STEPHANIE Cotham has become a ‘mum’ again at the age of 72...to a baby blackbird.

When nature-loving Stephanie found the abandoned blackbird fledgling shaking and looking sorry for itself at the bottom of her garden in Moss Bank, she decided to take it under her wing and raise it back to good health.

Thinking that the feathered bundle may have fallen out of its nest, she asked her son, Carl (27), and soon-to-be daughter-in-law, Kimberly O’Connor (24), to search the garden for a nest, but none was found.

Kimberly told the Star: “Stephanie’s very nature orientated and knew exactly what to do.

She put it in a box with shredded paper and a tea towel over the top, and when it wouldn’t take any worms, she used tweezers to feed it cat food.

“She had to feed him every 10 minutes at first and has been up at 6am every morning to take care of him – it’s like she’s got a baby!”

“She’s such a lovely lady; she’s got a heart of gold and she doesn’t like to see any animal harmed – she even picks worms off the road, so that they won’t get run over, and buys carrots to feed the local wild rabbits.”

Incredibly, Stephanie has done such a good job at mothering the blackbird that it will now sit on her finger and hop around after her in the house that she shares with her husband Frank (68)… and their cat!

Fortunately for the baby bird, called just Dickie Bird by Stephanie, the cat is very docile and doesn’t seem at all bothered by the new arrival.

Kimberly added: “Stephanie does intend to put the bird back in the wild, so she lets it fly around the house and takes it outside to listen to other birds.

“It seems to be getting more confident, but what it does when it’s out in the wild we don’t know – it might want to come back!”