A friendly blackbird has been ‘raisin’ a few eyebrows among visitors to a garden attraction.
‘Sooty’ is partial to the dried fruit snack and swoops into St Andrews Botanic Garden for his daily fill.
He was been taken under the wing of gatehouse attendant Charmaine Wilson who has built up such a rapport with her feathered friend that he eats from her hand.
Everyday when Charmaine opens the shutter he swoops down to the open window.
He waits patiently while she prepares his breakfast and then delicately takes the raisins from her hands.
Education officer Nikki Macdonald said: “If allowed, he would overindulge but Charmaine keeps him on a calorie-controlled diet.
“He is looking in splendid condition at the moment with glossy, dark feathers and a bright orange bill.”
There was panic when Sooty disappeared for several weeks during the autumn.
Staff and visitors accustomed to his daily routine feared he had become lunch for another regular visitor, a cat nicknamed ‘Houdini’.
Nikki said: “Sooty, however, reappeared with no explanation for his long absence, expecting his catering arrangements to continue as before!”
Visitors might catch a glimpse of the blackbird when the Friends of the Botanic Garden hold their Christmas plant sale on Saturday December 13, between 10am and 12pm.