long way or was blown along by high winds. Budgerigars that have been kept as domestic pets in this country cannot survive in the wild.

If no one comes forward to claim the bird, Heather intends to keep it. "My husband Paul and I have decided to change our careers and become Saltdean Bird Sanctuary," she laughed.

"We only bought the finches because they didn't look all that happy in a pet shop. And a couple of months ago we adopted a lost chicken that we found near our home - after first checking with the police that one hadn't been reported lost."

The budgie is still without a name, although Library staff are toying with the idea of calling it after a mountain because of Louise Mayers' interest in mountaineering. "We haven't yet thought of a name you could call out easily," added Louise.

Staff in the Press and Communications office would like to make the following suggestions:

• Gregory (after Gregory Peck)
• Charlie (after Charlie 'Bird' Parker)
• Alcatraz (as in The Birdman of Alcatraz)
• Fergie (the author of Budgie the Helicopter).