Meet Shropshire Star. . . the cockatiel so named because he insists on having his cage lined with his favourite newspaper and loves nothing better than burrowing under its pages and rolling around in ecstasy.

However his passion for the Shropshire Star can be a bit of a problem for the bird’s owner, Christine Dixon, from Coalport – because this feathered friend is pure white and his burrowing habit causes him to change colour to murky grey.

But cockatiel breeder Mrs Dixon is only happy to return the bird to its original shade after he’s been sent wild by his copy of the paper.

Mrs Dixon said: “He loves the Shropshire Star. When we put him in the cage to go breeding he starts tearing the paper up and dives and burrows under the pages.”Mrs Dixon gets her copies of the Shropshire Star from the pub over the road, The Brewery Inn at Coalport, where the landlord is happy to supply the namesake bird with old editions of his favourite newspaper.

Shropshire Star’s owner is a champion breeder who shows her birds all over the country.

Mrs Dixon’s cockatiels are known across Europe and she has bred the birds for people as far afield as Switzerland.

Her home is dedicated to the birds and she and her husband Norman have more than 80 cockatiels. Many of them have names reflecting their chirpy personalities.