Firefighters came to the rescue after a boisterous young kestrel plummeted 50 feet from its nest.

Bird of prey expert Kevin Ryan was called in by police after the chick had been found by a passer-by at the foot of a Bradford mill Donning a safety helmet, and with bird in hand, he climbed on to an aerial ladder and took the fledgling he named Lucky back to its nest.

Mr Ryan, of Shelf, said: "It was possible he was being a little boisterous and playing with his sibling when he fell out of the nest.

"If I was going to keep him I'd call him Lucky because he was quite lucky to survive.

"He fell 50 or 60ft and landed just a few feet away from glass and security wire."

Bradford firefighters had been having their lunch when they got the call to the mill in Factory Street, Dudley Hill.

Crew manager Alan Wood, said: "We parked the engine away from the building so as not to further distress the other birds.

"Kevin said the only way to get the chick back was to get a ladder up there.

"We could see the bird droppings on the side of the building and the parents were flying around distraught so it was quite obvious where the nest was.

"We put a safety helmet on Kevin and raised him level with the nest.

"He then gently offered the bird back into the opening with its other sibling and it fluttered back into the nest."

Mr Wood said firefighters often dealt with dogs which had fallen into streams or horses which had become tangled in barbed wire or fallen down an embankment, but rescuing birds was a rare event.

Mr Ryan said the bird would be readily accepted back by its parents.

He said: "If you handle rats or mice the mother will kill them because they have a strong sense of smell, but kestrels have a very poor sense of smell and will be fine.

"The mother will just think oh junior's back' and carry on feeding him. We just hope that the little chap will not fall out again."

e-mail: saima.mir@bradford.newsquest.co.uk