Houdini recaptured after great escape

THE Bailiwick's most famous bird has been reunited with his owner.

Houdini the canary escaped a fortnight ago when Dot Carre attempted to transfer him – and seven others – from her late friend Ian Aldhouse's aviary.

Dot, who keeps 14 cockatiels in her Church Street back yard, thought Houdini would be lost forever.

'We went down to catch them and Houdini got out,' she said.

'I thought he had gone – I was sure the crows and seagulls would get him.'

Thankfully, Houdini flew into somebody's house.

'He went straight through Kerry Hatcher-Gaudion's window – her cat must have thought it was lunchtime. Luckily, Kerry caught Houdini before the cat did.'

Kerry took the bird to the Animal Welfare, in Le Val.

Animal Welfare chairman Colin Williams said: 'I just happened to be visiting last week when Jeanette, our veterinary nurse, showed me the canary. He looked absolutely fine and in good condition – we didn't have to treat him at all.'

Colin then got in touch with Radio Guernsey about the lost bird after no one had claimed it after three days.

'We put an appeal out on the radio and a chap called Keith in Guernsey rang in to say he had lost a canary. Apparently he keeps lots of canaries and one had recently escaped.

'Keith was interviewed on the radio for quite a while – they really did make quite a feature out of it. However, it turned out the bird wasn't Keith's – it was Dot's.'

Dot said: 'I didn't hear the interview, but I got a call from Tony Catts, who said there was a canary at the Animal Welfare.

I put my shoes on straight away and ran round to get him.

'I was over the moon to get him back – I really thought he had gone.'

Dot said it's unlikely a canary could fly from Guernsey to Alderney.

'When they said there was a bloke from Guernsey who thought it was his, I said "no way". There's no way a canary could fly from Guernsey to here. It wouldn't get all that way without the crows or seagulls getting to it. They also need somewhere to land at regular intervals – 25 miles is too far for a canary.'

Houdini is now safely back sharing an aviary with plenty of old friends – and some new ones.

A luxury yacht belonging to the fifth space tourist Charles Simonyi docked in Braye Harbour at the weekend.

Skat, which measures 71 metres and was built by German company Lurssen of Bremen, spent six hours in island waters on Saturday.

Three guests and numerous staff were on board the Cayman Islands-based vessel, which looks similar to a naval ship.

Skat's Hungarian owner has an estimated net worth of $1bn.

He applied directly to Bill Gates for a job at Microsoft in 1981 and oversaw the development of major computer programmes Word and Excel.

Mr Simonyi expressed an interest in becoming a space tourist in 2006 and after passing a medical exam and undergoing extensive training he boarded Soyuz TMA-10 to share a ride with two Russian cosmonauts to the International Space Station.

He is married to Swede Lisa Persdotter, who is 32 years his junior. The couple married in a private ceremony in 2008. They are thought to spend six months a year on Skat.