A British racing pigeon has been found in northern China four years after it failed to return from its first race.
The six-month-old bird was released from Littlehampton, in southern England in 1992, and was supposed to complete the 131-kilometre journey home to owner Phil Hoddinott in Dorset in a few hours.
He thought the bird, known only by its ring mark GB92D15556, had fallen prey to a hawk, but now he has had a phone call from Dalian, Liaoning province, saying the bird has turned up.
The bird was the only one of Mr Hoddinott's 18 birds which failed to make it home. He said: 'I had long given up hope of seeing this one again. I was stunned when I got a phone call from a woman in China telling me someone had found my bird.
'I had problems understanding her and at first thought it was a huge wind-up.' Each racing pigeon's leg ring is unique and can be used to trace the owner. The woman who phoned him said a pigeon fancier had spotted the bird and wanted to know its pedigree.
Mr Hoddinott has asked the chef of his local Chinese restaurant to write to the pigeon fancier to tell him he can keep the bird, but asking for one of its chicks. 'It's obviously an exceptional bird to have got that far,' he said.