Toby the parrot is actually a pretty polly

That was until late last week when it all came out.

In the shape of an egg. Yes; Toby is now an ex-male parrot.

"I suppose we just assumed he was a bloke all these years since we got him," said his still shocked owner Kim Adam, of Feufield Farm, this week.

"He's an African Grey and, unlike other breeds, there's not much obvious difference between the males and females."

Kim only noticed something strange about Toby's behaviour during the recent cold spell when he — or, rather she — was temporarily rehoused in the warmth of the farmhouse from his usual perch in an outbuilding.

She said: "I thought Toby was just revelling in the heat and was cock-a-hoop about being inside with human company."

But Toby's recent behaviour was explained when suddenly an egg was produced, not a fertilised one of course, but an egg.

Kim said: "She's had two more since, after 17 years of nothing to

indicate he was a she."

For more information on this story, pick up a copy of this week's Lanark Gazette which is in the shops now.