Elaine’s new brood

COMEDIAN Elaine Devlin has become mother to a brood of coal-tit chicks after hearing their cries of distress from a nest in her garden wall.

Elaine, who has been carrying the birds and feeding them since their rescue, said: “The kids spotted the coal tits going in and out of one of the holes. From the kitchen window they watched them building the nest, sitting on the eggs, and feeding chicks.

“My daughter Ailsa noticed the birds weren’t getting fed so often, and then the next day they weren’t getting fed at all, and the cheeping was getting louder because the chicks were distressed.

“We couldn’t stand by and listen to them die.”