Appeal after 'Budge Lightyear' found at National Space Centre

The bird was found "lost" in the space centre's car park

A charity is appealing to reunite a lone budgie found at the National Space Centre with its owner.

The bird - nicknamed Budge Lightyear after Toy Story's Buzz Lightyear - had a friend in a visitor, who spotted the animal in the centre's car park.

Rather than taking him to infinity and beyond, staff called the RSPCA and he was sent to Woodside Animal Centre.

To accomplish this secret mission, in uncharted space, the RSCPA would like to return him to his owner.

Despite the feathered voyager being ringed and numbered when it was found in Leicester on Thursday, the charity said it was unable to contact his owner, as his details were not registered.

The bird has been affectionately nicknamed after the Toy Story character Buzz Lightyear

Animal officer Ellie Grindod, to the rescue, said: "It is highly likely that he is an escaped pet and we would love to reunite him with his owner, so we urge anyone who recognises him to get in touch with us.

"Thanks to the swift action of everyone involved, Budge Lightyear has now embarked on a new adventure at our Woodside Animal Centre.

"His epic journey serves as a reminder of the importance of compassion in safeguarding our feathered friends, wherever they may roam."

Malika Andress, from the National Space Centre, said: "Our team rallied round to ensure Budge enjoyed their time with us, but, despite being scientists, engineers, educators and specialists in our field, looking after budgies is outside our expertise - we know a lot about other flying things."

Budge Lightyear is now at Wood(y)side Animal Centre in Leicester