Eggpie the crow, once mistakenly thought to be a magpie, is this week learning the ways of the wild after a tearful farewell from his adopted Swindon family.

As a featherless fledgling last April, Eggpie was saved from two cats by Tony Grehan, of William Street, Swindon.

Mr Grehan was woken up by the noise of the cats, which were surrounded by squawking magpies as they played with the fledgling.

He saved the bird and took it to his daughter's house in Park Lane where it quickly became a member of the family.

His daughter, Mo Smith, 41, said: "We kept him in our back garden and fed him cat food and he was just a lovely little fellow. He'd let us stroke him and we used to spoil him rotten.

"Dad would come round and visit and give him chicken and cheese and he just had a great time."

Because he had been surrounded by magpies, the Smiths thought that he too must be a magpie and he was christened Eggpie after the mispronunciation of their six-year-old son Liam.

But as Eggpie's feathers grew it became clear that he was, in fact, a crow and it also became clear that he had no intention of leaving.

Mother-of-three Mrs Smith, who works as a nurse, said: "He became very attached to us and, although he learned to fly, he never left us."

Last week the family took the painful decision to take Eggpie down to the Swindon and district animal sanctuary in Wootton Bassett with the hope of reintroducing him to the wild.

"It was so tough but we thought it would be the best thing for him," said Mrs Smith.

"I cried when we left because it was as if I had given one of my children away.

"He was like another member of the family."

Sanctuary owner John Warwick said: "He's a lovely bird and we've now got to try and get him out into the wild again.

"We managed to do it with an owl over the Christmas period so I'm confident we can do it with Eggpie."

Mr Warwick is also looking after a litter of puppies born on December 29 after their mother Holly was found abandoned on Christmas Eve.

"They're beautiful little puppies but they're lucky to be alive. We built four extra kennels over Christmas because we always expect more animals to come in after Christmas," he said.