A ROYAL has set up home in an elderly couple's garden in Dines Green, Worcester.

Peter and Maisie Cunningham reckon their visitor, who enjoys a free meal a day, is feathering her own nest. There has also been talk that she has been mixing with a wild bunch.

Mrs Cunningham, aged 74, describes her as "very pretty and quite distinctive looking", but she wants her to go back to her proper home.

But they'll have to catch her first... because the couple's visitor is a bird.

It is believed to be one of the Queen's racing pigeons, bred on the Royal Estate at Sandringham and transferred to a loft in Malvern to train for a 238-mile race from France on Sunday, September 11.

As reported in the Worcester News on Monday, the bird went missing more than a month ago.

Reports suggested it might be mixing with feral birds in East Sussex, or that it had been eaten by a sparrowhawk.

But Mr and Mrs Cunningham, of Essex Close, believe the pigeon has taken a fancy to them and is reluctant to fly home.

"It landed in our garden more than three weeks ago and she was thoroughly exhausted," said Mrs Cunningham.

"I gave her some food and water, then the next day she came back.

"She sleeps in the garden overnight then flies off before coming back again every day.

"She's very pretty and quite distinctive looking; she looks like she's be a Royal bird.

"I'm very worried about her and want to make sure she goes back to her rightful home."

Mrs Cunningham said the bird has a red ring around one leg and a green around the other, which, according to the Royal Pigeon Racing Association (RPRA), could suggest she is the missing Royal.

Peter Bryant, spokesman for the RPRA, said: "It would have a green ring on one leg that contains a computer chip and a red identification on the other so it could well be the missing one."

"It's more likely to be in the Worcester area than anywhere else in the country.

"We need to check the number on the ring and go from there.

"There are a variety of reasons why the bird might not have returned. It might have become disorientated; pigeon racing is all about the ability to home and that's down to breeding.

"We have certainly not given up hope of ever seeing it again. Some pigeons have arrived back a year or so after being released, so it's fingers crossed."

The Queen's estate has already paid the £100 entry fee for the St Malo to Malvern race, which has a £12,000 first prize.