Meet the couple who keep giant parrots as pets - which they have to take for daily walks. Nimal Fernando and Claire Atallah, both 34, regularly exercise macaws Mikey and Mia around their village.
The couple, who moved from Wimbledon, south London to Harlington a year and a half ago, took the large birds - which are controversial pets - into their home in 2016. They say they had no idea how much work the Mikey, eight, and Mia, five, would take.
The parrots create huge amounts of mess and have cost Nimal and Claire deposits due to the damage caused. But they have no regrets - as they love seeing the birds soar.
They are trained to stay on Nimal or Claire's arm when being walked along busy roads, but have full licence to roam whenever they are taken to a park. Nimal, originally from New Zealand, said: "Our lives would be very different without them, I can't imagine it.
“Claire was infatuated with birds. She's always wanted a parrot and one random day in 2016 we decided to home one. But we have met lots of other people who keep tropical birds, and we have massive parties at our house."
The couple, who lives in Bedfordshire, picked up Mikey after spotting an advert on Facebook. They then found Mia 18 months later.
Nimal says the initial months were difficult - but worth it. He said: “There’s a huge problem of them being given up as people just don’t understand how to look after them.
“They are extremely hard to care for. We didn’t realise the noise these birds make, they are extremely loud at all times of the day.
“We started documenting our journey with them and people started telling us that we were feeding them all wrong. So we started learning all about their nutrition, and basically became experts.”
One of the biggest headaches of looking after the tropical birds is training them to fly, which Nimal says takes 10 months. And nothing can prepare you for the mess, he added.
Nimal said: “The mess gets to another level - and they break a lot of things. We’ve had three flatscreen TVs broken, the majority of our clothes have holes in, and we have lost deposits on most places we’ve rented.
“Going on holiday is extremely difficult. We can only go away if we get someone who is well trained to look after the birds, which is crazy expensive. However, since taking the birds under their wing, the couple have been supported by others who share their passion for feathered friends.
And they started their own bird food company last year called Mikey and Mia Dry Mix, named after their beloved birds. The company has since taken off, with customers from all over the world paying for their bird food mix.
The couple both work remotely, allowing them more time to head out to the great outdoors, with both doing freelance photography alongside their new venture. Nimal says that, despite the work, it has been "incredibly rewarding".
"Both of them were confiend to cage, so it's really nice we've been able to re-home them," he said. "They have grown so much and are living much better lives.
"Plus they are really funny to have, they make us laugh with their weird antics. The couple offer meet and greets with Mikey and Mia and even parrot training courses for other people who are considering adopting macaws.
Despite the popularity of the business, Nimal says you should not shop around for the birds and should only take them in if they have been abandoned. “Only consider it if you have very specific set of skills
“Ninety-nine percent of people get rid of them within the first three years. You should only adopt, don’t shop around for new birds.”
